Conversation with Seattle Post-Intellegencer Part 2

And the conversation with John Cook continues. Like a lot of people in the industry, he's fascinated with our ideas and actions. The interview continues:

Were you the founder of UrbanTango and what happened to that company?

Ans. UrbanTango.com was never a company, that website is still around, it is something that we don't focus on. XoomPad.com has gotten so much attention nationally, and as a technology that real estate agents and brokers want. UT is owned by MyTypes, Inc. and is really just a real estate agent website, suprisingly it has a brand that people like, you are even asking about it.

Q. Is Xoompad a spin out of that company?

Ans. No, but XoomPad.com is the natural progression and was developed based on market demands, agents and brokers felt the pain from Zillow, Redfin, but most importantly real estate savvy Real estate agents/Brokers.

Q. Why do you think Realtors need this sort of Web site assistance?

Ans. A new breed of real estate agents and brokers will generate tons of leads and grow their business, or the anti-internet savvy real estate companies won't.

Real estate websites are just at the tip, they have to have systems and process to manage back-end functions, leads, escrow, paper work, oh that paper work. Most importantly real estate websites have to be local, people don't search for a home at a national level. Will Realtor.com continue to have all of the listings nationally from all of the MLS's? Or will it be the local real estate agents and brokers, who work that market, that know that street, that park, that value, they have the most info, how will they provide that to consumers? Will their be a ZMLS, i-MLS or will we call it CraigsMLS? Yes, maybe, but traditional MLS's and Realtors do a lot of good, they are getting better everyday, they will compete will with what I call- Z-MLS and CraigsMLS.

Back in the summer of 2004 at a outdoor wedding at a park in Seattle, I even told someone to start blogging and develop a real estate presence for his wife's business. The traditional methods did not work for her. Her husband caught on to what I said, he and his wife did better than I could have ever imagined. Maybe you know them, Dustin and Anna with RaincityGuide.com? The internet shift, real estate blogs, smart and super hard work worked for them. Last, I heard from them about Anna's website, last spring early, she got more leads than she knew what to do with. Dustin went on to become world famous, all because he caught on to the real estate tech and blog boom, and they worked very hard and smart via the internet. Does the average real estate agents and Brokers need website tools to compete with RedFin and Zillow, can they do it by themselves?

I am so proud of all of the pioneers, especially all of the real estate agents and brokers who care about the clients they work with. Internet is impacting the real estate business more than we could have ever imagine, and a lot of them across the country are pioneers too, the others are dwindling fast. They are making lots of money via internet leads, all sorts of real estate wanna be models are appearing. Who will make money, who won't, smart and nice people is my answer.

Sorry for the long thoughts, this business is complicated, and it's huge, trillions of dollars. The numbers shocked me when, I read the reports and research. And, It is changing very quickly a lot of money is being thrown at this industry via tech, as you already know.

What is your age?
37

How are you funded?
Angels, tech/real estate execs, and most importantly sales

Can I use your logo for my blog post?
Yes, please talk about XoomPad as it is the focus, thanks!