Former bartender, cow-milker, globe-trekker, marketing manager, conultant and more turned real estate coach 2.0. I focus on bringing the best of technology and branding to agents across the country.
Marc, Great post. I think that you hit the nail on the head once again. In response to the comment above though, I think that this is rather short-sighted... maybe I can shed a little light on the role of the Realtor in this situation. A listing get's taken. Virtual tour shot, still photos and it is uploaded to Davison Real Estate Search dot com. YOU - as the listing agent - then log in, much like a Trulia Voices and share your thoughts on the property, the neighborhood, school system, transportation, etc... since, you claim and have branded yourself as the "neighborhood expert" Maybe at the same time you comment on a couple of properties that you saw during the broker open tour on Tuesday. Your comments are displayed on right hand side with your smiling picture, a link to your bio and profile, and maybe *gasp* a little bit about you (i.e. I have 2 dogs, love to cook, have a kid starting 2nd grade, work from home 1/2 the time, etc.) all the while building credibility. So when the buyer comes to the search results (either by traditional search or by what I will call Psychographic Search) they see more than the garbled MLS listing sheet data... they start to see themselves IN that home. They see that you share similar interests, have done alot of work in that area, and decide to contact you for a showing. At that point it's up to you... I think that one of the points that many Realtors don't realize is that FINDING the home isn't necessarily the hardest part. In fact I can setup searches that will send me all 1000 results each day with homes that match my CRITERIA. What the HARD part of the process is, comes down to actually MATCHING my DESIRES to the HOME. (not house mind you, but home) That coupled with the fact that the paperwork, mortgage referral, lawyer, appraiser, negotiations, and most importantly YOUR INPUT, are why I'm going to hire you. Your job is to konw the ins and outs of the neighborhoods, research the data, and know where to send your kids to school because I'm at work behind a desk all day. Justifying your commission comes down to you in my mind. It's like tipping at a restaurant almost. I go in expecting to get served my food, my table cleared, and maybe a little witty banter. Now if I get: recommendations, samples, made to feel comfortable, asked about myself, engaged, and that you're happy to have me as a client... i'm going above the 20% tip. (i.e. why I would pay 6%) It's paying a premium for the overall experience. The question to ask is, "Would YOU pay 6% for your service? Is it THAT great?" This is the future of search and the future of Web 3.0. Nice work Marc and let's see who gets to the delivery first. Matthew Dollinger Performance Coach @properties, Chicago IL
It's amazing that it has taken as long as it has to get to this point. I completely agree with the first comment. I do love stick figures. Next to the "mortgage crisis by stick figures" http://www.wellcomemat.com/video/38BAC1820B I think that this is my favorite one. Matthew Dollinger Performance Coach @properties, Chicago IL
I'm torn on this point... 1. Yes, to truly embrace the whole 2.0 mentality and get out into the Blogosphere I believe it's important. 2. From an SEO and "area Expert" avenue it's imperative and highly cost effective. 3. Too many people out there are blogging without a "voice". They read like the thousands of bios I have read and have no differentiation whatsoever. 4. for $300 a month, you can have your entire social network, SEO, blog and comments managed by a third party. Blog-spam is poised to ruin the autheticity of what blogging is really about. That's 50/50 which if I was a MLB ball player would be great. If done properly I think there's no question as to how important it is. Done improperly, it's like buying a templated website and throwing your picture on a bad IDX search. Matt Matthew Dollinger Performance Coach @properties, Chicago IL
