Byron Lazine and Nicole White are two agents in Connecticut who give us their thoughts on the week’s news every Friday in “The Real Word,” a weekly video column on Inman.
Byron Lazine and Nicole White discussed a debate between Ryan Serhant and Bess Freedman last week over real estate-related reality TV shows. White doesn’t see the connection between reality television and “attacks” on the industry and believes that while some agents may come into the industry due to its glamorization, once they get into the industry they see the reality. At the end of the day, she said, you can turn off the shows.
Lazine said that NAR hit nearly 1.6 million members this year, so shows like these have helped more agents get into the business, though it hasn’t helped the failure rates. Meanwhile, the industry makes money from all of those new agents. White said the industry’s biggest problem is the ease of getting into the business.
White also believes that Freedman’s comment judging women for what they wear is more problematic than the shows themselves since adult women who are smart and professional are allowed to wear what they want.
Next, the two discussed spiking Google searches for “housing bubble” as an indicator that the topic is on a lot of minds. Lazine said that as an agent, you need to know what people are searching for so that you can frame your content to give them the information they want. While the spike is big compared to recent searches for the concept, it’s nothing compared to the early aughts spike in interest.
Marketeer of the Week
This week, the Marketeer is NAR for spending millions on the rebrand of its conference to NXT. It’s going to come at a net expense of $7.6 million with a net revenue of $1.5 million.
Want to nominate a “marketeer of the week”? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below, or shoot us an email.
