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- When consumers want information about residential real estate today, they go to Zillow.com. I say that because my Brokers tell me Zillow consistently produces quality leads. Trulia comes in a (usually) distant second. Realtor.com is not even on the map.
- Data mining and manipulation of real estate information has progressed so far and so fast that 95% of the people in the industry have no idea how to use it. Ok: maybe that’s a little hyperbole. But I am impressed that the data guys are to the point of predicting buy and sell behavior via algorithms and so much more. They have taken their business way out there and the rank and file Realtor – who is still trying to figure out how to resize their prom picture so they can use it on their business card – has no clue. The good news is that the 5% (or 15%) who do have the desire and the smarts to use this new information will survive to be the next generation Realtor.
- Virtual companies (at the moment) suck. I encountered yet another that has one broker in one city, holding licenses and ‘managing’ hundreds of salespeople all over the State. While I believe that systems and technology may make it possible to supervise transaction activity at a distance, it hasn’t yet evolved to where a Broker might watch an agent with a buyer or seller or to allow a Manager to casually overhear a phone conversation. The Broker’s duty to supervise becomes a ‘wink, wink, nudge, nudge,’ item. But the real downside – at least today – is that these companies have become an alternative for non-productive agents who otherwise would probably get out of the business. For a small fee they can continue to be ‘active’ and do 3 or 4 deals a year.
- By devoting themselves to the preservation of the Status Quo, by fighting tooth and nail every step of the way to keep information out of the hands of consumers, by not insisting on production standards for members, Realtor Groups (NAR and it’s affiliated State and Local Boards and Associations) have made themselves largely irrelevant. It’s probably too late to wake up and realize that things will NEVER be the way they used to be, that real estate reality has changed, and changed significantly. The next generation real estate professional is not at a meeting at the Board of Realtors. He/She is online, networking and discovering the tools that will enable them to do more transactions and provide better service.
- Help-U-Sell, with proprietary technology that we created, own and control, is the only national brand positioned to lead the industry into the new tech-efficient real estate age while preserving a razor focus on the needs of the consumer. We’ve always been a consumer-centric company and now we can bring that focus to bear in a leaner, more efficient, tech-driven industry. Every time I go to a real estate trade show I get tickled when people tout the latest and greatest tech innovation (Mobil phone websites, QR codes, map searches, online lead management, syndication and on and on) . . . and it’s all stuff we’ve had for a couple of years.
