I’m behind on these, but this is a good time to catch up. This is my column from the Arizona Republic from last week.
Real estate representation has never been about information brokerage
As I write this, the National Association of Realtors is holding its annual convention at the Venetian Hotel and Conference Center in Las Vegas. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the trade group, a cause for celebration.
But the NAR is also embroiled in a years-long anti-trust suit brought by the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. Real estate buyers and sellers are steadily migrating to the world-wide web as their primary communications medium, even as the housing market is suffering through an extended downturn in many parts of the country.
Of the challenges facing the NAR, perhaps the greatest is finding a path to relevance in the internet age. The group’s own statistics demonstrate that a steadily increasing percentage of home buyers and sellers are conducting their search for real estate information and representation on the web.
This internet-focused client base can be significantly more tech-savvy than many Realtors, with agents constantly racing to catch up. At the same time, Realtors’ presumed traditional value proposition, access to MLS listings, has been obviated by on-line MLS systems and nascent Realty.bots — venture-capital-funded internet start-ups devoted to delivering real estate information.
In fact, truly valuable real estate representation has never been about information brokerage — a fact both the Realtors and the Realty.bots seem to be slowly discovering.
The value a Realtor brings to a home seller is not the MLS listing, which is at best an administrative function. A skilled listing agent should advise sellers on pricing, preparation and presentation — the factors that get skillfully-marketed homes sold when no other houses are selling.
The best advice a buyer’s agent can provide to his or her clients comes not in a stack of MLS listings but in specific tactics to deploy during negotiations, inspections and throughout the escrow process.
Whether the NAR can sustain relevance into the twenty-first century remains to be seen. But, even though consumers may find expert real estate representation on the internet, it can only be delivered face-to-face.
Technorati Tags: disintermediation, real estate, real estate marketing, technology
rob aubrey says:
Then it is our job to be VERY current and decipher the information.
I think it is the leadership qualities that finish it off. Leading a couple that is divorcing through a home sale or the same thing walking a family through a painful loss situation. That requires leadership.
The ability to stay calm and not get caught in the valid emotions of the client is a key quality. I am not saying to be insensitive, but what they need is calm cool and collected.
Kind of like the Robert Duvall’s character Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore in the movie Apocalypse Now. They are standing on the beach and mortars and all kinds of munitions are flying around and everyone is running bent over. He is standing straight up drinking a cup of coffee looking at the waves wanting his new guy to surf.
That is the agent that is going to survive in the 21st century. Because they need someone that can stand tall when all hell is breaking loose so that they can get through it.
November 24, 2007 — 9:05 am
monika says:
There seemed to be a feeling of excitement in the hallways…REALTORS discovering the internet. Hello… Where have they all been? It really cracked me up talking with people about this “new” thing called blogs!
Actually it was rather amusing in a sad sort of way.
November 24, 2007 — 9:09 am
Bryan Casteel says:
This is very true and the key to the future existence of the REALTOR profession. One of the main problems though is that there are no systems in place to ensure that agents understand their role in the buying and selling process.
For a couple thousand bucks and a few weeks of mind-numbing “education” anyone can get their license. Then their broker/manager slaps them on the back and tells them to “go get-em’ tiger”.
A whole bunch of clueless agents running around out there just trying to get someone to list their home with them doesn’t do anything to improve the public’s opinion of REALTORs. There needs to be a standard of excellence – some sort of quality control to the level of service provided.
The brokers who figure this out will be the ones to survive. The brokers only concerned with getting more and more agents to work for them will not be able to make it in the long run (hopefully).
November 25, 2007 — 6:18 am
monika says:
I’ve been talking to some agents about enhancing digital pictures as it was brought up in my committee at NAR and I’ll tell you the response is all over the place BUT there are agents that don’t even know you can enhance a digital picture to begin with.
Talk about clueless!
November 25, 2007 — 2:25 pm
James Hsu says:
Monika, …how’s this? My broker has a digital camera for agents to check out (and has not gotten it back on several occasions).
The gatekeeper of information has been for too long the value proposition of a typical agent. Why? Probably cause it was a lot easier reason to give when someone asks you to justify your commission. Now that value prop is going away very quickly and people are in a panic…NAR is trying to do whatever it can to cling to everything.
November 26, 2007 — 8:56 pm
Rob Aubrey says:
Hi,
Let’s talk about what a good Agent looks like instead of what they don’t. There area lot of GREAT REALTORS out there.
When a bank trains tellers how to spot counterfiet money they don’t show them differnt types of fakes, they teach them what real money looks like and then they are able to spot it.
Bryan you are so right about how the broker models are. The problem is not just with the broker. Agents expect a like for a small percentage to the house. The consumers deserve better and if the brokers were able to offer all THAT training they would have to charge a higher split and they would have empty halls.
While I don’t consider the brokers innocent they are not the whole blame.
Now let’s catch someone doing something great and tell other folks.
November 27, 2007 — 4:54 am