So I have a lot of friends that are real estate professionals – and by professionals I MEAN professionals. These people pride themselves on their work and reputations which – I have learned – is really all you have in this business. It really bothers me that, as a whole, real estate people are not highly regarded. They are looked at negatively for … [Read more...]
On the Need for Common Definition
People often argue about if agents are worth what they are paid, who is a good agent, what makes a good agent, and so forth. I’m not (for now) going to dive into any of these questions, but instead step back and try and determine how do we even go about setting up the discussion in order to answer those questions? The more I think about it, the … [Read more...]
You can’t always get what you want
We are currently in the process of selling our house, and my friend Patrick’s post prompted me to write about the irony of the sense-of-control in real estate. Any agent will tell you when selling your house to focus on the factors for which you can control: Price, condition, marketing, and so forth. It is a waste of energy, time, and mental … [Read more...]
Online Advertising 101 – Real Estate People, DON’T READ THIS
A Familiar Scenario Let’s say I owned a commercial website like, say, The New York Times online. I have editorial content and ads that run throughout the site. There are ads all over the place where you consume content but also there are entire sections with nothing but ads. Let’s call that the classified section. Now, unlike something such as … [Read more...]
Disruptive Business: Avoid Becoming a Casualty of Progress
They say there’s such a thing as being too good at your job. Well, this is a post about just that. From time to time, there are companies that come around and are so good that they can destroy a market and/or even mess with other semi-related businesses. This isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing. What it is, however, is a good lesson to learn … [Read more...]