A few weeks ago, I saw a statistic that really surprised me. And for the life of me, I can’t remember where. But, hey, this is a blog and not the Washington Post. So I don’t’ have a staff fact checker. But it was an article somewhere that said the average age of the membership of the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors was 52 years old.
52? That’s pretty old as an average!
OK, so the agents in my office, many of whom are real estate legends in Washington (not necessarily because of their age) may fit that profile. But we have this new office down near Dupont Circle full of people who are young and hip and energetic enough to deal with the stairs in its beautiful 4-level turn-of-the-century row house, not to mention all of the walk-up townhouse condos that they list. Shouldn’t they bring the average down?
But they were not just talking about Evers & Company, where I work. It was all over DC and Montgomery County.
This number came to mind last week at the Inman Connect at one of the sessions dealing with new technology. A woman stood up and did a bit of a rant about how this technology was overwhelming. They should take into consideration all of the boomer agents and clients who were going nuts trying to figure out every innovation.
But wait! She was younger than I am!
And I gotta say, I am lusting after a new MacBook Air! But there is nothing at all wrong with my old MacBook, which all the kids in our Dupont office think is incredibly cool.
I love my digital camera, a Nikon D-80 with the mother of all wide angle lenses. Do I use it to the fullest? Maybe not, and it does take fabulous pictures. And the kids at the Dupont office are envious.
My “Blog Guy”, the friend I’ve known since the 70’s who is even older than I am, set me up with my first blog in 2005, and helped me move from TypePad to WordPress over the weekend. He set up Boomer Cafe, one of the most hit upon blogs on the Web. And he is every bit as tech-savvy as his 20-something daughter who designs Web sites for a living.
While I will admit that during a few of last week’s sessions, my eyes did glaze over, it was due more to the hangover from Wednesday night’s partying than confusion over the technology. I won’t say that I embrace it like my 20-something nephew, but I could be had for a MacBook Air.
I think we need to keep a grip on some of the old-fashioned technologies, say the telephone. And I do buy stamps to send little hand written notes via snail mail. And that old time stuff really does work.
So do the new hi-tech toys. And I’m at the front of the line to try out a lot of them.
Patricia Kennedy — Search Listings!
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It's all about attitude! Some people close their minds before they try a new approach. Some people don't get serious techno stuff because they just don't, no matter what their ages. I like your enthusiasm for the new, while keeping the functional parts of the old methods.