Ten Take-Aways from the NAR Annual Convention
November 12, 2008
After spending five days in Orlando, Florida with the National Association of REALTORS Annual Conference, I thought it might be helpful to provide the 99.95% of the Association who didn’t go to the event with a few take-aways from what we saw. With trainers, consultants and trade show booth staff in every corner of the Conference, Matthew Ferrara & Company easily saw a little of everything going on. Here, then, are ten take-aways of what you missed.
Why IDX is a Really Bad Idea
November 5, 2008
Sometimes, you just have to learn the hard way. That seems to be the real estate industry’s preferred method of implementing technology tools - at least for the last twenty years or so. A herald comes over the hill, the masses become excited, everyone just starts doing it: And that’s when the highest risk to sound business principles usually occurs. Which is exactly where we are today with IDX - the “sharing” of listing inventory between competing brokers’ websites. It sounds like a good idea, except for one small snag:
Your million dollar website now looks awful because the data from your friendly cooperating brokers sucks.
An Alternate Theory of the Market Crash
October 10, 2008
Let’s pretend for a moment that reality doesn’t exist. That effect doesn’t follow cause. That reason is simply an “alternative” approach to how the world works. That everything means nothing. And that history is useless. If any of this sounds like the way people think today about money, the government and their lives, then maybe that’s all we need to construct a non-housing-market-based theory of why stock markets are crashing worldwide.
So let’s at least be fair and stop blaming it on the real estate and mortgage industry.
Do you have the Success you Deserve?
October 8, 2008
Graduates of our Integrity Selling course learn a very important principle in the world of sales: You always get paid what you think you are worth. It’s how the great sales people in real estate always earn the top dollars - because they believe they are worth them and won’t settle for a second-rate pay for the first-rate service they provide to their clients. The principle of “getting what you believe you are worth” is usually applied to commissions, but lately, with our clients, we’ve been taking this to a whole new level:
Are you achieving the success you believe you deserve?
More Evidence the Bailout is a Handout - and a Lie
October 2, 2008
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
- Mark Twain, a Biography
If at first you don’t succeed, try to destroy the economy again. That seems to be Congress’ motto these days, as they prepare to vote on the “revised” bailout bill.This, time, however, the proposed bill is so full of spending pork - from exempting children’s wooden arrows from excise taxes to increased cover of rum excise tax revenues - that proves Twain’s other saying that there was nothing a Congressman knows that couldn’t be taught to a flea.
What a scam!
Growing Your Hispanic Market
September 28, 2008
Here’s an idea that should appeal to all REALTOR entrepreneurs: Rather than waiting for a pile of money to fall from the sky, why not grow your way out of these tough times? It’s decision time now - and I don’t mean the election: Are you going to just sit there and let your company go bust? You probably don’t have enough cash to keep waiting it out - so pull your head out of the sand, shake off the panic and go do what you do best: Sell homes. Help buyers. Grow your sales.
If you don’t know where all this growth is going to come from, maybe it’s time to look at the growing Hispanic market.
The Bailout will Destroy the Housing Industry
September 26, 2008
Only in the United States Congress can a plan to destroy the housing industry and credit markets be called a “rescue” plan. It’s almost as farcical as calling “card check” bill that effectively kills secret voting for unions a “secret ballot bill.” Far more troubling, however, is the fact that the elements of the plan are laid out - in plain sight - for everyone to see and think about.
Why, then, does the real estate industry and average homeowner, not see the danger?
Why do Brokers Hire Sellers?
September 24, 2008
(Podcast Version) Ask any broker today what his “number one” problem with the market conditions, and he’ll tell you either there’s too much inventory or it’s all overpriced. Granted, if sellers want to put their homes on the market, nothing can stop them, with so many “for sale by owner” options out there. But that still leaves the issue of the overpriced homes that are represented by brokers. And that begs the question:
Why are brokers hiring sellers to sell their own homes?
Where is Your Government Bailout?
September 10, 2008
Over the weekend, the United States government tried to correct one mistake with another: Under intense pressure from foreign governments - especially the Chinese government who are the single largest investor in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - Uncle Sam took out its checkbook. With a flourish of the pen, the Treasury nationalized these failing financial behemoths. In the process, it wiped out any remaining common shareholder value, eliminated stockholder control over the company’s operations and fired (but will still pay millions in golden parachutes) one of the most inept management teams in the history of any undertaking.
In yet another stunning example of crisis management, lack of planning, and most of all - lack of leadership control of an organization - a pillar of both the real estate industry and the global economy itself crumbled. If the situation sounds a little too familiar to you, perhaps you’re wondering: Where’s my government bailout?
Bang! Internet Marketing is Dead!
August 30, 2008
It’s official. Internet marketing as you know it died today. One of the internet’s largest social network sites finally killed one of the internet’s largest search engines as the “eyeball attractor” for display ad views. Although it got little news, this mighty accomplishment may be the herald of a major shakeup for online commerce.
Consider yourself forewarned: Everything you thought about internet marketing to-date is now old news.
Avoiding the Industry Disaster
August 27, 2008
Just how close is the real estate industry to duplicating the disaster achieved by the airline industry? Contrary to popular belief, neither industry has been challenged by serious technology developments that have created “alternatives” to their essential model. People still fly on planes. Most consumers work with agents. Yet anyone who has had to deal with either industry lately knows that REALTORS are coming dangerously close to recreating the airline industry’s sub-lawyer-sub-car-salesman reputation.
For REALTORS, it shouldn’t take much to avoid that fate. But we must act now.
Market Rebounds: Managers Find Spines
July 28, 2008
In the news today, the real estate market soared as buyers finally concluded that the prices of houses on the market accurately reflected their needs and desires, plus their ability to pay, given the broader conditions of the American economy. When asked how quickly they might begin making offers on current inventory, John Q. Public, spokesman for the Common Real Estate Buyer (CREB) said, “Looks like we’ll see a lot of offers being made this month, now that REALTORS have stopped trying to get our members to pay too much for their next home. Looks like the managers in most offices have finally started taking control of their companies and rejecting overpriced listing agreements from their agents.” (Podcast) Read more
Five Focus Areas of Evolution for REALTOR Associations
June 30, 2008
It’s time for REALTOR Associations to do something they don’t like to do: Change. Certainly, over the past two decades, I’ve watched a fair amount of “changes” at REALTOR Associations worldwide: Executive Officers have come and gone; Associations have moved to bigger, then smaller, then bigger locations; they have changed their newsletters from print to email. All of these are “changes” but none of them represent the Change I mean when I say it’s time for REALTOR Associations to change.
I mean: It’s time for them to Evolve.
Read more
The Consumer-Unfriendly Myth of the REALTOR Independent Contractor
June 24, 2008
In our ongoing attempt to transform the real estate industry from a cottage guild angry at the internet to a technology-integrated modern production system focused on the needs of the consumer, we’re going to engage in a little myth-busting today. At one point, mankind believed the sun revolved around the earth. We soon learned that it didn’t - and that discovery made it possible for us to eventually go to the moon and beyond. What might happen if we dispel the myth that real estate agents are independent contractors?
Let’s clarify the essentials: An independent contractor has two definitions. The legal meaning is that of a worker or organization who provides services to another organization without being an employee. For example, when a home builder constructs a new home, he calls in an “independent” electrician to run the wires. The builder does not “hire” the electrician, and provide him certain obligations under the law, such as insurance, health care, unemployment insurance or training. And mostly, he doesn’t withhold his taxes and contribute half of his Social Security benefits. For most companies, this arrangement is normal, and usually occurs between two “companies” such as a software company and a marketing firm; a dry cleaner and a delivery service; a car dealer and a towing company. In the case of our builder, he says: Show up at this location; Look at the plans. We’ll agree on a price. Do the work. I’ll pay you.
MLS gets SAD and REALTORS Wither Further
June 11, 2008
I never ceases to amaze me. With the industry in turmoil - real turmoil meaning homes aren’t selling, credit is harder to come by even for good borrowers and silly groups like the Austin City Council trying to kill local real estate with local environmental-efficiency upgrades before permitting a house to sell - the REALTOR industry just keeps shooting itself in the foot. Never mind a weak dollar, shaky lenders and foreclosures undermining the markets in the states with the largest economies in the country - FL, NY, NV, and of course, California. Don’t worry about the changing generations of buyers disrupting the comfy-cozy medieval guild system we used to call the real estate business. And as for new third parties like Trulia and Zillow, they aren’t even on the radar of really disrupting the business, considering how easily they were co-opted into playing nice with the big franchisors.
Nope: Just leave it to the local MLS system to put the final nails into the coffin of good old real estate.
That’s just what’s happening in San Diego this morning, as Kris Berg, a local REALTOR and member of Prudential California reports this morning in a wonderful article (written as an open letter) on the Inman News site today (See the article or her personal blog or trackback link).
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- Ten Take-Aways from the NAR Annual Convention
- Why IDX is a Really Bad Idea
- A Difference of Six Words
- An Alternate Theory of the Market Crash
- Do you have the Success you Deserve?
- More Evidence the Bailout is a Handout - and a Lie
- Matthew Ferrara & Company News
- Growing Your Hispanic Market
- The Bailout will Destroy the Housing Industry
- When Companies Should Fail
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