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It's a seller's market, isn't it? No, that's not the first question and I'm not talking about real estate. I'm talking about the vendors out there, from Real Select to Tony's Computers who are hawking the exact solutions to your future. It's a sellers market because there is no reliable source to advise brokers on exactly what they need to cope witrh this fast changing marketplace that is rife with new tools, new relationships and new competitors. Clearly, the impact of information technology has hit the real estate market and hit it hard. The major casualty has been the comfy, cozy business model from which real estate firms have prospered for many years. You know the one, where the public had to come to you because you had the information, where you were the only single point from which the entire market---buyers and sellers--could be viewed. That model is gone now, as sundry sites, both inside the Realtor family (realtor.com) and outside (Home Advisor, Cyberhomes, Home Shark), offer the public the convenience of seeing the whole market in living color. That single change has shifted the rules of the game. The old gateway" model which forced the real estate professional into the center of the transaction has given way to a jigsaw puzzle which can be assembled by any of a number of firms. Remaining in the center of the transaction is a challenge, one that is consistently baffling brokers and agents. The key to solving the transaction is to shift the middle. Where before the business relied on the intermediation of information, it now must be planted in the intermediation of knowledge, actionable information that provides value for the consumer. You do that by deemphasizing the information aspects of the real estate business and increasing the emphasis on speed, efficiency and understanding. The biggest costs to the consumer of any real estate transaction are the time it takes and stress it generates. Giving the consumer time and taking away stress create value that transcends the notion of information provision. They offer something the consumer cannot produce by herself. Your "needs" in the cyber age are tools that allow you to achieve this end. The two simple questions will enable you to cut through the jungle of hardware software and vaporware that is threatening to choke you. They are:
Answer those and I'll guarantee that you'll be in business for as long as you like. |
