Is it important to exercise your first amendment rights or avoid politics like the plague in your business? What’s the future of 3-D listings — and who has the leg up? Does seeing a home with a listing agent put buyers at a disadvantage?
These are just some of the debates on our readers’ minds and tongues this week. The comments below, selected by the editorial staff (and compiled in no particular order) caught our attention.
Kim V. Colaprete · Commented on Should you air your political opinions or not?
As one of the women who is responsible for this post I might as well weigh in! I think the choice to air your political beliefs as a business owner is an extremely personal one. There is no “rule” or “right or wrong.”
The only rules are yours and only you can make the judgement as to whether this is something you are willing to do. Most of our clients are part of our broader family/friend base and they respect the fact that we are deeply active in our community, and that we support LGBTQ issuse (and we don’t only serve that community).
As Realtors we do not live in a bubble distanced from the world around us.
In our opinion, we do not feel that we can be truly authentic and build real bonds with our Divaland community if we deny our opinions and hide our beliefs. And since we are already out married lesbians – why even try!
If you are going to air your beliefs, expect push back and don’t let haters get you down. We tell folks we are open to respectful discourse – even if it challenges our ideas. But we shut down trolls and haters. And it’s ok to do that. Unless your FB page is a community page and you are ok with open public forum – it’s ok to shut down haters. If people can’t be respectful, don’t feed their need for angry, hateful dialogue – just press delete!
Rich Rosa · Commented on Why this negotiable commission brokerage can’t stop growing
“Over time, the facilitators will be replaced by technology, but being a counselor is what sets the good agents apart.” This statement sums up the future of real estate pretty well.
There was a lot of talk about transparency for the consumer in this article. I wonder if that extends to explaining to consumers the pitfalls of dual agency and designated buyer agency?
Inman writes many great articles about different business models. The articles are very interesting. I also think it would be interesting to have some “Where are they now?” type articles three to five years after the initial articles.
Amy Curtis · Commented on Should you air your political opinions or not?
It’s a tough call…I’m a human first and a real estate agent second, or third, or…differing opinions on things wouldn’t stop me from doing business with someone so my hope is that I will be treated in kind. But as a human, what I can’t do is not speak out about things I firmly believe. There’s that MLK quote in which he says…”in the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends” That quote haunts me…having political views or firm beliefs on subjects of injustice may hurt my business, but being a “silent friend” would destroy my soul.
Brett Keppler · Commented on Exclusive buyer’s agents warn: Never see homes with the listing agent
I’m amazed that there are enough people who only want to serve buyers that an entire association has been created. To only represent buyers seems like a difficult road to go down to achieve success and maintain a personal life. Want to know why there isn’t an “Exclusive Listing Agent Association” – because they are too busy making money to worry about making videos. I think this group should pivot to “Colorado Anti-Dual Agency Association” which I think makes more sense for what they are trying to accomplish.
NJHomeBuyer.com Realty · Commented on Exclusive buyer’s agents warn: Never see homes with the listing agent
I think the headline: Never see homes with the listing agent is the best advice. Even further – don’t see a home with anyone related to the COMPANY that listed the home. They are ALL working for the seller. Whether or not the listing agent knows most about the property is arguable – but one thing they will NOT do is proactively look for information about the house – or the seller – that will assist the buyer. That would be a breach of their fidicuary duty to the seller. A buyer’s agent can – and will because their fiduciary duty is to the buyer.
Regarding Brett Keppler’s amazement that there are enough people that want to exclusively serve buyers to create an association — The Colorado Association is not the only such entity. There is one in the Northeast too. Oh, there is a national association also. Those of us that are long term members with an exclusive buyer office business model long ago determined that we could do just fine financially — and keep our ethics intact (avoiding dual agency) in the process.
Larry Story · Commented on Sotheby’s beats Zillow and realtor.com to 3-D
Nice Teke, Congratulations to Southeby’s for the integration. Yes to all the naysayers we small brokerages have been using and promoting Matterport 3D tech for awhile now. Congratulations to NextHome Preferred Properties as well.
We have had our own Matterport equipment for awhile now as well. I did like when Zillow first started giving us a link to our Matterport scans. But, as Teke mentioned I was also disappointed when that feature disappeared. While as some people mention I guess to them it does not matter until a bigbox firm adopts something.
I guess to them it does not exist until it comes down from their corporate on high. We small firms though have the luxury to try, adopt and implement new ideas and tech whenever we want to without permission, from a corporate marketing department. Just like we are moving past and continuing to add from 360 videos to VR viewing stations in our office.
Ted Kelly · Commented on Zillow Group just released ‘Premier Broker’ lead platform
This is reintermediation at its most basic level. Brokers will now be paying for someone to intercept their leads with their own data, and then ultimately, the agents in the street will be paying fees for their own information generated leads. Our industry has really lost its way if they buy into this. If Brokers would realize that if they don’t give Zillow the information, they will become the source, they could save a lot of money.
Frank Consulting Group LLC · Commented on Zillow Group just released ‘Premier Broker’ lead platform
Game changer! For years brokers have been screaming for the large portals / tech companies to create a single-sign-on continuity program that provides a value chain from advertising listings to capturing leads, responding to leads, nurturing leads and SOI, transaction management and integration with accounting. Zillow just keeps beating everyone to the punch. I imagine right now top sales reps at big CRM, lead response, drip marketing companies are polishing resumes and submitting to Zillow.
Having tools that provide brokerages more visibility and insight into lead management and agent training helps the broker, their agents and ultimately the consumer. For years brokers wanted to bang on Zillow while “other” portals stayed asleep at the wheel and did nothing to innovate. Zillow with all thier perceptions from the real estate agent population at large is the only one that is actually listening to the brokerages, meeting with the brokerages and actually executing against a plan to help them better manage their business. There is nothing negative about what Zillow has done here. It could have and should have happened years ago.
Kelly Killian · Commented on ‘Not a close call’: PHH indisputably wins CFPB court battle
I am sure this suit came as an attempt to regulate PHH which has a horrid track record and many complaints with the BBB and suits against them. The CFPB had to start somewhere! They were my mortgage company for 5 years and had the most horrific customer service. They were a servicer, but my relocation company utilized them as the primary financing bank for my mortgage which behooved me at the time, but was really an incredible mistake. The CFPB needs to continue doing what it is doing.