If you are a regular reader of Mortgage Advisor, you know I actually WON my ticket to Inman Connect from the Real Estate Tomato.
To Jim Cronin, and the Tomato Crew, thank you.
I say this even if Jim's blogging presentation at Inman was waaaaay over my head (Mike Mueller, you warned me! I was too damn headstong to believe you).
Luckily, Jim Cronin is good-looking enough that what he says does not need to be on my level. LOL
I got 3 glorious days away from the mortgage madness to hobnob in San Francisco with the elite "Who's Who" of the real estate, blogging, and technology world, not to mention the writers of Inman News.
As a blogger and real estate geek, who is challenged by technology on a daily basis, I played sponge last week instead of mortgage maker.
I soaked it all in and had a blast. It was intense. It was amazing. It was enlightening in a way that cannot be explained.
Besides getting hugged and shushed by Brad Andersohn as I crashed through the door of a workshop, here is what I took away from this amazing gathering of brilliant minds: Hang on tight because a revolution is happening out there in the real estate universe.
If information is a huge river, then what once slowly trickled has been unleashed as a wild raging torrent, thanks to social networking sites. Twitter and Facebook are re-shaping information streams. Forever.
Yes, you could drown if you don't pay attention to this one important thing:
We no longer control the information, the information controls us.
The FLOW has been reversed. The customers are controlling the flow of information via Twitter and social networking. They are making decisions using information from their friends, followers, and their online sphere of influence.
They are SHARING information and compiling information at breakneck speed. They will decide among themselves who will win and who will lose in this crazy game of real estate.
OLD SCHOOL: Future home buyers go to Google, put in some search words, somehow find your blog, which will point them to your website, then (maybe) they will try to find you on Facebook.
NEW AGE: Customers follow you on Twitter, and/or check you out on Facebook, then find your blog/website as a result. (the flow has been reversed)
Future home buyers will know more about YOU than they ever have before. What they know will determine who they choose as their agent.
It won't be because you call yourself an expert, because they don't care! It won't be because of your designations, or because of your picture plastered everywhere. It won't even be because Aunt Martha used you when she bought her house 5 years ago.
The age of a real estate agent thinking "ME, ME, ME...ITS ALL ABOUT ME" is all but dead. All that matters is what their other peeps think.
You need to be one of those peeps.
Future homebuyers do not need you to price homes, to find homes, or to research neighborhoods. They've already done that, and their world is exploding with new tools to help them (weakening the role of the listing agent, in my opinion).
They will soon go to a site that will reveal your statistics as an agent. They will take a virtual walk through the neighborhood. They will hold their phone up to the house and will be able to see complete public records, and MLS information.
What does this mean? The river no longer flows to the sea. It is rushing inland and will forever change the landscape of our industry.
Unless you are out there giving the consumer what they really want, education, engagement, and a true homebuying experience, you could soon be washed up on the side of the river.
And left out to dry.
Written By Janet Guilbault, Mortgage Banker/Broker Based Out of the San Francisco Bay Area
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