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CALLING ON ALL GEEZERS! We've been maligned by a young whipper snapper.

WHAT IS THE GOAL? TO SELL REAL ESTATE or to blog?? A reality check.

Drop in on Josh Murphy and answer his question. "If You Are Reading This, then Participate, why not? Its free?"

THE IDEA IS TO SELL REAL ESTATE. It can be done without participating in social networks. Most folks understand that. There is far more real estate sold by agents and brokers who DO NOT participate in social networking than that do.

Perhaps it's a comfort level of the agents who are quite pleased to do business the way they are doing it.
Perhaps it's because they can't type.
Perhaps it's because they don't need more business.
Perhaps it's because they were never writers.
Perhaps it's because they are sick of hearing about social networking.
One thing I know for sure. It is NOT BECAUSE OF THEIR AGE!

Unless Josh wishes to simply exhibit a sad degree of gratuitous ageism on ActiveRain, young whipper snapper that he appears to be, my question is. . . . why do you care how other agents in your office market their services or their listing ???

Active Adults

NEWS FLASH! Those folks are competition. I'll bet that they understand that.

I'll bet further that there are a few members of ActiveRain that manage to get a serious amount of business from blogging, web sites, networking despite being older than dirt,

Many of us old Geezers on ActiveRain could be enjoying an afternoon with friends.

What are we doing?

Posted by Lenn Harley, Real Estate Broker, Maryland & Virginia on 06/30/2009 04:27 PM

Comments (58)

Blogging for Business in the Sales Strategies / Tactics Channel

blogging by seniors

Post is included in group: Real Estate Trends
Post is included in group: The Ninety-ninth Percentile
Post is included in group: Club Chaos
Post is included in group: AR Twitter Users

58 Comments on CALLING ON ALL GEEZERS! We've been maligned by a young whipper snapper.

JUN

My only point of contention (if you can even call it that) regarding the following line:

There is far more real estate sold by agents and brokers who DO NOT participate in social networking than that do.

Now, that may be the case. But if these agents were into social networking, how much more could they sell? I understand that it is a productivity cost issue, and that it is different for everyone. But I thought I'd throw that in there. Thanks for the post.

Ian. Where is the imperical data to support that claim???

Yikes - I can't even believe that age has a point here. My uncle who's in his 80's loves to tweet! A colleague in his 30's at work doesn't even understand why anyone would blog - what could they possibly write about that's so important is his question. It is a choice we make because we want to. I don't play golf and do business on the golf course - or at a country club. Ian - maybe agents are comfortable with their production levels - maybe they don't want to work more hours to include social networking. But geez - I strongly believe age has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Lenn

Josh has a major point; I know people that really kick it out and do nothing more than check there email. I think using social networking can be a benefit if it is used correctly. The good thing about social networking is it gets our name out their for far less than those ads in the paper were. However, this can be a good thing, and it can be a bad thing if not properly addressed. I do like the fact that I can communicate with other real estate agents and Industry related individuals and not have to go too far to do so. For what it's worth; I for one am not a "spring chicken" anymore. I remember when the personal computer came out; I dragged that big "Compaq" around everywhere. Heck, I never knew quite how to use it, but I had one. I can close my eyes and remember the day my grandfather bought my grandmother that "Kelvinator" dishwasher; for the rest of her life she kept paper towel in it. The phone is still an amazing tool.

Lenn, The top agent in my market will close 600 transactions this year. he doesn;t even have a website. What he does have is connections with asset managers that he has been building for many years. He don;t need no blogging!!!!

Lenn, I just visited Josh's post and put in my two cents for the geezer agents. The old timers who do both kinds of social networking are the ones he needs to look out for.

Lenn-

I didn't make any claims. I asked a question. I was simply saying it is a question worth thinking about. Please realize that I acknowledged the statement I referenced may be true. I am writing something up right now that is inspired by your post. I really do thank you for getting the creative juices flowing with this post.

Lee and Pamela. I can't understand his point either. I'm a team leader of about 15 agents and none of them blog, have active web sites or do anything but sell the buyers that I send to them. All of my business comes from the Internet and has since Good Old Josh was probably in short pants.

Tom. You haven't convinced me that age has anything to do with it. Perhaps I'm just too old to get it.

Bryant. Indeed. The percentage of successful agents that engage in social networking for business is quite small and I suspect likely to continue.

Pat. Right you are. Give me an agent with real estate experience on the other side over one who engages in social networking and no experience and we'll get the sale to the closing table.

Ian. My pleasure. Even us Geezers can appreciate the value of getting the juices flowing. I can't wait to read it.

Of two things folks can be sure. I will always come to the defence of the Geezers and folks who don't care about spelling in blog posts.

Hi Lenn, I'm "old", I'm relatively new to Real Estate and new to Social Networking...I know many many Agents who do quite well without blogging, tweeting, or facebooking, they are not old fashioned or ready to be put out to pasture, and certainly not sitting around waiting for a floor call. I'm new, and even I know that! LOL!!

Mary. Good for you. Knowing yourself is far more important, IMO, that judging others and how they do business by their age.

Lenn - I have to agree that agents that spend less time networking sell more homes! And I really like your post and the word (OLD), what does that mean.

I feel like a teenager most of the time and I am no Spring chicken, my older body drags me down sometimes though.

Remember there are some that network so much more than Real Estate, I network myself!

These young folks really think they have one on us, don't they?

Vegas Bob

Absolutely, Lenn, who cares how? There are so many ways to get business. I do not begrudge anyone, good luck to them all!

Since the beginning of time, this has been the way it is...I was self important at that age, too, and thought I knew more than I knew. I cringe when I look back and think about it, actually.

I ratified a deal today with an agent who doesn't even put pix in her listings; she doesn't have a cell phone, yet, she manages to get the deals done. I actually took the offer to her house. LOL Hey, it's a different world, but it works.

There are agents who will never social network who will never miss it and who will always be successful while there are plenty of agents tweeting, blogging and texting away who will be in the huge % of agents who fail.

To equate how we do business with age is just plain assinine.

Lenn,

Add me to the list!!! LOL, Thanks, Fran

Lenn, I'm much more afraid of shotguns than social networking newcomers. Josh fails to understand that if these people weren't making a living they'd be gone...

Lenn - Why is it that I can identify with your blog more than just about any other today. I need to say first, that I'm older than the gods. I've been selling real estate 27 years, and when I got into the business, we had MLS books distributed once a week, rather than accessing listings via the internet. Social Networking back then, was door knocking or cold calling - neither of which I have ever done. I did however have an area I farmed, and was involved in groups and community work.

At my office I have this great young Executive VP, that is into social networking and technology like no one else I know. He's really into the gen X segment of our society. He turned me on to ActiveRain. My kids like it because they explain that keeping the mind active keeps dementia and Alzeimer's at bay. It even surpasses crosswords in that capacity.

My kids also insist that I post something each day to my blog, so they can check my blog and see if I'm still breathing without their being intrusive. It keeps them from needing to call, and actually talk to me. However, I will say that the most effective social networking tool is the Jacuzzi at my local health club. I've fished more clients out of it than I ever did from the internet.

Thanks for sharing Josh's blog...it was interesting reading. You are so right...it is not about age, it is more about being comfortable in doing what you do. We have an agent who is quite successful...she has a website, a cell phone and does her marketing the same way she's been doing it for years. She doesn't have the time to learn the social media thing...she's too busy working her clients.

As I said in Josh's post...the older agents that do use social media, incorporate it into their marketing portolio. It is not utilized as the only way to obtain business. That's how I see it and use it.

lol - he's just a weenie, don't get your shorts in a bunch.

Count me in as a geezer who loves blogging and does social networking. It is not my first priority my clients are.

It has nothing to do with age. I think people of all ages can be intimidated by it. They have their way of doing business and I have mine.

There are agents in my area, you have a basic old template web-site, never do anything but sell, sell, sell.

Sounds like in Josh's office it is age related but IMO it is not.

Lenn,

i am just curious whether this could be just another golden rule b ut this time applied to Social networking. Meaning that 10-20% of the agents do 80-90% of the social networking. If that could be true, AR can be a good example. Of course, we do not need to count 150K+ members on AR as many of them do not participate.

But translating it to business is a different story. I said it many times that if we look at top producers, they are usually not on AR. And if we are blogging for business (unfortunately, not me that much), then why should they.

That's why I could not understand Ian. How much better could they be if they get involved in Social Networking. But they are already doing great.

It reminds me a story how I was talking to a retired very successful businessman, and I was telling him how he could make money investing in this and in that, and then he said "If I need to make money, I know how to do it better than you, so why are you trying to show me how I can make money?"

He was correct

JUL

"There is far more real estate sold by agents and brokers who DO NOT participate in social networking than that do." Is this true?

I'm not as old as dirt -- but in August, I will be.

I love to learn. Getting points is fun. It keeps me learning -- two great, helpful things tonight.

I believe blogging will help my business. And once in awhile, like tonight, it will help to motivate me...to out produce young know-it-alls...er..I mean... the competition.

Robert. I don't know what "old" means. There is, however, a great deal of age discrimination in this world. Josh's post dripped with ageism. He apparently believe that only the "old" agents don't engage in social networking. Or, if you don't engage in social networking, you must be old. Just plain silly.

Wendy. That's exactly what I couldn't figure out. What did he care if some agents didn't blog.

Susan. I recall telling my daughter that I'd be glad when she was 35 so I could be given credit for having some sense.

Fran. You're added.

Paul. Right you are. Josh saw that they weren't engaging in social networking and decided it was because they were old. I still don't get the connection.

Myrl. You are absolutely right. The agents that Josh criticizes because they don't engage in social networking may very woll be engaging in very productive social networking, just not on line. The fact that he relates it to age is what I don't get.

Cris. I've known a few agents like Josh. They have a new toy and want to show it off to everyone.

Georgiana. Anytime anyone expresses ageism on ActiveRain, I'll speak up.

Missy. Right you are. It has nothing to do with age. I still don't get the connection. He saw four older agents who didn't blog and .. . . . . .

Jon. You're spot on. Some things, not engaging in social networking, may not be related to business. It surely is not related to age. None of the young agents in my network blog.

Lisa. I suppose it depends on where you get your stats. There are about 2.5 million agents. About 2 years ago, the NAR published a statistic that only about 6% were blogging. I believe that there is a finite number that will ever blog. I'm sure it's higher than 6% today, but I don't really know. Blogging may contribute to business, but it isn't business.

Jim. Welcome to the Geezer class.

Lenn,

I am not so sure age has anything to do with it. There are plenty of agents, young and old, that have signed up here on AR and have done nothing with their membership.

Don. That's precisely my point. Josh saw four agents in his office that don't participate in social networks and jumped to the conclusion that it was because of their age.

Well Lenn, very nice of you to have helped that young man of 19 get his first feature! And perhaps having heard from enough of us older generation he'll be enlightened factually.

Lenn you gave me a good chuckle reading this:) I love the card table...bingo anyone??

This old geezer can recall standing in front of a training room full of under 35 yr old agents teaching them how to blog. I know many old geezers who blog, tweet, web design and so forth, but also meet face to face for coffee, lunch, happy hours, or send out cards to SOI. I guess it all counts as working your database. Age has nothing to do with work ethic. Age has nothing to do with the mindset of being able to change gears and blog ... Josh's post was almost a statement of age counts .. when its really a non issue. And as you said, why should he give a rats tail if anyone else in his office blogged?

Hi Lenn, I love this piece and additionally the comments make it a stand out. One thing that is not generational is the "Mastery of the Craft". Social networking is not new, it has been going for over a century in real estate. At least as long as organized real estate and actually since the beginning of time. Though early on, it could be challenged that grunting and clubbing did have a different meaning. The format options have increased with the Internet and all the clever new ways we reach out, but most certainly the idea is not generational. But where my interest is in this is that when networking, it still comes down to the contributions a professional can make to the transaction. That requires in my mind a certain mastery of principles. A skilled professional with decades of experience could dance circles around the novice that talks a good story. Be that on Facebook, Twitter, ActiveRain or any other network. It is education and experience that makes us good at what we do , not how clever we think we are because we know how to use out thumbs in texting. Age and eduaction applied well can sometimes lead to wisdom but wisdom is never obtained by networking. Learn the craft and then Twitter away. Just be sure we learn things in the right order. It is not technology that facilitates knowledge, but rather the other way around.

PS, Ms Lenn Harley, You are a Master of the Craft and also know how to convey it. As for technology and how it applies to this industry, "You are no expert" by your own admission but in this regard just like the real estate craft, you have demonstrated time and again, you know how to separate the marbles by color just fine and do so with skill and regularity. And I'll bet your thumbs have a few callouses as well. If I had a real estate fortune, I would it entrust with you knowing that it was in the hands of a "real" expert. And I didn't get the idea to do so from Twitter or even Facebook.

Here is a link to the post that this post has inspired. Your comments are welcomed.

One Man's Reason Is Another Man's Excuse

Great post and diverse comments. I'll never be an old geezer, tho some might disagree in a few years. Having said that, I find the value of Twitter, FaceBook, blogging, to be the ability to pick up and provide, or relay, information to clients and friends.

Someone once said that "providing information ABOUT information is more valuable than the information itself" and I believe this to be true. Knowledge is the key to success. And it's all out in the open with the internet. So why not cast your net, if you have interest.

And if not, then bless you. Each to their own, said the woman when she kissed the cow. Whatever floats your boat.

Elaine Giamona, Broker, McCoy R.E. and Property Management, Lincoln, CA http://www.mccoyreo.com

Have a Great 4th!

Lenn- IMO Josh's post shows his age. Young. And with that comes the lack of understanding of the true reason for certain agents of 'age' in his office believing the way they do. We have those in our office as well. These agents are at a different spot in their real estate career than some of us other agents of 'age'. You know, winding down after many years of winding up, not really looking at it as a business but as something they have done for ages and just are not quite ready to call it quits. Thats fine in my book. As for the rest of us old geezers we are still actively thriving and moving forward, albeit at our own pace, and enjoying each and every minute of it all. He will one day see (with age) that we are not in a, fit one fit all, business and because we are not comes the wonderful ability to 'fit' into what works for us at whatever place we are in.

Now I have to run. One of my grandchildren is calling me for some grandmotherly advice on real estate.

Martha. BINGO!

Elaine. I have not found any task of real estate practice that is age sensitive.

William. Thanks. IMO, blogging, Twitter, et al., does not take a Rhodes Scholar. I don't spend a lot of time on any of them because my web sites generate my business and I pay more attention to them. Dollar to a donut that I generate more Internet business than does "Good Old Josh".

William. Thanks very much and I know your comment is from the heart.

Gail. You are spot on. " Age has nothing to do with work ethic."

Bill. Thanks. Those folks are playing Bridge. I did that image after selling a luxury condo at Leisure World, a senior community here.

Lee and Pamela. Thanks. I'm still trying to figure out the point of relating social networking to age. The only explanation is gratutious ageism.

Lenn, all I can say about the age thing is that I was first inspired by Margaret Rome! She literally kicked me into doing this, and trying to do it right. Geezers my .... LOL

Lenn, as a fast approaching "Old Geezer" I use all the tools available to me, of which Social Networking is one of them. Social Networking, like any other form of networking takes time to develop. It took almost a year before I got any business from blogging here on ActiveRain, but now as each month goes by the activity that I get from ActiveRain increases.

I remember when I was 19 and thought I knew it all. Time proved I didn't know much at all. I thought it was interesting to look at his profile and that of another young girl who called us "old". Their profiles are awful which explains that they don't really know how to play the SEO game.

What I didn't understand is why he would make such an assumption. All he has to do is look at the avatars on AR to know that there's an awful lot of us old geezers here. Me thinks he's a little pipsqueek that's going to handed his lunch by some old person who knows exactly where the business comes from and how to get it.

BB said it best on the young-one's post, that if he relies solely on SM for business, he's not going to last. It's a supplement ... not an entire marketing campaign.

JUL

Oh Lenn. That young boy really got you worked up, didn't he? I don't think it was intentionally aimed at all "older" agents, but hey, that's just my 2 cents.

social networking is one tool in a box of many. you can't hammer a screw.

John. Of course, but it isn't required.

William. The very fact that he made the connection between not engaging in social networks and age shows the bias. It may have been unintentional, but it speaks volumes.

Elaine. Indeed. There are, of course, many "social networks" other than those on line.

George. A thought comes to mind that perhaps the Geezers referenced in Josh's post are comfortable with the off line networks that bring them business. On line is not the only way. It's my way, despite my Geezerness, but it's not necessarily everyone's.

Connie. I suspect that you'd be doing fine without participating in on line social networks.

Network or spider web? Hmmm I wonder

Janice. That's priceless. Agreed.

Uhhh, in my area it's really hard to get agents to have a respectable presence online, and most of the people who hang back are my age and up...that sounds like ageism, but please hear me out.

The ones who will never grow old, such as you and I, will keep trying new things. But we are the exception at this point and not the rule.

There are "old" people who are younger than I am. I have an internal 12 year old who is aging very slooooooowly, btw. But I'm old enough be be a grandma!

Today, I met a wonderful builder named John, and he is never going to get old - and he must be well into his 70s. He embraces new ideas, catches the vision of a project that's never been done, and sees what is happening today with the clarity years of experience and wisdom gained through the years. He thinks young - nothing is rejected if it has merit.

Back to my point...most of the "older" people around here are still saying, I'm too old to learn that, I don't need that, THAT WON'T WORK - or they try buying something to get around really embracing the changes the internet is bringing. Old is a state of mind, but most of the people I see with this deficiency aren't physically young.

Age isn't the problem...it's the excuse. They're just afraid or overwhelmed or even...negative! Heavens to Betsy!

I don't think Josh meant any disrespect, really. Sounds like what I am observing here. :)

JUL

Lenn - Even though I am an owner, I am the youngest person in the office. I do struggle with agents who don't use all of the available technology - social networking, blogging, website, etc. But, I hate to say it - age has nothing to do with it. I have had younger agents who didn't embrace technology. It is all about personal styles and preferences. I use social media, blogging, etc. because it works for me.

Ryan. I'm an owner/broker too and have been for many years. In all the years I've been on the Internet, since 1995, I've not had one agent, any age, have any interest in any on line anything.

What Josh's post reveals is his lack of a "global view" in that he thinks that everyone should be like him. That's typical of some who embrace new technology and suddenly believe that it's the only way to do business.

It isn't. It's my way, but I know that it's not the only way.

Dawn. I doubt that Josh meant any disrespect. However, the fact that he equated age with the lack of participation in social media is revealing.

Fact is, most of the folks I know who do participate in social media do not use it for their business. They us it for access to entertainment, games, etc. I have a huge sphere of real estate agents and I am the only one who uses social media for business. I'm also the oldest one.

JUL

Hi Lenn - I am one of the "ole geezers" who works with Josh. I admit I was very stubborn about blogging, twitter, facebook - the whole thing. But I am one to try something and see if it pans out for me and my business before I walk away or don't do. I think because of his age and the technology available to him and what he grew up with that I didn't as far as technology, it was easier and is easier and more a "norm" for him I think. I don't think he looked at the whole picture and the "global view" like you said mostly because the agents he works with for the most part, are of a different generation than he is and have a lot more years under their belt in real estate. I have to say I disagree with his ageism stereotype (believe me he's caught flack ;-), but I can see why he said it based on the lack of social networking within our local real estate association and the majority of the agents being older than him. He does take a lot of flack for his age being the youngest associate in our area and has to put up with our "well in the old days..." stories......!l he loves to stir up a hornets nest too but is pretty good at listening to this old geezer tell him there are other things and venues out there too to help us be susccessful in business. Can't discount any one thing until you know it will or won't work for you. Now I need to go give him some more grief on his blog....! ;-)

Valerie. Thanks for stopping by.

I am of the opinion that when an agent equates not participating in social networking with age, they are exhibiting a distain and perhaps even a degree of contempt for folks of an older generation. I see it regularly.

In my area, the percentage of agents who do participate on a regular basis on social networks is very, very small. I recently taught a class about the Internet with the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors for agents preparing to take the broker's exam. Of a room full of about 150 agents, only two had their own web sites and only one blogs. These agents were all ages and not representative of the Geezer Class as was their instructor.

I thought Josh's post, and his isn't the first one I've seen disparaging seniors, offered a gratuitous and negative portrayal of older agents.

How would they explain a 40 year old who doesn't blog? What about a 30 year old? They exist in droves. I know many of them.

I have about 25 good agents in my network. I generate all or most of their business from my Internet sites and strategies. They are all ages from 29 to about 50. I'm older than all of them, but I'm the only one that blogs and the only one who could support themself as a real estate agent without referrals from Lenn.

The WWW was made available to the public in 1991. I've had a web site on line since 1995. How does Josh explain that?

Nice to hear from you. Keep him straight. Age is not a factor in whether or not an agent blogs or anything else on the Internet.

Lenn: You say it better than I. But for the young whipper snappers they can see for themselves what this "old geezer" is up to by checking my video blog on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDJIwgZePGo

JUL

Kenneth. There you go. A classic presentation for a the new medium.

Geezers? How about ancient artifacts, old billy goats, old battle axe or blue hair. I love those names better. Geezers sounds like gizzard. Gizzards are usually all knotted up and hard to chew on, even when fried. I like old people becaue they usualy say things better than younger types. I like that.

Greg. Thanks for the chuckle. My favorite is cantankerous old goat.

Lenn, I read Josh's post and was going to comment on it, but decided not to dignify it with a response. I agree with you that his post drips with ageism and a very narrow-minded view of the real estate world. My wife and I are both over 50 and we have been on the Internet since 1992 (we met online on Prodigy in '92, long before there was a Match.com or eHarmony). We blog, we Tweet, we have a Facebook personal page and a business page, and we are on enough social networks to sink a battleship, so of which I'm sure Josh has never heard of. However, we probably don't blog as much as we should; our twitter usage is sporadic at best; and we don't hang around ActiveRain/Facebook/LinkedIn/Zolve/Plaxo/WannaNetwork/eCademy etc all the time, either, although we try to maintain a regular presence on all of them. And do you wanna know why? Listen carefully, Josh:

It's because we're out selling real estate.

Age has very little to do with success in real estate. What does is persistence, reliability, dedication, consistency, people skills, and knowing what your clients need. In fact, I would say that age adds to the mix in that the knowledge you accumulate helps you from making the same mistakes twice. The old axiom is: "Real Estate is Local". I would submit that what makes one a success in real estate is equally as unique to the individual. What makes me a success may not work for you at all, and vice versa, but I'll bet money on this: Sitting at the PC all day telling people what you are having for dinner or playing Mafia Wars won't put a paycheck in your pocket. Done correctly, social media can be a fantastic complement to your existing business tactics, but social media is only one brick in the road to success, not the road itself.

Just our 2 cents worth...

Pat and Wayne. Indeed. The percentage of agents who blog is quite small. The percentage that make money from their web presence is also small.

Then on the other hand, some of the agents who use the Internet successfully to generate a very high income are not young, like me.

JUL

Lenn- I would like to sincerely appologize to anyone who felt I was attempting to discrimiate at all. I learn every day from active bloggers like yourself. Age does not mean a thing in the social networking world, and a lot of it is mindset. Great post, I guess you could say I have been OWNED? haha

Josh. On the part of all the Geezers on ActiveRain, I thank you.

"Geezers"- Suave', http://activerain.com/blogsview/1142305/living-and-learning-lessons-learned-the-hard-way-

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