I've got a secret

“Within the first six months, these [doctors] wrote six million prescriptions for more than fifty million of these happy blue pills, ” noted Alex Wipperfurth in Brand Hijack. Of  course, the happy blue pill that he was referring to was Viagra, which came out in 1998.

Shouldn’t this country be happier?

I had lunch with an agent from another office the other day. We had a nice time talking, and the sandwiches at the Longhorn were good. She said something that I thought was interesting, something I had thought about often myself. She asked if we all shouldn’t help each other out (she was referring to real estate agents) regardless of office affiliation.

Suppose your office has a recipe for success- a “secret sauce,” I guess. Should you share that with others? Will that make the entire industry stronger, or make your own (and your office’s) position weaker?

Suppose your office had a recipe for the Viagra that would counteract a flat market.

This is what I think. I think that we all need to help one another- those of us that are left.  I think when @RealtyMan presented about Facebook at REBarCamp Boston that he wasn’t giving anyone the skill sets to take him down.

So, like everyone else in RE.net, I will share my general knowledge. Specific application of that knowledge set has been promised to Towne & Country, Realtors- that is the promise that I have made to the company in regards to the Central MA area. But do I think you need a blog? YES! Where can you get one? You can set up a free one on WordPress.com or blogger, or you can get one of your very own using the WordPress platform (godaddy has an easy set-up).

Should you buy into every social media or new media thing that comes along? Gerry and I are kind of spread out everywhere but that is because we have to for Towne & Country, Realtors. In fact, Gerry does a lot of beta testing for real estate platforms, helping to evaluate them for the developers. As an agent, though, I think you want get involved in a few things that you can really dig deeply into and extend your personality. And I am cheap as all get out- if it is going to cost me something, I don’t do it. The cost to me is time: sweat-equity, if you prefer.

Bottom line: I want you all to succeed. I want the exceptional agents to stay in the business- you may end up sitting across the table from me as a cobroke, or in the same position with one of  the Towne & Country, Realtors team, or actually being a member of our team someday. Who knows?

And the agent I spoke with the other day is dead on- we all have to have each others’ backs. That makes the industry better for the consumer, and customer service is what it is all about.

Want to have lunch and bat ideas around? I promise not to mention Viagra. diane@realtyman.com

The Next Big Thing for Real Estate- Retirement?

Heading to NYC- being around all of that intelligence- always triggers a shift to big-picture thinking. At the last Connect that I went to, the question bandied about was, “What will the next big thing in Real Estate be?’ The problem with that question is that the next big thing is going to leap in and sideswipe us, probably sneaking in as simply as the online MLS, and 20 years we wake up to an entirely different industry. No one realized all of the implications, or without a doubt there would have been a lot more dragging of feet.

My guess is that the Next Big Thing is already here, and is either waiting for someone to apply it differently (think twitter) or we just don’t realize the effect it will have (think business blogging).

What struck me today, thinking larger, is Real Estate retirement plans. The best in the industry speak about selling their “Books of Business,” and I wonder how often that happens and how effective it even is. We, as an industry, sell ourselves not on our professionalism, but on personal relationships. I NEVER have seen an agent pointing out their average listed days on market as opposed to local industry averages, or initial list price or sales price compared to the same industry standard. Why not?

I DO hear about sales agents being invited to past clients’ weddings, and sending baby gifts. And this is really nice, this blurring of the personal and professional. But this means that you can’t sell this Book of Business (even if there was someone to buy it) because it is, in reality, a book of friendships. It only works when you yourself are actively involved in maintaining the relationships, and transitioning an entire group is near impossible.

I looked at the retirement plan that is being promoted by one national real estate franchise. It might be somewhat workable if you devoted a large amount of time bringing in agents that are much younger than you are, instead of selling. But really. How many agents has the average sales agent brought on board to his or her company? For the average agent- or the above average one, for that matter- is it honest to suggest that this is any kind of retirement plan?

So, what is the average retirement plan for a real estate sales agent? Not retiring? Alternate income stream, and if so, what? The average age of a real estate agent is 51, according to the Wall Street Journal- and this was written in 2008. What is that- 15 years until retirement?

And there’s this from the same article:

The Globe points out that Gen X and Gen Y buyers don’t want the hand-holding of the typical agent/home-buyer relationship. Many of these consumers prefer to do their own house hunting and research online, and some are skipping buyer agents all together to complete the entire home search and home purchase on their own.

I think that because of informational transitions, there has to be a change in the way that real estate agents conduct business. In other words: it will have to be treated more as a business. I had asked a question online the other day, and Debbie Kirkland mentioned (and I am paraphrasing) that she sees brokerages becoming training grounds for new agents only, and that experienced sales agents will get their broker’s license and work independently. I think this is a trend that we will continue to see, with the small broker being less of a General practitioner and more of a Specialist, and being made up of not only the broker, but also a team of support and specialized sales people. It would actually be easier to sell a practice like this than to try to sell a nebulous Book of Relationships.

Agents- what about you? What is your retirement plan?

I met a buyer at one of our team properties yesterday. I showed them the property, and presented the MA Mandatory Agency Disclosure for signature. This describes the different relationships that a real estate agent can have with a buyer or a seller, and is supposed to be presented, explained, and signed by the consumer (or not) at the first face-to-face meeting. It is not an option for real estate agents- they are supposed to tell the consumer which side of the fence that they are sitting on.

So, good enough. We were at that point, and these buyers had seen enough property prior to this so that they were familiar with the document. The person signing even mentioned the terms “buyer’s agent,” “seller’s agent,” and “facilitator.” Sometimes I think that real estate consumers come to the table with more information and understanding than the agents.

Then she said to me something chilling, and I am going to relate the story here. She told me that she had called and made arrangements to see a property with the listing agent. She has three friends who are agents, and has chosen to go through this process without a buyer’s agent; were she to choose representation, she would have picked a friend. She got to the door, and the listing agent had been too busy to come out, so she sent her brother. Her brother said to this potential buyer that she would have to sign an Exclusive Buyer’s Agency contract before he would allow them to view the home.

I am not sure whether this was meant for this particular property or not, but it doesn’t matter. The agent told this buyer, “I don’t work for free.” The buyer turned around and left without signing the contract.

On how many levels is this wrong? The seller is not getting the representation promised in his contract if buyers in this market are being turned away at the door, so that is one frightening thing. But to stand at the door, contract in hand, and try to strong-arm a signature- let alone disclosing your motives and and relationship to the listing agent- this agent may have had brass balls, but no real intelligence to back it up. If I were that buyer, I would have turned around and walked out too- if it was the last house for sale in the region. If I liked the home, I would have called one of those friends and tried to arrange a showing, but I would never- NEVER- have signed a contract with that agent.

Real estate agents have a more close relationship with the consumer than, say, a car salesperson. This is certainly not meant to disparage car salespeople, but the relationship for agent-consumer is actual agency- the consumer is a client. Real estate agents are privy to sensitive information about financial conditions and motives, both of which come into play in the negotiating process. I would want to be absolutely certain that my agent was capable of handling those confidences, and knew how to use this information.

To the real estate agents out there: We are not the gatekeepers of information. We have no right to stand at a door and disallow entry, literally or figuratively- these doors are wide open. As this buyer told me, she has all the information that she wants at her fingertips. She wants help with the actual sales process. I think this is pretty typical of many buyers today, and this is really the area that an agent can be of help- with the process, and in the interpretation of that information.

No, no one wants to work for free. But how long do you think you will be in the business of helping people if you are not helping them?

I have a friend who had asked me for some advice about purchasing his first home. He let me know that he had seen a loan officer to be preapproved for his mortgage. Excellent! This lets people know if they are able to qualify for a mortgage (and if not, how they can improve their ability to borrow) and how much the lender feels that their mortgage limit should be. It’s wonderful that he has this important first step out of the way.

So what’s next? Most searches suggest a zip code-number of bedrooms-number of baths approach. This isn’t the way people would naturally search for a property; these searches are devised for computers, not humans. There will be more organically-based search paradigms available in the future. I just recently sat in on a teleconference/presentation for one- Onboard’s Lifestyle Listings Engine- that will be rolled out soon.
These searches will allow you to find homes by lifestyle choice. Interested in homes with the best ranked school systems that will be 20 miles from your office? Maybe you want to be as close as possible to the city, yet remain a half hour from work. You will be able to prioritize the characteristics that are important to you, and narrow your choices of home to the most relevant.

But for now you have to work with the search options available, and this can be difficult given that a search of, say, single family homes in Lowell, MA for under $300,000 gives you more than 125 choices. Even if half of these appeared unsuited to you by appearance, condition or size, checking this many properties out is a daunting task.

This is how I would begin. Where you work determines to a great extent where you live, unless you are Tom Cruise. I would decide the maximum I would drive, then get a map (paper or virtual) and draw a line circumscribing the area that that would include. This gives you the starting-off point, and will keep you from looking at houses within a town or zip code that are too far away.

Then I have to sit down and really think. What would my next set of requirements look like and how would I order them? Things to consider and decide the importance of:

• Size of yard
• Proximity to parks or conservation land, or to an urban environment
• Quality of school
• Amount of cosmetic upgrading you want to take on
• Actual length of commute (are you willing to bend on this to accommodate school quality, for example)

These are things you cannot change. On average, homeowners move every 7 years according to Realtor.com, and survey respondents indicate the majority do this for lifestyle reasons. You need to decide what is important to your lifestyle, and look for homes within communities that can provide that. If schools are important, research which communities within the circle that you drew can provide the best education, and start there. You can do much of this on your own, or you can ask for the help of a real estate agent to narrow your search.

At this point in your search, I would be speaking with friends to see if they can recommend a real estate agent. Plan on speaking with more than one to see with whom you hit it off and feel is knowledgeable of the process.

How exciting! You’re nearly ready!