Brian Wilson, Linsey Planeta and I talked about this very subject on our, almost weekly, Week In Real Estate Show.
A quick overview: The panel is joined by Linsey Planeta, owner of Belterra Fine Homes in Orange County, California who has experience in larger brokerages as well as opening and owning a boutique brokerage of her own. The panel discusses the dominant brokerage model and how it may be changing with the vast industry changes happening today. Can brokerages afford the high-overhead, fixed expense model of the past? Is it what agents want? The panel discusses new models emerging and how they are impacting their markets. Finally, the panel of 3 brokerage founders and managers discuss what a prospective brokerage owner should consider before making his/her move.
Here’s what we had to say about the subject:
Thanks for listening.
Here are some of the other episodes:
Don’t Be That Agent: The panel discusses basic real estate business standards and expectations in a fun, entertaining way. The panel uses stories and examples based on personal experiences to layout some fundamental lines that real estate people just should not cross.
The Real Estate Training Conundrum: We talk smack about real estate training and whether it has adapted to the rapid changes confronting the real estate industry. What is an agent to do in a changing industry when many of the legacy training and coaching choices have not? The conversation addressed the type of training and coaching most relevant today and how an agent should qualify a coach before writing that check.
Facebook Face-off: We talk about FaceBook and its implications to the real estate agent. If real estate is a relationship business then should agents be active in the largest online community in the world. A site that hosts approximately 225 million people at a time??? Or is it another distraction from the real work of the day? The panel is joined by Amy Smythe Harris, a 15-year agent who uses FaceBook to grow her business daily
Short Sold on Short Sales: We 3 amigos has a lively discussion about short sales and many of the questions that swirl around them. To do or not to do? Is it OK to talk with a client about the ’stop making payments’ option? The conversation also addressed the direction of the market from a big picture perspective.
“Twitter-Estate” is Twitter a Real Estate Tool or ‘Real’ Distraction?: Kathi Frank, a Realtor in The Woodlands, a Houston, Texas community joins the panel to discuss Twitter and its real estate implications. The panel tries to get at the question: “Is Twitter a real estate client generation tool or just another distraction from the ‘real work’ of real estate?”
Real Estate Blogging – how one agent used it to start a brokerage: Jay Thompson, a Phoenix broker and early-adopter of blogging joins the panel and the panel talks about blogging for business. The panel tries to get at the question: “What level of blogging commitment is required for it to pay off in terms of client generation?”
The MLS Question – How it is used and how it should be used: We throw down about how agents are using the MLS on their websites by employing the National Association of Realtors VOW / IDX systems
