My wife called to me last week to watch a segment on the Today show (no link to the story) focusing on Sellers choosing not to have representation when selling their houses – some call them FSBOs…. There are several different business models available in today’s market that will simply post (usually accurate) listings in the MLS for a certain fee, but will not provide any negotiating, representation or any other assistance. There is a place for that – no question.The future of today’s Realtor is going to depend more and more on the representation aspect of real estate transactions. Any monkey can do data entry (look at some of the MLS listings and you will think that a monkey could easily have done better; there is no excuse for not putting in at least eight photos with a property)…. Representing the minutiae of a transaction – the seemingly little problems that can swiftly become seemingly insurmountable, managing the people and emotions involved, knowing about and doing those aspects of a transaction that can make a transaction a good or a painful memory – those are the parts of this profession that will Being able to successfully represent clients will define the future of this profession. There is much online competition for the real estate industry – Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, Google – that will fragment real estate search. Picking up the pieces by representing clients and their best interests will define the successful Realtor. No amount of online data will replace a walking into a basement and immediately knowing whether there has been water infiltration recently, or whether the wood floors are real 3/4 inch wood or a laminate-type product.
Browsing Category Technology
Craigslist in Charlottesville
The biggest news of the week could very well be the arrival of Craigslist. It is already making its way through local blogs, a bit ahead of the print news cycle, natch.I haven’t seen (or looked for) studies seeking any correlation between blog readers and their awareness of Craigslist, but I am going to assume that this is the case. Not everybody (yet) knows Craigslist, but they will. From a business perspective, ignoring this entrance could prove fatal.Make no mistake: Craigslist is changing industries. Newspapers’ classifieds are fighting for the same piece of pie that Google Base, Craigslist, even used car dealers – why do you think eBay purchased a stake in Craigslist?Craigslist is free. Craigslist has something that every organization wants – its visitors’ trust. More on this later this week.
Identity theft
Always be vigilant about your identity. Your credit history is probably the greatest determinant as to whether you can purchase a house (or car, or get phone service, or insurance … ).This is the story of a piece of paper no bigger than a credit card, thrown away in a dustbin on the Heathrow Express to Paddington station. It was nestling among chewing gum wrappers and baggage tags, cast off by some weary traveller, when I first laid eyes on it just over a month ago. … I picked up the stub, mindful of a conversation I had had with a computer security expert two months earlier, and put it in my pocket.If the expert was right, this stub would enable me to access (the traveler’s) personal information, including his passport number, date of birth and nationality. It would provide the building blocks for stealing his identity, ruining his future travel plans – and even allow me to fake his passport.From this weekend’s Guardian.There have been reports of identity thieves using vacant houses in the area to have their stolen identities’ good delivered to. It’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you.
Who is Realtor.com’s customer?
Realtors or the public (those who are thinking about buying or selling)? I pay more to have my listings featured on Realtor.com as a marketing service for my clients and potential clients. Now Realtor.com wants to sell leads generated by my listings back to me or someone else who is more willing to pay the big bucks? More incentive not to renew next year.Am I off base? Russ at RCG has a report from the NAR convention.
A Zero-energy home
Wow. Necessity really is the mother of invention.
Links for 12 May 2006
Population data (HT: Business Pundit)Charlottesville (“and surrounding area”) is #90Charlottesville is the 39th “Smartest Place to Live” per Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.North Pointe saga continues. As reported by Cville Tomorrow. My reports say that those in favor of the project moving forward far outnumbered those opposed. The forthcoming podcast will prove enlightening.Google Trends – an extraordinary means by which to peer inside the psyche of searchers. See: Housing BubblePrint -vs- Web -vs- BloggingAn index of SprawlZillow shows a little bit more of its hand – where will they go from here?Finally, a blast from the past:Nevertheless, technology alone isn’t the solution to the arcane world of real estate. “The business of working with realtors is complex,” said Barker. “This is a very fragmented business and realtors have lots of needs and they are expensive to service.”Plus, it is an industry that is very sensitive to relationships and to traditions and practices such as various MLS rules that are dissimilar from market to market.
Searching for homes getting easier
The advent of Zillow, Trulia, RealestateABC, et…. is pushing real estate technology innovation faster than it has ever been pushed. The news today that Cendant will be offering Microsoft’s Virtual Earth mapping on its websites is big news. (Don’t count MSFT out yet!) The mapping wars are just heating up. The guys at RCG are ahead of the curve – watch them.Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will provide its Virtual Earth commercial online mapping solutions for Cendant’s real estate brand Web sites – Century21.com, ColdwellBanker.com, ColdwellBankerCommercial.com, ERA.com and SothebysRealty.com – and for the local operating company Web sites of NRT Incorporated.The sooner Microsoft decides to support Firefox (or better yet, web standards) and makes their products accessible to all, the better. As a consumer, whether snooping on neighbors, searching for homes, or just checking up on the market, what are you looking for? What does the end game of the merging of real estate and technology look like?