To Real Estate or Not to Real Estate

Aaron - I did not have luck commenting on your post. I wrote one comment, but because of the server glitch, it went anonymous. I rewrote it, and it again went there anonymously, and it was awkward. Then the system went down on me and I could not get on AR that evening at all. So I opened Microsoft Word and started writing being catapulted from your well written post and comments that I read before being kicked out of the server.

No, I have not read this post and the comment that you mentioned, and no, I did not read the note that you added to your post after receiving the comments. But it is not really that important. I did not write it against you, I liked how you write, and, actually I was very pleasantly surprised not only with this post, but with one that followed, about the mistakes we make when blogging. I think that AR got a new star.

I do not say that you are wrong, I just add my perspective. I do not think that there is only one and only way to do things, and it pertains to how we blog, and how we present ourselves. Years ago I checked Network Solutions and suggested that we register NoBSrealEstate.com and form a company No BS realty. My wife was so adamantly against it that I had to chose and family won. Recently I read that the whole slate of those NoBS this and that domains were very successful, and cost a lot of money. So, my wife saw our image as corporate, serious/professional. I always tend to more No BS, humor, more face-to-face type. Both are valid, both can be successful. I know offices, where the agent can't come in jeans, and offices where you can be in shorts. There is no statistical data on how much wearing shorts affect the business.

I think, there is no rule. If everyone is wearing a suit & tie, you either be like everyone else, or be one of a kind... and different. It is not what you are wearing, it is whether you look a genius or stupid. And one can pull it off and another can't. It is that simple.

Of course, norm is very important in our lives, but if we want to stand out, and everyone is screaming that we have to, then it involves some bold moves. In this war for the client personalities win. You can beat the knowledge by learning and attaining, you can beat the experience by working and perfecting your skills, but you can't beat the personality.

I think that one very important difference of our times is that website could hide us behind. You could have someone put a nice site, and clients had no clue who were behind this website. We could pretend that we are big, or powerful, or whatever.

Blogging is like letting people inside, and you can't hide. A few blogs are enough to see who you are. You can't hide behind the blog. This is how in the age of anonymity and Internet we ended up face-to-face. Isn't that fascinating?

It is like looking in the mirror. Do I see anything? Am I for real?

Nicholas - Thanks for the feature. I feel flattered

Eric - Unless you write fiction about non-fiction real estate, you are OK (LOL). Though real estate now is better than fiction.

Margaret - BTW, I surf AR and often find bits and pieces of important information, that I did not even think about. So, on the one hand, there is a lot of information, that I purposely find, and on the other there is a lot of information that finds me. Truly a remarkable source.

Aaron - "Beverly Hills mentality" sounds strange. I think what we see right now is agents deciding on whether to stay or leave. The feeling is that there are more agents than there is business out there. In that sense I think we are going through a radical change, as even coming back the market will be drastically different, and our role in the process will be drastically different. This will be the first time, where so called Internet Empowered Consumers (Michael Russer's term) would be able to do the whole process of buying real estate without an agent from start to finish. Should we be able to show the value of us taking upon us the task of running it for them, we will be OK. Not because they can't do it themselves, as they now can, but because we would save them time doing the stuff for them while they are doing other things.

It is like oil change. We can do it ourselves, but we prefer not to. But if the oil changing businesses become a problem, we would turn to  10-graders and let them do that.

The problem for many agents is that they feel that we are indispensable. Not really. Not more than travel agents, who lost airline reservations to open booking on the Internet.

What we had exclusively before was information about properties for sale. You want it, you talk to me. Now the information is open. And from the dictating force, we became the service providers. Knowing what is our service, and how this will help our clients is the key to surviving.

We most probably will lose a lot more agents, but those who stay would be more perceptive to "Beverly Hills mentality".

Hugh - How about warm climate and warm/friendly people. Anyway, right now there are only two states that make waives: Florida (because we live here) and Alaska, where Jesse Clifton is our AR representative, so that one day we all go there and catch all the salmon out there.

Richard - I woudn't mind looks, but looks disappear before we figure how to use it (LOL). I agree, discussions bring something new. There were several times when I was so sure about things, and comments made me change my position. Actually, a couple of times I was plain wrong on some issues. It is never late to learn, and it is never late to listen to those, who have what to say. Thanks.

Erin - 11 transactions traceable to blogging, this is an incredibly good number, not many have achieved it. Congratulations, you should be doing something right...

Sheila - Maybe there are people, who would like to deal with pure professional, where they have as close to a robot as possible. This is a possible scenario. I think that majority of people would prefer first to decide on the agent, to feel comfortable with him/her. Maybe only strong opinionated people who always insist on their way as the only way, would want robots. I think we are not so confident in the issues involved and in the process. Therefore for us the person is very important. We will instinctively look for someone who we would be able to trust with making serious decisions with those issues. For them the personalities would mean a lot.

Christine -  Is this the attorney in you that is cautious? Isn't it strange that in US, the land of the free, people are so afriad of saying, or writing what they think?

Disclaimers only indicate that we may not be that free after all. If all we can is to write about the number of properties on the market, and how many were sold within a day, week, month of year... is this our idea of freedom?

Michael - maybe the next President should do a legal reform? Doctors would rather let you die by the book than try to save you and get sued for using unapproved methods.

Family doctor paying $80K a year in insurance? Where this $80K should come from?

Disclaimer, if you ever-ever die from anything, you and your heirs will hold me harmless...

Sharon - as my Alaskan friend Jesse Clifton says "Switch you mouse" and just go to another post. There are 110K+ members and everyone is welcome not to like me. Find what you like and who you like. Thanks for commenting.

Stephanie - The last thing I want to see on AR are the listings: pure real estate. I am not coming here to be sold something. There are tons of sites that do that, and when I need it, I will  go there. On AR is my home, people who I communicate with, people that I learn from.

I am sure that if general public comes to AR, they are not looking for those who has the most listings, but rather look for people in their area, who they feel comfortable with. they find who they like, and then they would contact that person.

That's my belief

Cheri' - You are right. For me Real Sstate is important part, but not the only thing that I need and I do not understand why people are so occupied with being so narrowly minded, sort of robots, or extension of their computers.