Jon Strum

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What's happening in the economy is not "a natural correction." That's an absurd comment to make. It is a credit feeze the likes of which haven't been seen in most of our lifetimes. And the current credit freeze threatens so much more than just those people who borrowed more than they could afford and those institutions that enabled them. The reality of today's credit freeze means that even those folks who have paid all of their bills, avoided over-burdened mortgages, etc. will find that their credit card limits (and, therefore, their buying power) are arbitrarily reduced -- even to zero. It means that student loans will not be available to college students next semester. It means that car loans will be as difficult to get as home loans have become -- even to those people with ideal credit because it's the banks themselves that can't borrow money! Small businesses that rely on lines of credit to manage the ebb and flow of normal cash flow will find that they can no longer make their payroll. And when that happens, imagine what happens next as far as massive layoffs and the affect they will have on local economies across the nation. Don't wish for a recession before you fully appreciate how it will affect you, your friends, family, neighbors and community. Amidst a serious recession, guess what happens to those plans for taking a Hawaiian vacation? And we've already seen (following 9/11) how killing tourism has an immediate and profound affect on the Hawaiian economy. Have you factored any of this into your cavalier proclamation here? You recommend that we should "let some people lose their homes, let some banks go out of business," -- we already have, an many more are likely to follow. But you just can't turn this into a simple problem to fit a simple world view. The solution is one that no one particularly likes. But to talk about it as if doing nothing will solve anything is simply applying more of the misguided free market de-regulation philosophy that brought our country to this dubious moment in the first place. Jon Strum President homsho Web: www.homsho.com Blog: www.LARealEstateBlog.com

It's ironic that the same real estate professionals who are quick to explain to a home seller that it's the buyers who really set the price for a home don't extend the same logic when they recognize that there's a significant amount of reluctance out there to pay a 6% commission. For whatever reason(s), the market is speaking to us. The real question is, "how do we respond?" Stamping your foot while exclaiming, "But I'm worth it!" seems similar to the home seller who's priced too high making the same point about their home. And how do we address a 6% commission in those markets that don't have any $100,000 properties? Does the agent in Los Angeles who is selling properties no cheaper than $600,000 do six times the work or deserve six times the compensation as the agent elsewhere selling those $100,000 homes? It seems that it would be much easier to defend a 6% commission on a $100,000 - $150,000 home, but how do you make the case when selling a home for $800,000 that your "professional services" carry a $48,000 price tag? Jon Strum President homsho Web: www.homsho.com Blog: www.LARealEstateBlog.com

Kris, As others have commented, I think you've touched upon something important here. But other commenters seem to have overlooked one of the most important parts of your post -- "The horse is out of the barn." Wasting time coming up with ways to avoid transparency, impede online consumer empowerment or avoid providing the best possible information through your website, blog, etc. is not a serious option. As you also point out, "The customers have a mouse, and they aren't afraid to use it." The online marketplace (of products, ideas or services) has given our clients a sense of empowerment that other generations of consumers have never known. This shift has allowed consumers to literally re-invent themselves. The guy who had an ongoing battle with Dell over his computer became a folk hero by building a website dedicated to all that is evil within Dell. Videos of service personnel falling asleep on the job now populate the video vaults at YouTube. Add the social aspects of web 2.0 to the mix, and you get the idea pretty quickly that the consumer can become an activist -- with an audience -- at a moment's notice. But through this transformation of the consumer, has there really been much of a transformation of the real estate agent? I think the answer to the problem you so eloquently present is one that we've heard before -- given the realities of the "empowered online consumer" are real estate agents doing enough to re-define their value proposition? In my opinion, most of us aren't. I'm not sure that trying to make the role of the traditional agent "fit" this new paradigm is going to work. We'll always be creepers if that's really what many agents believe their mission is supposed to be. But our customers vote every day -- with their mouse. Put up barriers to an anonymous IDX search? They'll head to a 3rd party site -- even if the property listings are nowhere near as complete! They're telling us something important here...it's clearly more important to this generation of consumers that they receive information the way they want it than it is that they receive "complete" information! We're not going to un-ring this bell. But success will belong to those brokers and agents who can re-cast themselves within this new paradigm. The ones who surrender the role of "keeper and guardian of good information" and instead define a new role that allows them to connect with today's consumer in a whole new way. Clearly easier said than done. But if it were easy, than we as an industry wouldn't seem to be so stuck for so long on solving this. What do you think would be the response if an agent handed their business card to a new acquaintance and right under their name (you know, where all of those initials go?) it read, "Not a creeper"? Jon Strum President homsho Website: www.homsho.com Blog: www.LARealEstateBlog.com