A way to revolutinize real estate sales?

RedFin is a new tool that may just revolutionize real estate sales. Their approach is to completely cut out the middleman by making brokers obsolete. That sound you heard? That was millions of brokers screaming in panic.

They're well-funded and expanding, and the idea appears to be catching on. They will represent consumers in a sale and have a bank of real estate agents that work for the company hanging around for your call. You can browse through MLS listings on their site and compare previous sales to see if you're getting a good deal.

While it's a neat concept, it could be a mixed blessing for the real estate world. Only time will tell - this venture will either change the entire structure of how real estate transactions are conducted, or it will fizzle out and die unforgotten. Which do you think will happen?

A Genius Idea

Have you heard about a new start-up called Genius? It's a company that is about to launch a new on-demand app that will combine marketing, analytics and sales features into one easy to use product.

This could be a great time saver and will undoubtedly help companies keep better track of their online marketing efforts. Genius gets bonus points for providing follow-up tools for companies, such as targeted responses to better interest customers.

The main issue, as I see it, is this new tool is almost, almost, spyware. Through the use of a little gadget like an IM window, it monitors a visitor to see how long they look at an item, what they're interested in on a page, etc...

Just too much like Big Brother for me, but many companies should find this service useful. Would I shop in a store that uses it? Probably not.