I’ve had reason to be contemplative for the past few weeks and it’s given some small inklings an opportunity to germinate and link together into bigger ideas. Given the nature of BloodhoundBlog, I’m hoping a couple of bigger brains who read and write here, will help me get a better grasp on what is still a bit foggy in my mind- help me fill in the gaps.
My brain has made a leap of sorts, into the future of the business, and I think we are getting it wrong. That is, what we think about, if we think about the future of the real estate business at all, may not be quite right.
First, the real estate industry is a bit behind, no offense, but I’m thinking that we bluster and bellow about stuff that really isn’t relevant, or, by the time we grasp the idea, another idea has pushed that idea into the past. What am I talking about? I’m talking about information and how it’s driving us to change the way we do business. Here’s what I’m thinking: We are not in control of information, I believe information is in control of us. That is, we are becoming conduits for information- I don’t know how else to describe what I see happening, but maybe a few examples.
Remember transparency? Transparency has nothing to do with pulling down your boxers. It’s simply about information. But not information about you. See, it’s not about you. And it’s not personal, so don’t panic, and it doesn’t matter if you like it, don’t like it, wanna share, don’t wanna share. Nope, none of that matters, because what is happening is that with or without you, information about how we do business, everything about how we do business, is about to be shared. Again- it’s not about you, it’s just information, but it’s all about information, and we are not in control of information. We are conduits, pathways, carriers of informational memes. That’s all, and it’s not about you personally.
Except. It is about how valuable you are at sharing information. How expert you are at giving away information. How transparent you are at sharing everything you know. That’s the only thing that’s going to make you valuable in the future, because what is happening, indeed what has happened and we don’t realize it, is that our value will only lie in how quickly and openly we can disclose valuable information to those who are looking for it, and when they are looking for it.
Does that make sense? I’m never sure if everyone gets this stuff before I do, or if I’m the crazy person hollering about stuff that no one else sees. In this case, I know a few people see this, have seen it for quite awhile, but do you really see it?
Do you see why blogs, social networks, twitter, are so vital? So important? But here’s the thing: It’s not connecting with people that make it so important, contrary to popular belief, it’s because of the ability to share information rapidly- the back and forth, the conversations, the 140 characters, that makes networking so valuable. It’s not about social, in the way we have traditionally thought about social, because, remember, it’s not personal, and it’s not about us, it’s only about how vital we are at sharing information, spreading memes. You think you get this, but I’m not sure you grasp the enormity of this.
Everything we, as people, are beginning to hold valuable, is only for the purpose of sharing information. Don’t believe me? What’s the greatest thing about rebc? Meeting people? Yeah. So we think it’s the physical hug? Nope. It’s that we can blast a whole lotta info back and forth much more quickly in real life. We can share ideas, information, themes, memes in a heart beat, and that is so fulfilling to us, isn’t it? It’s like great sex. Wow. Information satisfaction. I looked that person in the eyes, and we talked. I saw their facial expressions and watched them laugh and frown, but all the while we were giving valuable information back and forth in rapid fire pace, and that’s where the satisfaction comes from.
But that’s great, and you can say, “See Teri? It is about IRL.” Not quite. You still have to connect. We want information satisfaction, don’t we? Have you ever met someone IRL, that you’ve known online, and there still is no connection? Why? Why no connection? Because you are not sharing information that either of you cares about. Your memes are not connecting. You are in each other’s twitter stream. You’re BfbFF (think about it) but you don’t really talk, do you? Your memes, your themes, your value as informational conduits are not meaningful to each other. Now you see where I’m going?
So take the NAR, please (ba dum ching). Tom sat down with some of the people who we might consider the best and brightest informational conduits at the NAR. He made a connection. They shared their memes. And now we know that the NAR has meme issues- “messues” we might call them- on a large scale. Why? Because people do not gain value from the NAR, and it’s not a perception issue. That is, it’s not that the NAR is perceived to be something it isn’t, it’s that we understand the NAR, and they are not truly open to transparency. It doesn’t share well with others. And it is going to die, because, by protecting information in the name of benefiting members only, much of its most vital information is locked away behind a veil. Here’s where it gets interesting: We, as conduits of information, as consumers of information, find this idea repellent. We, even as protected members, do not want to conduct our lives this way- it’s anathema to us as theme/meme messengers. We can’t get no informational satisfaction. A consumer friendly NAR site? We might consider that an informational tease.
Have I got this figured out? Almost? Kinda?
What if the real estate industry didn’t control the real estate market? Let’s stop with this “if” nonsense, because your value as an agent will be in your ability to share information- give consumers good informational satisfaction not “if”, but “when” the industry doesn’t control real estate. And it’s not personal, and it’s not about you, or blog, or your social media prowess, except in your ability to connect with memes. Tom understands that evolution is happening- but the NAR cannot participate is this evolution revolution. You, on the other hand, can evolve as quickly as the rest of the world, and that’s exciting.
Okay. That’s all I got. Am I on the right track?
Michael Patton says:
I think you’re on to something… the quicker we (as an industry) get away from BS’ing people and become:
-Factual about the market (inventory & financing for a couple examples)
-Actually become a benefit to our clients & promote ourselves as VALUE ADDED (things like negotiating skills instead of “I’ll drive you all around town”)
-How about some REAL educational and membership requirements… if NAR wasn’t all about membership numbers (and the corresponding fee and LOBBYING power that comes with it) and actually helped raise the bar so that being a REALTOR actually meant something?
I was originally licensed in 76′ and have spoken as loudly as I know how against the “social butterfly” business model – in favor of one that weeds out those who do actually PRACTICE A PROFESSION.
June 18, 2009 — 9:15 am
Teri Lussier says:
Hi Mark-
I’m thinking that it just doesn’t matter what we as an industry do, because the meme/theme driven future is not going to care about industry, only about value…? Their options will/are expanding outside the industry so rapidly that industry just can’t keep up? I’m only beginning to grasp the giant picture here- I see a little foggy outline.
June 18, 2009 — 9:26 am
Brian Brady says:
Nice work, Teri. I logged on to update the demand-side transparency post but decided to delay it so that folks can discuss and digest what you recognized.
We really don’t have our hands on the tiller of the ship. When we realize that and sell our unique “navigational experience” to the customer, she will then trust us to work for her. We will, as Michael Patton noted, be “practicing a profession”.
If physicians are finally realizing that they are not, in fact, God, why should we try to control markets by withholding information?
June 18, 2009 — 9:27 am
Thomas Hall says:
@Teri – awesome! Evolution is a necessary part of life, but so is extinction. Seems some evolve too slowly and die off quietly without knowing other species have evolved.
June 18, 2009 — 9:33 am
susan kelly says:
Teri…. your written truth on MEME enlightenment here just makes me want to “SHOUT”; and, sing along, “We are fammilly..I got all my sista’s with me”..just so proud!
June 19, 2009 — 1:59 am
Teri Lussier says:
Brian-
>When we realize that and sell our unique “navigational experience” to the customer, she will then trust us to work for her.
I finally get this- I’m selling a navigational experience. Here’s what I can offer. Here are the themes, memes, and information that I will give you. This is what makes me valuable.
One thing I’ve discovered, first hand, by working with HUD homes, is that buyers absolutely will pay for real estate information.
We think we have to horde information in order to get paid, but that’s the complete opposite of what is true. We show value, real monetary value, when we share information, give good memes.
Humans have evolved so quickly as a species because of the ability to communicate with each other. We crave that. I’m going to boldly say that sharing information- communication- is very possibly the only reason we are here.
The better we are at communicating, the more we are rewarded…
Now my brain hurts. 🙂
June 19, 2009 — 4:49 am
Mike Taylor says:
“because your value as an agent will be in your ability to share information- give consumers good informational satisfaction not “if”, but “when” the industry doesn’t control real estate.”
For me, you hit the nail on the head with this one. A large part of my frustration is the fact that as we do try to evolve with the rest of the world we are still bound by these mesozoic era policies and rules that prevent us from evolving and adapting as fast as we should.
June 19, 2009 — 4:54 am
Teri Lussier says:
Tom-
If we are talking about the NAR in particular, they will understand the extinction, but they will not be able to do anything about it.
An association can only be valuable to its members, and only if they communicate well. This association is so large, so traditional, so mired in a hording mentality, that those of us who crave information have already moved along and adjusted to life without them. I cannot think of any way they could serve my needs.
Stand back, I’m on a rant-
And their chastising their membership for not getting involved? Seriously? Too funny. What they don’t get is that we don’t have to get involved with them in order to do our jobs, except for that sticky part about I have to be a member because I’m forced to, not because I see value in it. Yeah, I know, I can find another line of work if I don’t like it. I love real estate, doesn’t mean I love every aspect of the business. Doesn’t mean I can’t work to change the stuff I don’t like about the business. Doesn’t mean I have to hold up on my own evolution to nurse along something that refuses to give me- or my clients, btw, to whom I have a fiduciary relationship- informational satisfaction.
They suck at communication. Hiring a Social Director doesn’t address what I’m talking about at all. Not even a little bit.
We are here to communicate. We evolved because we have the tremendous miraculous unique gift of communication. Our value only lies in our ability to do share information, and any organization that is set up for the sole purpose of walling off levels of information, or worse yet, creating false chambers of horded information, accessed only by a chosen few? That’s so… devolutionary? Spellcheck says that’s not a word, but living in Ohio, home of DEVO, I’m sure it is.
Our job on earth is to evolve, push the species forward. It ain’t about us, it’s about communicating information, and Tom, it’s happening so much faster than most people realize, and we can’t stop or even slow it down, and that was kind of the epiphany for me.
So. As long as a third party aggregator stays free and open and willing to share information, they might could survive. If they begin hording information, they are going to do themselves in, and much more quickly than they realize because we now have the technology to immediately recognize hording behavior when we see it and it’s anathema to us as a species.
I’m done. Thanks for listening. 🙂
June 19, 2009 — 5:25 am
Teri Lussier says:
Hi Mike-
>as we do try to evolve with the rest of the world we are still bound by these mesozoic era policies and rules that prevent us from evolving and adapting as fast as we should.
Ah take heart. Did you see Tom Hall’s post about Darwin and the NAR? Hardly anyone derives value from the NAR. So few people care about the NAR, that the nails are being driven into the coffin as we speak. And, you are definitely in the right place, here, you are among the friends. Hang tough, the death of the NAR is going to happen, and much more quickly than any of us anticipate.
June 19, 2009 — 5:33 am
Teri Lussier says:
Susan Kelly-
Amen. 😀
June 19, 2009 — 5:34 am
Michael Cook says:
Terri,
This would be every consumers dream. Having an educated real estate agent, so knowledgeable about an area, a property, a selling strategy, etc.
The ability to communicate this information and the practial implementation of the information itself is the value to the real estate industry. It seems like the NAR feels that the information itself should be valuable. Speadsheets and numbers have no value. Its only valuable if you can package them and share them in ways that drive good decision-making.
If every realtor thought like this, no consumer would purchase a property without one. This is thinking would revolutionize the industry. Not because it is so out of the box, but because it is exactly what the consumer wants and needs.
Give me a factual, knowledgeable realtor and I will drive him/her around.
June 19, 2009 — 9:48 am
Al Lorenz says:
“Our job on earth is to evolve, push the species forward. It ain’t about us, it’s about communicating information, and Tom, it’s happening so much faster than most people realize, and we can’t stop or even slow it down, and that was kind of the epiphany for me.”
That rotated my perspective to a new angle a bit for me as well. I have to give my brain cells a few days to play with this, but thanks already for getting them moving.
June 19, 2009 — 10:49 am
Greg Swann says:
I mentioned this to Teri privately, but people interested in the meme theme of this thread might want to make time for Richard Dawkins (home site, Wikipedia, Amazon), the inventor of the idea of the meme.
June 19, 2009 — 11:29 am
Teri Lussier says:
Hi Michael-
Thanks for commenting, as I always find your input insightful and refreshing.
>If every realtor thought like this, no consumer would purchase a property without one. This is thinking would revolutionize the industry. Not because it is so out of the box, but because it is exactly what the consumer wants and needs.
That’s it in a nutshell. People don’t trust or value Realtors because people don’t trust anyone who withholds information. We are hard-wired to share, communicate openly. By doing this very thing, we create value, trust, and our worth grows.
June 19, 2009 — 2:38 pm
Teri Lussier says:
Al-
The speed and amount of information sharing grows exponentially. Think back just 4 years ago. Google? Who? Twitter? facebook? How much information is available now that wasn’t available 10 years ago? 5 years ago? 1 year ago? It’s astounding. We crave this, I think. Our appetite for this is insatiable. We are information junkies, but we are also conduits, so it’s kinda weird in that we feed and feed off of, information… I dunno. Resistance is futile?
June 19, 2009 — 2:46 pm
Greg Swann says:
> Resistance is futile?
And what you have always thought of as privacy is more like a bottleneck. Rian has the right idea. How does a Bloodhound deal with the elephant in the room. It joyously romps over to it and sniffs it everywhere — and I mean everywhere. Not intruding, just being a Bloodhound…
June 19, 2009 — 2:56 pm
Teri Lussier says:
>And what you have always thought of as privacy is more like a bottleneck.
Yeah. Sometimes looking back on what I thought, out loud, left here for God and everyone to read, is like looking in a carnival mirror. 🙂
On the other hand, the full implications of this still make me squirm. I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea. It is intrusive, at least, it still feels that way when I think about it. I say this out loud, wincing: It’s a form of rape. It is. I don’t like it. But I can’t chose not to participate, which is so twisted to me. Right now. Perhaps I’m not getting this completely just yet. Still germinating, ruminating.
>Rian has the right idea.
Rian almost always has things right. And she often has to reach back and bring me up to speed. A deliciously happy indignity that comes of raising amazing children.
June 19, 2009 — 3:41 pm
Al Lorenz says:
I liked Michael Cook’s comment a bunch of levels also.
Figuratively:
“The ability to communicate this information and the practial implementation of the information itself is the value to the real estate industry.”
And literally:
Michael, you drive and I’ll communicate with less distraction!
It reminds me that I’m so ADD! Sometimes folks at Bloodhound make their point with such simplicity and eloquence that I actually get distracted from the topic because I become so impressed with the writing. Keep them coming!
June 19, 2009 — 4:59 pm