It Ain't All Big Hair and Cadillacs

Not sure if you’ve visited TruliaVoices lately - there is an active thread currently running, at last count, 1,599 responses. I believe that is the longest running thread in Trulia’s fledgling history. The poster has since updated the question with more information qualifying the question due to the overwhelming number of responses, however, the basic question is, “Why should someone buy in this market?”

When initially posted, the question was a legitimate query into an expert’s view as to why someone in the poster’s circumstances should buy in Chicago. Personally, I had a problem with the question - should the response be a multiple choice response?

a. buy low, sell high
b. interest rates are at historically low levels
c. Jill is half as tall as Bill and 3/4 tall as Sally
d. Vicodine
e. There is insufficent data to answer to this question

I like “e” - and for the first time in almost 30 years, I can now fully appreciate the significance of that answer on the SATs. For those of you who found Vicodine to be the logical choice, may I suggest an intervention?

Ok - so I’ve been following the thread from time to time, watching it morph from being a useful discussion to - lately - a discussion regarding the existence of nuclear weapons in Israel. Almost like a game of telephone gone bad. More disturbing to me however is how the question has evolved into a rhetorical question “WHY THE HELL would someone buy in this market? What are you, an idiot?”

If you’re familiar with the TruliaVoices rating scheme, you understand that comments are rated by either a thumbs up or thumbs down. Honestly, I think there’s a conspiracy brewing. As you read the responses of the many realtors who answered the question, “There is no better time to buy!”, many of those responses were met with a burrage of thrumbs down. You can almost hear the resounding “BOO!”, “LOSER!” - you know, while you’re at, why don’t you just poke me and call me fat.

On the flipside, the number of written responses as insults were flying back and forth, discrediting realtors who provided insightful responses to a fairly ambiguous question. Again - thumbs up to the responder who really stuck it to the realtor - thunderous applause - BRAVO!

I think the collective mindset - or groupthink has become, any agent who tells a consumer to buy in this market is nothing but a realtwhore. Of course you want to tell people to buy, otherwise you won’t make your ridiculous commissions.

Well, I don’t think NAR’s national campaign blanket statement, “There’s no better time to buy! Consult your local realtor” has gained us points in the credibility deparment. A good majority of consumers aren’t convinced. Honestly, I did whince at a few responses (some with big hair) - shiney, happy people providing generic responses to a very generic question. Interest rates are low, inventory is high, it’s a buyers market! Buy! Buy! Buy! Sorry - they do kinda sound like realtwhores.

It’s a tough crowd in there, many of whom are well armed - spouting out data statistics from Standard and Poors, the Case Shiller Index, weighted averages etc. Even Fortune magazine wrote an article about the state of the market. Astonishing that Fortune’s article had higher credibility that a broker of greater than 20 years experience who has shared her thoughtful, specific responses throughout the thread. Hmmm - I thought Fortune sold magazines, not real estate? Why is the Case Shiller Index the defacto standard instead of NAR’s market stats? … because NAR’s nothing but a bunch of realtwhores.

I will say I did find a great deal of humor by reading the responses. I’ve been following the thread and have noticed a good number of real estate professionals’ responses. Many continue to dent their armor, they stood their ground - they took a few for the team, but then again, they do this for a living.

I couldn’t help but be struck by one agent’s response who up until then had been fighting the good fight, but then sheepishly admitted, oh I don’t actually use this site as a prospecting tool, I just come here from time to time and “check-in”.

Excuse me?

Let me get this straight - you fill out a profile in detail, providing all of your contact information, designate yourself as a real estate professional, actively participate in discussions, follow a thread that has grown to almost 1,600 responses, share your knowledge and expertise, but you don’t want consumers to think you’re a realtwhore - is that was you mean?

Who are you kidding? After I read that - the groupthink just took a survey: *DING*DING*DING, survey says *REALTWHORE* Suffice it to say - when a potential client now calls said agent, it is their duty to say - oh, I’m sorry, while I appreciate the fact that you enjoyed my knowledge and experience, I was not seeking any potential business - I’m afraid I can’t help you - I’m a realtor, not a realtwhore.

Some how realtors who admit they use social networking sites as prospecting tools are looked upon as less credible. How far from the truth can that be? When you establish a web presence, you’re prospecting. Consumers are using these sites in exponentially increasing numbers. While some consumers enjoy the game of discrediting the experts and the realtwhores, a greater majority are seeking sage advice. They need expertise and knowledge and they are seeking out the experts. Groupthink tells that buying and selling is a do-it-yourself job. For some that very well may be the case - some are not seeking to be converted and you know, that’s ok. Where better to draw the distinction between a realtor and a realtwhore?

Regarding my own TruliaVoices involvement, in my own professional way, I would like to address the few of you who gave me thumbs down on my incredibly insightful responses. No - for you who choose to discredit me - I will not pick up my toys and leave the sandbox. Nope - instead I want you to follow these simple directions:

Apply lips firmly to my right buttock. Pucker and release. Repeat.

Now see? It’s all in the delivery.

Ok - I have to admit it - I am finding that I have more idle time in my day - clearly my time blogging has not yet resulted in the deluge of qualified buyers and sellers that are promised by the "experts". So, as a social experiment, I have decided to blog more in the attempt to attract more buyers and sellers -

here goes...

Aside from being a self-subscribed caffiene addict, I also realize that I have become unhealthily (is that a word?) addicted to LinkedIn, Twitter, PropertyQube and Trulia - as well as additional social networking sites that serve the real estate community. Facinating! I continue to be drawn into the discussions and quite honestly, I am learning some really great stuff.

In my idle boredom, I decided to throw out my own questions because I am excited about the prospect of learning from my peers as well as possible clients.

I threw out a few questions - what sites do consumers like most when searching for property? - what's the most creative marketing you've done / come across in marketing a property?

and - what I felt was a fairly innoquious question, "What are a real estate agent's core competencies?" I wanted to hear what other agents had to share regarding their skill sets - what ultimately creates value and makes them money. Many of the responses were great. I was surprised, however, that I received so many responses that I honestly felt simply missed the mark. I received one response telling me my question was "odd".

Disclaimer: I do not know everything about buying and selling real estate and I do not profess to be the source of all information. Ok - now that I have that out of the way - people - core competencies are the value-added activities we do - many of which are intangible - that justify getting paid for what we do as real estate practioners. Cha-ching.


I am a practitioner - I continue to practice until I get really, really good at what I do. But practicing is an appropriate word, because as the landscape of the real estate environment changes, we must continue to hone our skills and knowledge. But key to all of that is - finding the intersection between our core competencies and meeting our clients needs.

I referenced the changing landscape of real estate because there are an onslaught of technology solutions hell-bent on eating our lunch. Many of these solutions are meeting the needs of the consumer because we have either failed to understand the need or have neglected to tell the consumer how/why we're valuable.

If a client wants to search for their own property - let them - or perhaps we may be able to do a better job sifting through the rift. If a client wants to do the analysis of the comps - let them - or perhaps we need to expertly assimilate the data in a way that imparts our specific knowledge of the property types, the neighborhood and the specifics regarding where the market is headed.

Sometimes experience and intuition is worth something.

If a client wants to negotiate their own contract - let them - or perhaps we should share with them the skills required to provide a win-win for both parties - so after the ink has dried, the deal still sticks.

Maybe the commission based model isn't in our best interests as real estate practitioners because it fails to articulate the real value-add of the many things we do to get the job done.

Ask yourself - what is at your core? Anyone? Buehler?

I just read the recent posting to Joel Burslem's blog, Future of Real Estate Marketing, Millions of Listing Oh My regarding the lastest statistics regarding the total number of listings now available online from the real estate search portals.

I read the numbers and I can't help but yawn. So what. So now consumers can have access to all the available properties online - there's plenty of data now available online. But is Web 2.0 solutions for real estate really all about the data?

1000Watt consulting has developed a Real Estate Web 2.0 mindshare map which classifies the players in the real estate technology space and where they play. As a real estate practitioner, I come across both buyers and sellers who are actively engaged on many of the sites on the map searching for their new home - doing the comparisons and grinding out the data. Why do I need a real estate agent when I can do my own search? I can do my own comps - all real estate agents do is look up property on the MLS and drive me around to look at houses I have already found.

Wait one cotton-pickin' minute Guggliomi! Do consumers really think real estate agents just look for property - property listings already available through many of the players on the Web 2.0 map? I think someone with the experience who does the analysis on a day to day basis has a better basis for assimilating the data personally, but that's my opinion.

Regardless, I still don't think the Web 2.0 data driven solutions are the answer. As I scour the map of players, I am struck by the scope of the playing field - and the categories. It simply hit me that there really is no comprehensive solution which is addresses the real estate landscape. No current offering provides an intuitive process approach that follows the natural progression of a real estate transaction.

While many sites such as Trulia allow users to interact and share knowledge and expertise in TruliaVoices, it is generally disjointed and lacks the context within the natural progression of the process of buying or selling real estate.

Why is this important? Because consumer still don't know what they don't know. They think the process is all about the data. Who's fault is that?

The benefits or Twitter are endless! I found a really great blog written by Joel Burslem - a fellow Twitterer. His recent post refers to the mindscape for technology players for Web 2.0 for real estate - clearly there is no shortage of solutions in real estate - yet, as a real estate professional, I still feel that the solutions seem to be so disjointed.

As I look at the players in the social media space - and from my experience working with clients - time and time again, I am struck by the consumers lack of knowledge of the process of buying and selling - and the basic facts that consumers lack eduction in the process.

There are many tools which address opening the floodgates to the data trapped deep inside the MLS - analytical and search tools abound, however there is again a lack of general knowledge of the process of buying and selling. As I like to say, the consumer simply doesn't know what they don't know - this is the value that realtors provide, yet as a realtor I can say that we don't do the best job in educating the consumer.

I think a void that needs to be filled - and I believe it is a possible social media solution - is a collaborative environment - a wiki - where consumers gain process knowledge.