My buddy Leo Pareja introduced me to the notion that if you aren’t paying for a product, you ARE the product. In other words, when you use a “free” service online or otherwise, your information is most likely where the company is making their money. This became painfully clear earlier in the week when it was revealed that Facebook effectively sold private information (by virtue of an app) on millions of its users to Cambridge Analytica, who in turn used the information to assist a client of theirs to use the information for the benefit of the Donald Trump presidential campaign. At this point, there is no evidence that the Trump campaign did wrong by acquiring this information, but it is a sobering reminder that the massive information that companies like Google, Amazon, Samsung, Facebook, and Microsoft have on us is anything but private. Facebook stock took a dive last week and Mark Zuckerberg has been crying mea culpa on CNN and the online media. Zuckerberg should expect a subpoena to testify in front of congress soon. I deleted all of my FB apps and definitely don’t want one of those creepy Amazon Echo or Google Home anywhere near my house.
This week's big news in real estate was the settlement of the class action lawsuits directed against the National Association of Realtors (NAR)...Despite what you may have heard from the media, if the settlement is approved, this would be a modest victory for both realtors and homebuyers. The lawsuit's deeply misguided proponents, including Steve Brobeck from the Consumer Federation of America, have been calling for an outright ban on broker cooperation. In that regard, they didn't get what they wanted.
For years, large companies have been outsourcing to India and China, but the politics with China is unpredictable at best, and India has its limitations as well...However, Mexico and Latin America are just on the other side of our southern border, in the same time zone as the U.S., and with a talented and plentiful population of eager workers. There are also a number of companies that make the process of hiring a nearshore team practically turn-key.
This week, in a brief to the judge of a major antitrust lawsuit known as Nosalek, the U.S. Department of Justice called for decoupling buyer and seller agent representation. If the DOJ gets what it wants, it would mean that listing agents would no longer be permitted to share their commissions with agents representing buyers, and buyers would have to pay out of pocket to have an agent represent them.