RealTown's RealTalk

I appreciate Lou Frey's opinion regarding over weight and over leveraged Mega Real Estate Companies.  "The Times are a Changin'" what's new?  I work out of a 100% office.  Actually if the truth were known I'm sitting here in my underwear doing the courtesy thing.  Everybody understands that the future will be the results of the technology of today.  So lets' not screw up a good thing, if it is a good thing. 

Lou stated:
"And SEO gets us to the table, more rarely but it does and technology got us the clients, not floor duty or newspaper ads".

The issue is with the word RARELY.  Since the good ole' days rarely has been the problem that overhead keeps nibbling away at.  My only overhead is my underwear and laptop.  Everything else is FREE.  Isn't that why we all opted into the IDX?  It's FREE.  We can expose more LISTINGS over the FREE WWW.  But it RARELY pulls in the business according to Lou, rightfully so, I'm sure we all agree?  Floor Duty and Snooze-Paper advertising never was a producer.  It only appeased the seller.  Buyer of today does it the same way as the buyer of yesteryear.  CALL THEIR BROKER!!!! 

At the end of the day the bottom line (evidence) is that survival is not what Real Estate is ALL ABOUT!  As a Broker in a 100% office, I've cut my overhead expenses down to underwear and laptop.  I have no desk fee I have a paltry 2 digit monthly fee and a paltry office fee per transaction, no advertising fee no broker split, no marketing fee, everything is FREE now.  Actually being in my situation makes survival a thing of the past.  I have NO OVERHEAD, neither does my Broker!  Unfortunately "rarely" rules the day.  The question I must ask myself, am I getting my money's worth???   I'm not spending a DIME???  I'm in the FREE ZONE.  With IDX and with the WWW my listings are on over 500 websites and their AFFILIATES, some of these websites are not even owned by licensed Realtors.  Now isn't that a kick?  Might not be hitting many RBIs or Home Runs but I'm getting to 1st base "rarely".  Isn't IDX fun? 

I can tell you this, if you take IDX out of the picture, you will hose down all the Lead Generators and all the Approved Vendor Affiliates.  You will also ham string all these so called "new school real estate" models that have everybody confused.  Ops there I go again Thinking instead of Reacting.

The only reason I work in a 100% office is because the bottom line says when you have as many reluctant buyers and unrealistic sellers in the market place, you got to cut your expenses.  What better expense to cut than the typical broker/agent commission split.  "Stick it to Da Man" attitude.  Just remember to leave your monthly fee. 

I love my Independance and the freedom to do business in my underwear over the net, but I'm not convinced this is the best way of skinning the cat.  I'm seeing a lot of blood on the floor and a lot of discontent all because of FREE MARKETING.  I think we better start rethinking what we are doing before gas hits AFFORDABILITY.  Here's a few questions for you. 
When has gas ever been affordable? 
When are we going to fix education? 
When are we going to have piece in our times?  Yea Right! 

It's always the same argument all the time.  Where did I come from, how did I get here, and where is my future?  You can have the most lofty goals set in your life but if you have your ladder of success leaning against the wrong wall it will only be because you have no PURPOSE in your GOALS.  The gravy train is the MLS!  If buyer's are interested in buying, and they are, they'll always call.  If the sellers are interested in selling they'll get the price right use a Realtor and take the best offer.  THAT IS THE BOTTOM LINE.  FREE EXPOSURE on a million websites doesn't produce more sales.  Actually if you look at the EVIDENCE it produces "RARELY"

Lou Frey said:
"The question over the next 2 years will be, who will survive. The
big firms with their mega overheads will be in big trouble and will
soak the non producing agents for as much as they can get but in the
end they will be much smaller, meaner and leaner. In the end their
overhead is going to kill them and their agents."
 

Lou,
 

Your whole post was enlightening. Profound. Every agent who wants to
be in this business going forward should read it, twice, and then
think long and hard about their approach to this business. With the
boom days over, brokers and agents who are taking your "virtual
office" approach will now begin to emerge as the leaders in this
business. And by leaders, I specifically mean the ones that sit at
the closing table, again and again. Web leads are cutting hard into
the "market share" of all other lead generation methods. This is
especially pronounced with relocation leads.
 

I am not an agent, but I do get constant feedback from agents across
the nation who are using the Web effectively. What you describe
happening in Santa Fe is what I have been predicting for a while now.
 

Right here in my own backyard, the mega-brokers, by and large, have
no significant search rankings. They appear to completely ignore the
Web. One branch office broker told us as recently as last year, point
blank, "I do not believe in the Internet".
 

When incremental change happens, those with the largest market share
usually prefer to ignore the trend, until it hits them hard. At that
point, serious downsizing or even dissolution becomes the order of
the day, as it did in the Santa Fe example that Lou cited. All of
those years of brand building via traditional media dominance will
count for very little. The boom years actually masked the effect of
the Web on real estate, making it all seem to be an unnecessary
nuisance to established agents and brokers.
 

Yet homes will continue to be bought and sold, with someone
representing buyers and sellers. If Web leads are leading to
closings, then a successful Web presence will go a long way toward
helping an agent become a part of those transactions.
 

The public may no longer care much about bricks and mortar, or how
many pages of print advertising a brokerage buys, or how many agents
are in the local broker's office. In the new world order, they may
never even consider it, if they find their agent using the WWW. And
more and more people are doing just that.
 

Best regards,
 

Dirk Johnson
Partner - Operations
DomainDrivers LLC
djohnson@domaindrivers.com
703-406-4698
http://domaindrivers.realtown.com
We're an approved RealTalk/RealTown vendor:
http://DomainDrivers.InternetCrusade.com

Gary Nagle:
"I too have disengaged myself from the traditional brick and mortar
office and opted for a 'work from home' business model. I am not
suffering any loss of business at all. I am not being fed by walk-in
or call-in traffic to a brokerage --- which dropped to zero sometime
in late 2006 anyway!... 80% of my 2008 transactions have come through
my website and as a direct result of the SEO dollars I am spending."
 

Hi Gary,
 

Thanks for posting. We hear that again and again.
 

You also said that "To the broker who said he didn't believe in the
internet --- you better get with the program soon or get ready to
retire!".
 

I think that a fundamental transformation in the industry is already
underway. It is being driven by market forces. Not everyone will be a
"loser". There will be winners. The winners just might not be the
same broker/agents who were once accustomed to being the big dogs in
the neighborhood. In a large way, the ability to use the Web as an
effective business tool will shape the outcome. Just as it has
already with your business.
 

The population of agents who steadfastly refuse to become web savvy
(and, from what I see, that is the great majority of them) will be
vocal. If they were once the cornerstones of the previous generation
who relied on other marketing methods, they will continue to wax
nostalgically for the old days. People like yourself will be too busy
to bother to listen to it.
 

Again, for any agent that is sincerely looking for fresh answers,
they need to start seeking out people like yourself to look to as
mentors. The old schoolers who continue to choose to drag their feet
on Web marketing will never again be able to coach the marketing
aspects of this business in an effective way. That is because they
way people buy real estate has fundamentally changed. No amount of
reminiscing is going to bring it back.
 

Best regards,
 

Dirk Johnson
Partner - Operations
DomainDrivers LLC
djohnson@domaindrivers.com
703-406-4698
http://domaindrivers.realtown.com
We're an approved RealTalk/RealTown vendor:
http://DomainDrivers.InternetCrusade.com