The Internet is a great place to find and repeat rumors. The trouble is that the information can be spread so quickly that some real harm can be done to companies before the rest of the story gets out.

List-servs(tm), chat rooms, and other online communities are the new corner barber shop for story exchanges. Some people profit admirably from the spreading of rumors, such as the teenage boy recently profiled in a national publication. He was caught hyping stocks in chat rooms so that other investors would be encouraged to invest in the same stocks and the value of his shares would go up. He was fined several hundred thousand dollars, but he had already profited by much more. Unrepentant, he shrugged, "Everybody does it."

What's dangerous about this boy and others like him is the cavalier attitude that accompanies the spreading of false information. Whether it is for personal gain or simple amusement, gossip-mongers often have little regard for the potential consequences that spreading a rumor can have. A rumor is like a spark that can ignite a fire. How many forest fires have we all read about that began with a carelessly thrown cigarette?

Where people on the Internet are vulnerable is that they tend to be time-starved, often borrowing a precious few minutes from the boss to take advantage of the company's fast T1 line to do a little surfing. We're not complaining about that as those are many of the same readers who find their way to Realty Times to take a quick look at our stories, check out the latest home listings, see what interest rates are doing, and then, pouf, they're gone. Netsurfers use their time wisely to check out the latest news in their own industry. This is as true of the real estate industry as it is other industries.

But smart and quick as they are, most online netsurfers don't have the time or resources to verify what they read. Some don't have the analytical skills to weigh the information they do get, because they are too busy filtering it through the cheesecloth of their own beliefs, wishes or fears. Little new information gets through to a resistant mind. On the flip side of that coin, others are all too easy to persuade. They want to believe that things will stay the same and they will be safe. Or, they may be looking for a change and the right propaganda comes along at just the right moment. That's why almost all of us are vulnerable to rumors. We want to believe what we want to believe.

If you are wondering about the veracity of a rumor you are hearing, you can get a little perspective by asking yourself - what does the rumor-bearer have to gain from giving away information? The other question you can ask is - how can this information be verified? Those are just a few of the questions we use as tools in the news industry to verify or discard rumors.

Most of our readers can't get the president of a company on the phone when a rumor leaks out to find out what is really going on, but our reporters can. But like any other industry, the news industry has its standard bearers and its free agents. Like Realtors, some reporters do a better job than others. So you have to treat news organizations and reporters like any other gossip-mongers. Trust those publications and writers whose ethics and work standards you respect, and discount those who have other agendas.

That's why at Realty Times, we don't report rumors. That prevents us from getting a few scoops, but we don't make any false rushes to judgment either. This policy has rewarded us with not only with the most loyal and fastest growing readers in the sector, but good relationships within the industry as well. Companies know that whatever their news is, whether fortunate or embarrassing, that they will get a fair shake in our publication.

Readers may wonder why we put out certain stories and leave other stories alone. That's a judgment call that comes with experience. We put rumors through a purifying system to find out if there is a story worth telling.

Let me take you on a little tour of how I do this using a recent rumor that HomeAdvisor had lost two of its investors, Wells Fargo Mortgage and Bank of America. Was that rumor true, or false? Was there more to the story? It was interesting enough to me to pursue it, but ultimately it didn't result in a story. At least not yet. Here's why.

First, the two banks weren't investors yet, and were exploring investment opportunities with HomeAdvisor. Second, one of the banks in question turned out to be a customer for HomeAdvisor's lender platform.

I concluded that it was a non-story based on getting in touch with two of the companies. According to a spokesperson with HomeAdvisor, "When we announced HomeAdvisor Technologies in March, we had signed preliminary letters of intent with each of the partners announced. Through the normal course of negotiations with the individual companies, some strategies shifted and two partners (Bank of America and Wells Fargo) decided that they were not ready to pursue an equity investment. We remain friendly with both companies and our relationships will continue on other levels. You can be pretty assured that other equity investors in HomeAdvisor Technologies will be coming on board."

The spokesperson went on to explain that the partners in HomeAdvisor Technologies are: Microsoft, Chase Corp., GMAC Residential Funding Corporation, and Freddie Mac (as a non-equity investor). Bank of America is no longer an equity partner, he said, but they have licensed the technology and will roll it out with their mortgage solutions. "Others are also considering both equity partnerships and strategic licensing deals," he said.

I cross-checked that with the statement I got from a Wells Fargo spokesperson.

"Wells Fargo Home Mortgage notified Microsoft that we have decided not to deploy the technology of the newly formed company, HomeAdvisor Technologies, Inc. (HTI) within our business channels, nor to participate as an equity investor.

"At that time the venture was announced, we had only agreed to a non-binding letter of intent subject to due diligence. Upon completion of the due diligence process, we determined that involvement in the new company would not substantially accelerate or enable our strategic plans. For those reasons and others, we are not participating in HTI. We will, however, continue our efforts to develop or acquire Internet origination technologies which will support, and not conflict with, our consumer strategies."

I decided to file the incident away for now. Why? There's a bigger story if I can get it on the hook. Throw a little story back in the pond in order to catch a bigger fish, you say? You bet. I do it all the time.

Here's what I have so far. The rumor turned out to have some truth but it left out the fact that Bank of America is a licensing customer of HomeAdvisor's, a significant omission which showed that even persons in the banking news industry, where this story was first reported, didn't have all the facts. Why? The right questions weren't asked. Why not? Who knows? Inexperience, perhaps, or maybe the nose for news had a cold that day. What is more likely is that the reporter didn't realize the significance the story had for other industries - namely, the real estate industry. At any rate, the news was taken at face value and its portent by some readers was deemed more serious than it really was. They think HomeAdvisor is in trouble, and about to join the dotcom deadpool. Hardly. HomeAdvisor is sitting on $100 million from its other equity investors, not to mention revenues from its name-brand licensing customers. I'm sure its feelings were hurt that Wells Fargo passed, but with that kind of jack in the bank, I can assure you, life will go on for HomeAdvisor.

But, I do agree with the gossip-mongers that there is more to the story than meets the eye, and the final implications could be huge for the real estate industry.

To me, information is like a string - there's always a connection to something else, and that is what makes this business exciting and a little bit dangerous. I try to be aware of the potential to do harm and tread very carefully before posting a story, because stories do have consequences, good and bad, for their subjects. So while I chose not to run a story about HomeAdvisor at the time, that doesn't mean I'm not continuing to work with what I learned. Where does the string lead? I take what I have and then try to put it together with other information, and I look for new information, like putting together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. That's a trite comparison, but it's accurate news-gathering.

So what are the implications of the story? To find out, I'll be looking for follow-ups from the players involved, such as signs of an impending announcement shortly from Wells Fargo and/or Bank of America on what their online fulfillment plans really are.

Follow-up news could also come in the form of an announcement from a certain mega-real-estate portal that might say that it has recently acquired one or two new lender investors or strategic partners for its Realtor business platform. Why? Common sense. If Wells Fargo and Bank of America are looking at one technology partner, and that technology partner happens to be HomeAdvisor, they might be also considering another mortgage platform. The banks' sheer size and market share indicate that any strategic, equity, or advertising partner they may choose would have to be one of equal stature. That leads me straight to Homestore's door. Call it a gut feeling, deductive reasoning, or faulty reasoning, but that's whose door I plan to knock on next.

A quick review of eRealtor, Homestore's business management solution for Realtors, has some powerful names as partners, but the platform is definitely light on the lender side. Knowing Homestore, that won't be true for long. Mortgage lending is a key component of all online real estate transaction platforms, which HomeAdvisor wisely figured out a long time ago. But Homestore is restricted from benefiting from having lender partners in certain ways because of its operating agreement with the National Association of REALTORS®. So what role can lenders choose if they want to do business with Homestore? Become investors? Advertisers? Or by joining the eRealtor platform as a resource? How about enabling Realtors to become online loan originators themselves? Those are all possibilities.

I have a hunch what will happen, but I'll keep it to myself for now. If it's right, you're about to hear some big news that will change everything you ever knew about the banking industry, the real estate industry and what online transaction management can do for you as a Realtor. And that's no rumor. That's a fact that you can take to the bank. But there's nothing to deposit yet. First, let me get the story the right way, by asking the right questions of the right people. Don't depend on the guessing game of the rumor mill.

Why? Because you shouldn't believe everything you read.

Published: October 19, 2000

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