Tripti Kasal's Blog

Cooperation vs Competition

Real Living Infinity — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:52:33 -0700

A friend who is a real estate broker (yes, one person can be both!) and I recently started a Mastermind Group. We meet monthly with like-minded real estate/financial professionals and share ideas, best practices, education, etc. This month we started setting our own personalized goals that we will hold each other responsible for.

On the surface, this may not appear to be so remarkable, but if you dig deeper, it really is. Our group consists of 10-12 experienced real estate agents, brokers, lenders etc. What makes it remarkable is that we all serve the same market (Chicago) and we operate in an atmosphere of total cooperation. We share good ideas and bad ideas without reserve. We do our best to keep things positive but we are also comfortable discussing the challenges of today's market.

I have worked in real estate offices where you couldn't ask the agent next to you the time of day, let alone help with a real estate problem. And its often worse between competing offices. Maybe this was a function of a stronger market - more independence and perhaps arrogance in our business?

Maybe our group is just special (and it really is) but I would like think that one good outcome of a more stressful market is our willingness to work more cooperatively and less competitively with our fellow professionals.

(BTW - my goal for the month is to start blogging actively again. So, one point for me today!)

What's In A Name?

Real Living Infinity — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 21:39:02 -0700

Recently I offered to have name tags made for my agents to wear to networking events, etc. Since we are a "think outside the box", no bureaucracy office, I let my agents choose their own title. We had some fun trying to figure out what to put on the nametags but it got me thinking....

Why do so many companies call their real estate professionals "sales associates"? The terms "sales" really is way too narrow to describe what we do. We don't really sell houses, we sell our services in order to find clients. We are truly brokers, consultants and marketers. But our governing bodies, in their infinite wisdom, won't allow agents to use the title Broker. And what is the "associate" all about? Yes, of course they are associated with the company they work for - isn't that a given?

Of course, NAR would like use to all use Realtor with a trademark. That's like declaring a political affiliation. Whatever you feel about our monopolistic association, I don't that the term that announces our membership with an business organization is an adequate title for someone in our profession.

I have so much respect for what we do and all the hard-working people in our profession and just don't think agent is anywhere near an adequate description. I am frustrated that we don't have a title to truly describe the real estate professional.

Any ideas? Does anyone out there have a great title or have heard of a great title for those of us who broker real estate?

Your Brokerage Company Actually Did That!

Real Living Infinity — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:40:27 -0800

My previous ActiveRain blog post was about a competitor in my market that treats their agents as profit centers and creates policy that is detrimental to both agent and client and only positive for the company. Unfortunately, I could post like that all day long because I hear so many bad management policies in our industry.

But...since I am generally a positive person, I feel the need to comment on the good and not just the bad.

Recently read an an article in a Chicago newspaper about one of our local companies opening a coffee shop/real estate office/wireless internet hangout place. Now there's a fabulous win-win forward thinking idea! Oftentimes a buyer in the early stages of looking may have questions and want some assistance but would be reluctant to contact an agent directly. And lets face it, sometimes agents just don't have the time to help buyers in they way they deserve when they are in the very early stages of looking.

So have a place where they can go hangout, search listings, have a cup of coffee and ask questions to the licensed real estate agent who is running the shop.

Great idea! Love seeing that type of innovative thinking in our business.

(Only negative I can think of is that I didn't think of it first.)

Your Brokerage Company Actually Does That??

Real Living Infinity — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:08:47 -0800

I am continually surprised at how brokerage companies treat their best assets...their real estate agents.

Every time I think I have heard the most inane, ridiculous policy, I hear another one that's even worse.

Here's an example. This is a "prestigious" company's new policy regarding listings...

An agent takes a new listing and is charged a $200 marketing fee, supposedly to market the property to the best advantage of the client and the agent. Of course, the company makes this fee in addition to commission when the property closes and an "MLS fee" that they charge the co-op Broker.

The property is then put into an ad rotation and the company puts up a sign with the office number on it. The agent pays for any marketing materials, open house supplies, etc, etc.

Now the fun begins. When a prospective buyer, who is not represented by an agent, inquires about the property, their inquiry is given to a floor agent. Generally these are the newer agents who have often not seen the property, don't have much experience, and most importantly to the company, are on a lower split than the seasoned agents. Or, the inquiry is sent to the company's lead generation department which then distributes the lead to a "low-split" agent AND takes a referral fee off the top.

Experienced agents often receive the majority of their business from their own sphere of influence so chances are good this listing only came to the company because of the agents relationship to the seller.

The company has now charged that agent $200 for the privilege of creating buyer leads for the company.

Hmm...I'm missing the value to the agent or the client.

As the owner of a boutique real estate office in Chicago, I hear stories like this all the time from agents at other companies. I keep wondering what happened to the concept of providing great service to our agents so they can in turn provide great service to their clients so we can all make more money. When did agents go from being a broker's esteemed partner to a profit-center??

We are seeing more and more of this "the real estate market is slow, how can we get more money from our agents" mentality.

As in industry, we Brokers can do better than that. We need to think "the real estate market is slow, what can we do to empower our agents to compete better and to provide better services to their clients"

These desperate brokerage companies are turning their best asset into their worst enemy.