Industry Visionary

  • Brian Boero
    Co-founder, 1000 Watt Consulting

Brian brings wide-ranging talents and invaluable experience to 1000Watt Consulting.

Prior to co-founding 1000Watt Consulting, Brian was CEO of VREO, Inc. At VREO, he created and marketed Real Estate Dashboard®, a software application that made the vision of paperless, mobile real estate a reality. Brian remains on VREO’s Board of Directors.

Before joining VREO, Brian was President of Inman News, the nation’s leading independent real estate news service and content provider to consumers and the real estate industry. There, Brian was instrumental in the growth of the company’s content syndication, subscription and advertising businesses.

Brian’s collaboration with Marc Davison began at Inman News, where the pair jointly developed and launched Inman’s ClientDirect™ e-newsletter product, which was later acquired by the California Association of REALTORS®.

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As an "industry visionary", what do you see as the major changes occurring in the real estate industry?

That’s a big question, so I’ll give you the truth that lies at the heart of the matter: Incompetence is no longer sustainable.

 

Brokers can’t market poorly. Brokerage staff can’t be unskilled in writing, brand management and digital marketing. Agents can’t be working in retail one month and be helping people transact real estate the next. There’s a saying in politics that “sunlight is the best disinfectant,” meaning that the more citizens can see, the better government they will get.

 

Well, that’s what’s happened in real estate in the past 2-3 years. There’s a lot more sunlight cast into in real estate’s dark corners. And it is slowly but surely cleaning up the industry.

 

This is cause for celebration for every true real estate professional. 


What major "corporate players" are driving change and what may be their impact?

Generally speaking, “corporate players” are not driving change in our industry. They can’t move fast enough. And even if they can, the franchised, 1099-ed structure of our industry makes diffusion of change from above really tough. There are exceptions. But they are few and far between.


How should the Brokerage and Realtor Association / MLS respond to these real estate consumer expectations?

By not sucking. I know, that sounds horrible! But it’s true. If you look at what has passed for real estate service over the past ten years, if you look at the average agent or broker website, if you for one minute consider the amount of money being asked from consumers for real estate services relative to the sophistication informing those services … well, you take my point: Those who take their cues for service delivery and professionalism from outside the industry and aim higher will be rewarded.

Who are the "individual trendsetters" that are shaping the future real estate industry?

Redfin offers a treasure trove of lessons for anyone serious about doing real estate better. They are a positive disruptive force. This has nothing to do with discounting – that’s such a red herring. It’s about that “not sucking” thing.


What changes should a Brokerage implement to ensure profitability in the future?

 The only way a brokerage will sustain profitability is to rethink completely its  value proposition to both agents and consumers. What both these constituencies value has changed pretty quickly and for many brokers it’s almost like the rug got pulled out from under them. Helping companies do this has been a big part of what we do.

Based upon your vision of the future of the real estate industry, what are you doing to help influence positive change?

In our consulting practice we work with a lot of people who are actually doing the hard work of changing. We’re just supporting actors.  

We also try to speak honestly about the industry, which has been surprisingly impactful in ways I never would have imagined. 


What books would you recommend as a "must read" that have influenced your vision?

Well, I can say that in general I have found history and biography to be more helpful to me in my professional life than business books. The latter – even good case studies – are often so simplified, so neat, that they become useless the minute you try to extend them to the complexities of any one situation. 

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