If I had a crystal ball, I would be rich. So would you if you had one. But since I don't I will have to use an educated guess to forecast what real estate will be in 10 years, 20 years and beyond. Real estate is changing right before our eyes and if you look back, who would have known that the simple tool that we all have become addicted to would have changed real estate to what it is today. The Internet has impacted the power that real estate agents have and it is making a smarter world smarter.
Information changes everything. Where in the past, real estate agents could hold information about what was listed on the market for purchase, now the buyers tell agents what they want to see. Where in the past, real estate agents, were the only ones who could tell sellers and buyers what property values were in the past and present, now the public tells the agent what it is in a testing fashion seeing if the agent is as smart as the agent thinks they are. Where in the past, the buyer needed a real estate agent to take them all over town showing them the area, now, the buyer uses a GPS and tells the agent when they are ready to see the house.
So, where does that leave the real estate agent?
Real estate agents will be needed IF:
We hone our skills for making a win-win between buyers and sellers and realize that these folks need unemotional thinkers that see a light at the end of the tunnel, not just a commission.
We use unbiased information on what it takes to sell a home that we gather from our clients. We can no longer have opinions on whether open houses work or not just because we don't want to do them. The public has power and they will research everything you tell them is right or wrong on the Internet.
We build databases of research links that point buyers and sellers to information that they need.
We have a gameplan that is going to take them through a very easy process yet empower them at the end with self-esteem and a job well done.
We recognize that a seller does not want to take a check to closing and we help them understand better that the condition of the home has more weight than a low asking price because buyers are emotional and need to feel a good connection with the home they are buying.
Basically, in my opinion, the Internet empowers people. It removes fear and panic by giving knowledge. If we don't ride the train of empowerment with our clients instead of giving them some magical hocus-pocus that we have presented all these years as agents acting as if we are in charge of whether their house sells or not, we will be lost with the times. Empowerment is the name of the game. The more you give to your clients, the more you thrive.
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