The Idea
Real estate is on the top of the conversational swirl, surpassing stock market talk around the backyard BBQ. Miller Samuel is widely referenced in the media and reliance on our insight is growing. While we had been encouraged by the number of users who visit MillerSamuel.com every day to use and rely on its array of real estate information resources, something was missing.

As an appraiser, I was also becoming increasingly frustrated with the systemic pressure placed on our profession and the number of appraisers who essentially “sold their soul” and were rewarded handsomely. It wasn’t right.

Initially I began my other blog Soapbox in July 2005 to blog about the situation and the disconnect between risk and reward from the appraiser’s point of view. But that wasn’t enough. The systemic failure of the mortgage industry was not simply an appraisal issue.

So I created Matrix to provide a stream of information and commentary relating to local, national and international real estate topics that were pouring out of the news media. A matrix of real estate information, if you will.

Matrix Defined
The word Matrix has numerous definitions. The name should not be confused with The Matrix, the movie, (the first movie is my favorite), or other local real estate terminology.

I first saw the word used (other than in the movie) in geek speak in an email signature of a good friend of mine that used to work for Monster.com. Something along the lines of “send me your contact matrix“, which later evolved into contact coordinates (ie, tell me where you are, morphing into what’s going on). I selected the word as a label for data tables in our early market studies as a way to present a cross-section of market information, as in Market Matrix.

Launched in August 2005, Matrix is an attempt to cull together items of interest or relevance in the real estate economy and is not a source for breaking news. Updated nearly every business day, I hope each post brings an additional depth of understanding (and of course, occasional confusion) to each topic.

In the real estate economy, there are no guarantees that reason will prevail in a market where emotions run high and the amount of misinformation runs deep.

One year after launch, Matrix was recognized at the Inman Connect 2006 conference in San Francisco, as a top finalist of the Inman News Innovator awards under the Blog category. In 2007, Matrix was selected as one of the 25 Most Influential Real Estate Bloggers.

Why does Matrix work as an independent resource on the real estate market?

Matrix is run by a real estate appraiser (me) who by definition (in theory) is a neutral party. Perhaps this neutral positioning can be best summed up with a quote in a column by David Leonhardt of the New York Times by

the investor Warren Buffet once said “Never ask the barber if you need a haircut.”

In other words, gather real estate market information from neutral sources, not trade groups or those with a vested personal interest in the outcome of your decision.

To extend Matrix and the real estate conversation further, I created The Housing Helix in March 2009. Its a weekly podcast covering topics of the moment.

The opinions expressed on my blogs Soapbox, Matrix and The Housing Helix do not necessarily reflect those of my appraisal firms Miller Samuel, Miller Cicero, or any affiliated companies.

The Legal Stuff
In other words, Soapbox, Matrix and The Housing Helix provide a steady stream of information and links to other sites. Reliance on Soapbox, Matrix and The Housing Helix is to be solely at the reader’s own risk and is not warranted in any way, shape or form, nor are we responsible for the accuracy and reliability of the sites we link to or from sites that link to us. The information provided on this site is for discussion purposes only, and is not to be relied on for investing. Under no circumstances does this information represent a recommendation to buy or sell real estate. If you have a problem with that, you should not be reading Soapbox, Matrix and The Housing Helix or any of our related sites.

Seriously.