The following article, written by Roberta Murphy, originally appeared on The Real Estate Tomato, and has been republished here for our readers enjoyment.

If Move.com Wants to Murder HouseValues.com

Here’s How I Think It Should Happen.

Plotted by: Roberta Murphy

I don’t think Move.com has a homicidal eye on HouseValues, but perhaps it should. If Move.com wants to meet its impressive goals, it must.

HouseValues with its drip system is/was one of the dominant players in the home valuation field and is one of the more assertive players in the listing alert market. With their software program (acquired from SOAR Solutions in 2003), potential home buyers receive daily emails listing all new properties meeting their search criteria that have hit the market in the last 24 hours.

I was an early subscriber to SOAR Solutions and still use the product, because of the excellent results given to our subscribers. It is also a program that runs over $1000 per year, now that HouseValues owns it. What I do not pay for are HV’s JustListed leads, that come from their property search features. We are capable of gather those on our own.

One of the best weapons in MOVE’s war chest just might be Top Producer, the online sales, marketing and database management system for real estate agents. In earlier days, TP was a real estate database workhorse that managed client information, correspondence, notes and follow up for the busy real estate professional. Responsive to the internet revolution, they took their product online in 2003 with Version 7i which immediately attracted subscribers such as myself who don’t back up data nearly often enough. Online, for our purposes, is better. And TP has aggressively added features in the past three years.

For more on this murderous plot, you will find it hiding in the Tomato Patch

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I just overheard a news report that Redfin is coming to San Diego, and I am tapping my pen in wonder.

I imagined one of our San Diego real estate listings and I imagined receiving a call from a stranger asking to see the property. In the natural course of conversation, I would ask if the caller was working with an agent. If the caller responded that they were working with Redfin, under normal circumstances I would ask the caller to have the representing real estate agent give me a call and would make arrangements for the agent to show the property and would also try to ascertain the qualifications of the buyer (we dont want to expose our sellers to unqualified traffic).

Redfin, from what I can gather, is not that kind of company. Tonights television report says buyers can say they are working with Redfin, call the listing agent to see the property, and then pay a 1/3 commission referral fee to Redfin and keep the rest to themselves. As a listing agent, I dont care one way or the other who splits the buyers commission. What I do care about is the security and privacy of our sellers and the safety of our agents. And I have a number of questions:

1.Who has prequalified the buyers to see if they are anything more than casual lookers or worse?

2.If the Redfin agent doesnt wish to be present at the showing of the property, I have to wonder why? Who will advise the buyer about real or potential flaws, comparative properties or other issues that may influence property-buying decisions? I would never direct a buyer to another property, when I am obligated to represent my own sellers best interests. Who is knowledgeably representing the buyer?

3.What liablility does Redfin accept if someone says they are a client of Redfin, and turns out to be something much worse?

There are many new real estate models on the horizon, and Redfin is just one of the new rebaters. I dont have a problem with the monetary side, but I do have an issue with a buyers agent who plays the role of a gray ghost and is physically absent from the transaction. Could the reason be that it isnt œeconomically feasible?

If so, the true cost paid by the unwitting real estate buyer, seller or agent could be far more than any œrebate earned.

I am still tapping my pen.

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Comes close to describing some of the attendeesand I sure like the sound of it! Yesterday a large group of real estate bloggers met at the Internet Relevance presentation in Long Beach, CA to hear Dustin Luther (left), founder of Rain City Guide, speak about the intricacies and benefits of real estate blogging. And speak he did, at about the speed of a machine gun going full blast! There are times I wish I had studied shorthand or court reporting; hence, my notes are spotty in a number of places. Attending this presentation were the esteemed Rudolph Bachraty (pictured with perched glasses) of New York-based Sellsius Real Estate; Brian Brady, Americas Most Opinionated Mortgage Broker; a couple of Active Rains lovely co-founders, Jon and Sara Washburn; the personable Loren Nason of The Future of Real Estate Technology; Jeff Dowler, a blogging Encinitas, CA Realtor, and Jeff Turner with Real Estate Shows. There were other bloggers I would have loved to meet, but we were forced to leave early for a San Diego Realtors lockbox exchange at Del Mar Fairgrounds. Dustin shared lots of links and lots of stories. A few favorites? Kayak.com (a travel site with very cool features; I am bookmarking!) Google Reader (feed reader check it out!) Judys Book (a great place to read and write reviews!) In the rush to leave San Diego at dawn, I left the camera behind. These photos were stealthily lifted from Sellsius Real Estate Blog.

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                                                                                  by RobertaMurphy

There was lots of year-end buzz about pop singer Michael Jackson selling his 2800–acre Santa Barbara County Neverland Ranch. Rolling Stone first reported that Jackson was trying to market the Santa Ynez ranch to soccer luminary David Beckham and his wife Victoria (Posh Spice).

Those rumors had hardly been quieted, when another started making the rounds about Jackson selling Neverland on the Bravo television reality show, Million Dollar Listing: Hollywood—with a possible price tag of $50 million. The once picturesque estate has reportedly gone from Fantasyland to Ghost Town since the singer abandoned the property in July, 2005.

Jackson’s public relations reps deny any financial hardship or that the home will be sold via television. At first glance, a price tag of around $17,857 per acre seems like a relative bargain. Neverland Ranch, in addition to its large residence, includes a deserted zoo, an amusement park, a colorful history and a mysterious owner who left the United States after being exonerated from child molestation charges.

All gossip aside, I can’t help but wonder about the enormous value of this spectacular parcel of land—and who a potential buyer might be?  Perhaps a few calls on Monday morning can yield some answers….

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by Roberta Murphy

Speaking of gossip.

Legenary Kirk Kerkorian has just cut the $25 million asking price of his 30 acre Beverly Hills mansion to a reasonable $18 million, after it has languished on the market for nearly a year. His lovely gated estate boasts a Mediterranean-styled main home, two guest cottages, two pools, two tennis courts, a putting green and lots of room for expansion.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Mr. Kerkorian, 89, has purchased this estate in three different phases. The first parcel was purchased for $5.7 million in 1989. The other two were added in subsequent transactions. The package is listed by Coldwell Banker in Beverly Hills.

All this leads me to wonder if the parts might be more valuable than the whole? (Please contact me for additional gossip and discussion!)

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