Yes, I use blue host. I'm glad you've had good success.

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thanks Jane, you are right, it's really a stellar team Mayi and Beth have put together! It's a super company to work for and I'm glad that is showing through!

HI LIn, it is very frustrating indeed. I know of buyers making good offers on properties, paying for an appraisal over and over and over again only for it to "not appraise". The market is no longer determined by "what a ready willing and able buyer is willing to pay" but by what a qualified or possibly unqualified appraiser feels like saying it is these days. It's a HUGE problem, not only in our industry, but for the recovery of the economy.

Thanks, Sze, coming from a web marketing genius like you, I really appreciate the comment!

HI Ron, thank you for the thoughtful comment.

Regarding the suit, they might indeed win. I don't know, I don't know enough about trademark law to understand.

I think that she had an opportunity to reach out to the "mob" of popular opinion that rose up in support of Daniel, and come out smelling like roses, but chose not to. As you mentioned, it might have been a real PR/Marketing ploy for attention, in which case, she got it.

My hypothesis on how this came about was one (or more) of her clients saw that "The Real Estate Zebra" was speaking at the Inman Seattle Reboot and emailed or called her, thinking it was her. She was embarrassed that she was caught off guard and that her prime position as the Real Estate Zebra person in the NW corner of the US was called into question, and responded.

While I fully do understand her wanting to protect her trademark, were her business truly compromised, I do not understand either the suit or the response to the backlash against a suit. Let's just say, I would have handled the two things very differently.

the real sad thing for Daniel is the time and money going to be wasted in defense of this suit and the time distracting from his real business, which is helping buyers and sellers with their real estate business.

Thank you again for your thoughtful response.

My recent post This is exactly WHY I love Daniel Rothamel- “The Real Estate Zebra”- so much! Video

I love the "victim role", just about what I expected. Sad, as mentioned above, I think it is going to only inflame, rather than dampen, her response.

It would be nice if she were, or at least quietly contacted Daniel to see if they could find a solution, but judging by the responses coming from Lones Group, she doesn't seem to be that type. I suspect, as others do, that the coverage has only made her strengthen her resolve and fed her flames of feeling the victim and justified in her suit. Time will tell, but the whole thing is not great, for anyone.
My recent post This is exactly WHY I love Daniel Rothamel- “The Real Estate Zebra”- so much! Video

Considering that their target market is Realtors and Daniel's is home buyer and sellers, and the beehive they have just shaken awake IS their target market, this is an example of an #EPICFail. Talk about not understanding your own target market, the power of relationships and the power of social media, they have become their own worst nightmare and they can't undo the damage they have done in the eyes of their own consumer.

thanks Tom!

Hi Sara, thank you for commenting here. You are right, there is a great value that Zillow provides with its transparency. Areas such a Miami are going to be hard to calculate accurately merely from stats, especially if short sales and foreclosures are not included as they are a large portion of our sales. By providing this info, we are able to have informed discussions with our sellers. In many areas of the country, and our state, I am sure (and can see by the chart above), computer data is more than enough information to provide accurate estimates. I thank you again for your explanation (I didn't know about the foreclosure/short sale issue, which is especially helpful as appraisers DO use them). Thank you for taking the time to help make us more informed consumers and Realtors and how we can better understand Zillow's data.