Name:   John C - Subject:   Wow- I can't believe I missed all of this! Date:   3/21/2018 4:36:45 PM

i typed a long answer but my laptop cut off in the middle. I don't feel like retyping it all. so here's my short (ha!!) response:

1) last week I was minding my own business, on spring break in the smokies with my family. my cell phone rings and it's a guy asking my advice on a dock project. He referenced a post on the forum but I had no idea what he was talking about because I had not seen it. I gave my advice (go for it) and continued my cup of coffee. Later I put it together, looked on the forum, and responded so it people would not think I was ignoring him. I also didn't feel like re-hashing my answer because I respect his privacy. People call me all the time off line. I don't talk about it online unless they give me permission. 

2) I just now checked the forum since then. News flash- I don't check this forum every 12 seconds.

3) Thanks to everyone who said some very kind things about me! Sincerely! very humbling.

4) re: dishonest real estate agents- I agree that the poor public perception of agents is well deserved. I wrote an entire article about it in the March 2018 issue of Lake Magazine. 

5) ZTR- no need to try and troll me into another discussion of this. my opinions can be found with minimal effort. it's a tool, nothing more. I know lots of agents in other markets that use it and use it well to serve the public. Maybe one day I will here at the lake, but not right now. Right now it stinks for Lake Martin. My commitment is to serve my clients and customers - not be committed to one tool or the other. iphone vs android. ford vs chevy. franchise vs independant. idx vs ztr vs mls. they are all tools to use to serve your clients and customers. anyone that would actually be interested in the many facets of the data discussion - I think a great resource is: https://www.flexmls.com/blog/  - it's the blog of the President of FBS DataSystems (the MLS provider here). They are prob top 3 in MLS software providers in the US. Warning- reading this blog will provide you with actual information. It will also provide you with the opinions of Mike Wurzer (the president) who knows more about this subject than you can imagine that there is to know. Of the 100s of thousands of people in the real estate industry, there are 30 or 40 people in the US that are spending their time really working on this issue and trying to answer some big questions. Mike is one of them.

6) thanks again to all of you who were kind enough to say very nice things about me. I really appreciate it!

7) have I been clear enough that I appreciate the kind words?

In the spirit of transparency,

"John C"  - (my one and only alias)

John Coley

Lake Martin Voice Realty

http://lakemartinvoice.com - go there for my cell phone and email address.