Real estate people are some of the most optimistic people I know. They have to be in order to work a business in which they don’t make a penny without a transaction getting done, and the driving motivation for the consumer is a dream: The American Dream, the Dream of Homeownership, Your Dream Home. Real … Read more
At the 2011 Association Executives Institute meeting in Dallas, NAR has put forth a bold if risky plan it is actually calling the “Political Survival Initiative“. In short, NAR will launch a “REALTOR Party” that will go beyond simple issue advocacy to full-blown political support for individual candidates based on issues NAR considers important (e.g., … Read more
Agent Ratings is in the news again. MLSListings, based on Sunnyvale, California, has announced that it will launch a pilot REALTOR ratings program with the California Association of REALTORS. But it appears that the MLSListings program isn’t what HAR attempted to do a while back, where consumers directly rate agents: Designed by independent consumer review … Read more
As some of you know, I’ve long been an admirer of Keller Williams as a brokerage model, because of its consistency. I may not be a huge fan of all of their practices, but as a business consultant, I’ve always admired how its strategy fits together so very well. I wrote about KW on Inman … Read more
As some of you know, I’ve long been an admirer of Keller Williams as a brokerage model, because of its consistency. I may not be a huge fan of all of their practices, but as a business consultant, I’ve always admired how its strategy fits together so very well. I wrote about KW on Inman … Read more
This is simply mindblowing: The use of blogs has steadily increased as a marketing tool for real estate agents. One in ten members reported having a real estate blog. In 2009, 7 percent of members reported having a blog. Among REALTORS®, blogs are most common among those aged 29, and nearly one in five members … Read more
So Gahlord Dewald, seriously one of the big brains in the real estate industry, puts up a thought-provoking post on strategy. It’s worth reading in full. But I got obsessed with his definition of strategy, especially since I just wrote a post on strategy. Funny how things seem to come in bunches. Anyhow, Gahlord on … Read more
I spoke recently with a friend of mine about the nature of strategy. Actually, it was about football, but somehow led into strategy, and I thought it was interesting enough to share. Most people use the word “strategy” incorrectly. They think any sort of plan means “strategy”. As in, “What’s our strategy for increasing leads … Read more
Following up on my post on NAR 800K, I found this article on Inman News about a survey it conducted of its readers (subscription required). Apparently, most of the respondents agree with yours truly in thinking that at least another 20% of agents need to exit the industry before we can have recovery. But here’s … Read more