I've been reading tweets this morning from Inman Connect in New York #ICNY. Mostly I've been interested on the RPR discussions.
Everyone is (once again) talking about leveling the playing field. Ugh. That just gets me all fired up. Leveling the playing field. Bah! RPR providing the same reports and tools to all Realtors does not make all Realtors level. Data is great and is an integral part of the real estate transaction but there is so much more to buying and selling a home!
When the market in Florida was super hot we were seeing Fee-For-Service, Flat Rate and other non-traditional business models opening up all over the place. I wasn't really considering selling my home but I looked at some of the services available to me if I did want to sell. Remember, I love statistics and analytics. I love crunching data. I would bet I can get a better idea of market trends in my area than most agents. It's what I do. If the question is only pricing my house right, I wouldn't need any help. I could price my house, pay someone to add it to the MLS then hire a real estate attorney to represent me at closing. Quick, easy and painless? No way.
There is so much more that a good real estate professional brings to the table other than reports. Things like staging, curb appeal, proper marketing channels, open houses on the seller side. Then there's little Susie's ballet classes, neighborhood vibe...feelings on the buyer side.
I like to think I know a lot about real estate, especially when it comes to real estate information but I would never dream of buying or selling my home without representation. I know there are disclosures but I don't know what they are. I don't know what's reasonable in negotiations. I can look at average days on market but I don't know, strategically, when to modify my price in order to get the best return in the shortest time. There are tons of things I can not do.
So RPR is providing some cool tools for agents. That's awesome. Leveling the playing field? I dunno. IMO the playing field is not data or reports, the playing field is how a person takes the data and reports, add their own intellectual property (something which can not be managed by a computer) and uses that information to represent a buyer or seller. I don't know what all will shake out of RPR, still too early to tell, but I think the tools they are providing will enable the great agents to shine and the bad ones will continue to just get by.
Friday, January 15, 2010
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You are so on target with this post. I'm so sick of hearing "leveing the playing field" (again) and the people who think that by withholding or refraining from collabrative technology efforts will in some way give them an advantage in their marketplace. It's this line of thinking that has brought us to an era (or kept us in) where it's commonly regarded that agents, in general, are not meeting consumers expectations. Until we can change the mindset that we must only satisfy our lowest common demoninator in fear of loss, we will most certainly continue to internally destruct ourselves with no hope of progress. If we can not get past our self destruction some third party, probably not even yet contemplated, will most certainly figure out a way to satisfied consumer expectations with us.
ReplyDeleteThanks Doug. And I completely agree! What can set you apart is YOU...some of the agents out there won't use any of the technologies available but that doesn't mean we should keep them from those who will and who will provide better service to the consumer. I also agree that someone else will come along and create something we can't even imagine yet, it's up to us to keep the focus and help advance our industry.
ReplyDeletePrincess: I agree with your gripe about the LTPF argument. I think with RPR, it might be worth thinking about its value to agents in their consumer interactions though, because it would have a tendency to reduce the visual distinctions between agents. If RPR provides a PDF report that the agent generating it cannot customize, she'll go into a listing presentation with the same collateral materials as other agents. It seems to me agents are always trying to distinguish themselves. Even though RPR may not harm leading agents by levelling the playing field, I wonder whether agents will perceive its tendency to minimize visual differences among them as a weakness.
ReplyDelete-Brian
Great points, Brian. I hadn't thought about the PDF aspect and I completely agree. Customization of reports is such a huge thing. Sometimes it isn't about the information as much as the way it looks - creativity can really shine!
ReplyDelete