Ever had an idea for a cool real estate product or service that would make life easier or better but didn’t know where or how to share it so that it had a chance of inspiring a product? Now there’s a place.
Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate has launched what it calls “Idea Shed,” a website for the real estate industry that collects and displays ideas for real estate solutions in five broad categories: prospecting, technology, service, recruiting and “out there.”
Anyone can submit an idea, but the site’s not for those looking to build upon it themselves or take legal credit later. To access Idea Shed, all users must agree to the site’s terms, which, in part, has visitors acknowledge “that you will surrender all rights now and in the future for content you submit to the Idea Shed.”
Though the Realogy-owned brand launched the site, the ideas it fosters are for the industry at large and not just for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate and its Realogy cousins like Century 21 Real Estate and Coldwell Banker Real Estate, according to a Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate spokeswoman.
“We want to leverage the collective ingenuity of real estate professionals, and the collective innovation of solution providers to bring real estate to the next level,” said Sherry Chris, president and CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, in a statement.
When submitting an idea, users designate who it’s for (brokers, agents or consumers), include a summary of a problem they see, their suggested simple solution to that problem and a high-level draft of a business plan. They can also submit sketches of the idea as an attachment and suggest a name for the product or service.
A team of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate editors reviews each submission before publication to ensure it fulfills the site’s mission.
Currently there are five posts in Idea Shed, ranging from an idea for a training platform that will help small- to medium-sized independent brokerages scale their training as they grow to a concept for a new online lead-routing system for brokerages that gives them more information about Internet consumers so they can direct them to the best agent for their needs.
Those who want to track when a new idea is submitted to Idea Shed can sign up to receive alerts by submitting their email address in a form at the bottom of the site.
“I believe that by sharing my ideas with the people and companies who can act upon them, I am having a direct impact on the industry,” said Eric Post, vice president and principal broker at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Realty Partners in Portland, Oregon. Post submitted a product idea to the site that centered on making more detailed property detail information, like details about any remodels or landscaping, available to buyer’s agents and their buyers.
