Craig Rowe, Tech Columnist, Inman News The Real Estate Sessions

 

Journalism has evolved through time. Covering a myriad of topics from news, to entertainment, to real estate technology, journalists have surely become versatile throughout the years. Craig Rowe, a real estate technology reporter for Inman News, joins Bill Risser to talk about his role and the knowledge he is able to impart on the team. Craig recalls how his love for writing and his interest in real estate served a great purpose in his position at Inman. Listen in as Craig walks us through his summers as a kid, to how he got involved in real estate and settling in as one of Inman’s greatest assets.
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Craig Rowe, Real Estate Technology Reporter, Inman News
In this episode, I’m going to talk to a copywriter, journalist, and backcountry guide. I’m going to talk to Craig Rowe. He is a real estate tech reporter for Inman News. I met Craig at the Inman Event. He’s a neat guy and has a great background. We’re going to have a lot of fun exploring some stuff outside of the world of real estate and talk about how things work at Inman. It’s a very interesting conversation. Let’s get this thing started. Craig, welcome to the show.

It’s great to be here, Bill. Thanks for having me.

We met at the Inman Event in Las Vegas. It was so much fun getting back in front of people again. Molly McKinley knows you well. It was nice having a conversation. I have read a lot of your columns. Tech is my thing, and it’s your thing. I appreciate all the work, insight, and effort that goes into those. We’re going to talk a lot about that and also some more stuff as well. I like starting where people grew up. It’s always fun for me to see these different parts of the country. For you, it’s Upstate New York. First of all, I had no idea where Caledonia was. My first thought was, “There is Rome, Syracuse, and Ithaca. It has to be somewhere in that neighborhood.” I’m not too far off.

You’re not too far off. It is South of Rochester.

Let’s talk about that upbringing growing up in New York. We’re going to talk about what you’re doing now. I’m going to assume that a lot of who you are now was influenced by where you grew up.

I loved growing up in a small town, and I am now full circle right back in a similar location here in Northern California. Caledonia was neat. It was a small town. I had a lot of close friends. I have three older brothers. In all our lawns, we had all these families in the neighborhood. All the backyards met, and every family down the street had six kids, and the back of us also had 5 or 6. There was this amalgamation of families and all these kids of different age groups all the time interacting. It was very Americana for the most part in this little town. We spent all-time outdoors.

We are very much free range. You could open the door at 8:00 AM, and I’ll come back at 8:00 PM. That was pretty much it. In those hours, I could be anywhere in the local trout stream fishing, and at some point during the day, you throw the pole back in the garage without your parents even knowing, and you take off again. I could be riding my BMX bike for two hours, and in the afternoon, we’re playing football, Wiffle ball, baseball, or something. That was it every day throughout the Summer until Winter stopped us from being able to do that stuff.

I grew up in San Diego. It’s a little bit different situation. When the street lights went on, I had to be home, that mentality, which was cool. It is that whole connectivity you talked about. It wasn’t people going into a...