Well Inman, I've gotta hand it to ya, this past week was quite possibly one of the best investments in real estate education I ever made!
Apart from the fact that I felt distinctly geriatric from being surrounded by "hip young things", the new techno
logy I discovered at Inman News' "RE Connect NY" was astounding. From the Start Up Alley to the phenomenal presentations, I came away feeling empowered, and assured that my company will be "Keeping Up With The Real Estate Jones's." I learned about some immensley powerful trends, how to handle the new buyer of the Millenium age, and many new tricks to assist in selling our aging, outdated inventory in the "burbs" to the much younger buyer who might be attracted to leaving the city for greener pastures.
I also discovered that our own model here at Global Property Systems is doing what many others can only dream of. Even with an entire morning of "Hot Tips for Global Marketing" not much information was of actual use to the average Realtor. Heavens, "Kiss Bow and Shake Hands" is the Bible of global marketing of real estate?? No we need actual methods to connect with the international buyer and investor, not how to greet and eat with them!
But that's OK, we seem to have carved out our own niche here in NY with that market. No, we are not selling chateaux's in France and multi-million dollar penthouses in Shanghai, but over 80% of our buyers are from overseas and most are buying in the $350,000 - $1.5M range. There's plenty of them, more than enough to go around, and I'm not afraid of sharing with anyone who bothers to call and ask me. Not a thing was mentioned about the NAR's CIPS designation and how useful it has been to us here at GPS, nor was anything mentioned about FIABCI. In fact, the entire global track appeared to be dedicated to the lucky few who have landed the envious position of being able to attract the filthy rich. Yes, I came away green with envy, but happy in the knowledge that our global business model works well.
I also came away with some great referral partners, some pretty amazing service providers and 
some awesome cool technology (at "special conference pricing" too!) I was also able to meet some wonderful people including Ariana Huffington, and Houzz.com's Adi Tatarko. Now I'm confident that we will work smarter, grow faster and provide an even better service to our clients here at GPS real estate by keeping ahead of the pack, and have the Inman team to thank for that.
If you haven't attended an Inman event, I can highly recommend the highly informative, fast paced RE Connect events. The next is in July 2014. However, if you can't afford to spend 3-4 days away from your office (which if you work smart, everyone should be able to achieve,) then take a one-day Agent Reboot with them.
One thing I do know from the conference is that today's real estate business is a very fast-moving one. So much so that I may attend the July event in San Francisco, just to keep up. Hope to see you there!
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