Title

Inman’s Real Estate Connect 2009 – The Future of Real Estate

Real Estate tech Conference 2009

This year focused a great deal on Social Media & Video, but more than that there was a constant reminder that we must be “for” the consumer, that we must be a facilitator not a salesperson. What a concept to be “for” the consumer I wondered how we ever could be anything but on their side, then I recalled my experience as a consumer before I got my license,  then again getting into the real estate business. My experience  of real estate agents was less than stellar.

As a consumer my agent was only interested in how much the property was that I would be purchasing. Even after I purchased an expensive property to live in from her and then wanted to buy a property for my son.The agent just dropped the ball. Of course I did not become her client for life after that !

As an agent I found most other agents to be  cut throat, one agent against the other , no sharing or helping each other. I often wondered what  I doing in this business! I came from a previous career where the basic tenet was start where the client is , which can be totally transferred to the real estate business. Do more listening and more importantly HEARING!

I have always been for the customer be it my agents as their broker or the buyers and sellers I assisted. Very different  from many in the business.

 So as I sat there in Inman this year I realized how far we have come …the professionals were actually sharing with each other and with the consumers and talking about transparency, being open and building rapport with each other and the public . In my world there has never been any other way. If you wait long enough anything is possible!

All I can say is thank-you Inman, Web 2.0 & Real Estate 2.0 for leading the way and transforming this industry. It makes me proud to say I am in the real estate business.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 10:50 am and is filed under Agent Talk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1. Mary Pope-Handy said at August 12th, 2009 at 10:30 pm

   Randi,

   I’m sorry you had such a lousy agent! The best agents often will share (and have done so for years), both at nationally-attended conferences and classes (where there’s no real risk) and locally (where there IS risk). Sharing has been prevalent at Inman, at RE Bar Camp, at CRS’s annual Sellabration event, at Star Power and many other conferences and educational settings for the most driven agents.

   Second class agents keep everything to themselves. There are plenty of those out there, and I’m sorry that’s been your experience!

   But back to sharing. Ask a top producer why he or she will share so much, and in response to the “risk” question, you’ll hear that they realize that even if they tell absolutely everything, very few agents will actually act on it. Few will implement.

   Agents: Take 3 good ideas from any conference, from Inman’s fantastic Connect, and implement them, and your business can see radical transformation. Attend and do nothing, and you’ll be fired up for a couple of days and then return to status quo.

2. randirapp said at August 13th, 2009 at 6:03 pm

   You are correct we need to act on what we learn! Thanks for your comments. I have enjoyed seeing the profession change at least here in South Florida!

Leave a Reply