My second "slap upside the head" came while reading a post by Brian Wilson, entitled "How the Real Estate Industry Changed While I was In Iraq. Part 1/4." Brian, a Colorado Real Estate Broker and reservist is back from a tour in Iraq. He is writing an enlightening series of posts about what has changed while he was away. Sometimes distance creates perspective
Brian writes that "prior to Iraq only three real estate websites affected my business: Realtor.com, my local MLS and my website." What's startling is that many of us in the real estate community have not grasped what become obvious to Brian Wilson in a foreign country.
Our industry has radically changed and the new players are recreating significant aspects of the real estate market. Websites and concepts which did not exist 24 months ago may have greater implications for the future of real estate than systems which have served us for decades!
Real estate PRE-Iraq of 2005 was still pretty much limited to connecting with a LIVE real estate agent...even when portals like housevalues.com "tricked" you into doing so. Brian Wilson admits that PRE-Iraq of 2005, he had never read a blog and considered any company that paid people to use their services desperate. That was then...this is now!
Today, real estate companies like Redfin are not only paying customers rebates for their services, but interacting and getting daily feedback through their blogs. Today, you can buy and trade virtual real estate. And Today, it is possible to preview a multi-million dollar home, marketed by one of the nation's largest real estate brokerages, who re-created their prime listing virtually on secondlife.com for sale in real life! We are witnessing an incredible synthesis which merges the real and the unreal into a virtual potpourri.
For for the first time, businesses can get "real time" feedback on new services and products. And this feedback can be obtained realtively cheaply and very rapidly. The price of knowledge has shrunk and the value of wisdom has exploded!
We are witnessing the emergence of a culture, where the value of an idea supersedes the price that we are willing to pay for information. This shift is a critical reason why real estate as it has been practised for the past 100 years will not survive. It will change because it has to. In it's place is arising a new creation which will function in a world with new rules.
In this world... where the real and the unreal synthetically merge, Transparency is rapidly becoming the core currency of trade. The degree to which our industry grasps and responds to this will determine our viability and ultimately our profitability. Transparency is also the great "equalizer." It levels the economic playing field and renders the world flat. Access to information has allowed ALL players, big and small, to present their wares on the world stage. We are redefining the nature of the court of public opinion through a little feature at the end of a blog post known as the "comment."
It's intriguing to ponder how this will impact the real estate industry. Consider the trajectory we are on. A decade ago, NO pictures for listings were available on line. Now, we can create collages with multiple interior photos and feature virtual tours complete with mood music. The advent of the youtube generation is re-imaging how we tell the truth.
Polished and shined up will not necessarily be cool if the reality on-line is markedly different from what a home really looks like. We will be challenged to learn to think differently. Is it conceivable that showing a home with ALL it's flaws might actually aid and facilitate a Sale? Will this affect how a home is staged, filmed, video taped or blogged about?
It seems probable that these questions in some fashion impact whether the MLS systems and the real estate agents who depend on them today exist in the future or not. Like Brian Wilson, I too am increasingly reflecting on how much has changed so quickly. But, I'm also intrigued by the reflecting and wondering about the ...Why. Hidden in that 3 letter word is the key to the transformation that is already upon us.
*picture courtesy of distractedmind's photo stream on flickr.com
on what year you start the count.
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Lola Audu, is the Designated Broker & Owner of Audu Real Estate. Our company specializes in helping people buy and sell homes in the greater Grand Rapids, West Michigan area. We've had the privilege of helping hundreds of clients succeed in their goals of purchasing and selling property including demonstrated success in the negotiation of Short Sale Transactions. You can contact us via e-mail @ info@auduhomes.com or by phone at 616-791-0511.
WHACK! That was the sound of your blog post slapping me upside the head, too.
I just noticed Dallas Willard in your library...great stuff!
Thanks for being my friend, Lola...and thank you for your challenges and encouragement.
Lola,
Thank you for the nod on my blog post. Sometimes it takes getting out of the scurry of everyday life to see the forest for the trees. I wouldn't recommend enlisting in the army for this reason - there are better ways.
Brian Wilson
www.zolve.com