Aiming to Dominate Real Estate Brokerage: Robert Reffkin, CEO of Urban Compass (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: From the time that you launched to getting to your first customers who were selling their properties on your platform, what was the time window? How long did it take you to get your first transaction? Robert Reffkin: The first transaction was in the first month. It was a rental. We had more

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Aiming to Dominate Real Estate Brokerage: Robert Reffkin, CEO of Urban Compass (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: How did you get it off the ground? Was Ori someone you knew or did you meet him after you decided to do this project? Robert Reffkin: I met Ori when I was working in the White House. I was an advisor on the company that he sold to Twitter. A year after

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Aiming to Dominate Real Estate Brokerage: Robert Reffkin, CEO of Urban Compass (Part 1)

Urban Compass is trying to disrupt the real estate industry with a tech-savvy brokerage model. They have raised $70 million and are currently valued at $360 million based on the last funding round. Listen to Robert Reffkin explain why he thinks the company will dominate the industry. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning of your

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1Mby1M Incubation Radar 2011: Happy Grasshopper, Safety Harbor, Florida

Staying in touch with past and present customers is important. In today’s business environment, this means that having an effective email marketing campaign is equally important. Enter Happy Grasshopper, today’s Incubation Radar company. Happy Grasshopper is the easiest way to keep in touch with your sphere, according to founder, Dan Stewart. Its team of writers create

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Deal Radar 2010: InHouse Inc ,Santa Ana, California

Among the allegations of misdeeds and unfair practices in the mortgage industry during and after the housing market implosion was New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s 2007 lawsuit of appraisal firm First American eAppraiseIT for collusion with Washington Mutual (WaMu). Cuomo claimed that First American eAppraiseIT allowed WaMu to pressure it to use appraisers who

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Prospering Amidst the Real Estate Meltdown: Trulia CEO Pete Flint (Part 7)

SM: Are you seeing a lot of transactions in very inexpensive real estate? PF: The annualized transaction rate is 5 million units right now. That compares to 7 million at the peak. It is a fairly steady pace. In certain regions 80% of all transactions are distressed, meaning they are either short sales or foreclosures.

Prospering Amidst the Real Estate Meltdown: Trulia CEO Pete Flint (Part 6)

SM: Newspapers are definitely struggling, especially with their top classifieds such as jobs, travel and real estate. PF: That market is absolutely gone for them. Most of it has moved online; some of it has evaporated. Total spend has come down. We provide free to list.

Prospering Amidst the Real Estate Meltdown: Trulia CEO Pete Flint (Part 5)

SM: How many consumers are you touching right now? PF: Over 5 million unique users monthly. Trulia is one of the largest real estate sites in the US and is growing very rapidly. We want to grow more.