A local San Diego brokerage, ARG has announced they are the first broker in San Diego to pull out of listing syndication.

I am not going to go into great detail on this site which is consumer orientated.  If you want to know more please visit an excellent article by Lily Leung with the San Diego Union Tribune.  She has also posted some consumer reaction to the announcement here.

Fred Glick makes several important points in the video below about ARG’s announcement which focus on Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com.

First, that the underlying message is to call the listing agent, no one else will know more about the property or represent you better.  Sounds like dual agency to me.

Second, that the seller should be concerned and not allow his or her listing to be syndicated on Zillow Trulia, or Realtor.com, the three largest consumer real estate sites on the Internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMQm3ZvVRl4

What are your thoughts?

My hope is we will see more of this on consumer sites like Trulia, Realtor.com, and maybe even real estate association websites.  I don’t think you can ever loose by pulling stuff out into the light of day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKG8-t9xD0k

Brain Boero over at 1000 Watt Consulting said it best…

In real estate, stupid scales. Excellence lives in small pockets. That’s how it’s always been. And it will be this way until, someday soon, a rising tide of technology and consumer frustration reaches flood stage, breaches the levee, and sweeps forty years of toxic sediment out to sea.

Imagine my surprise today,when in my e-mail inbox, I find this lovely little piece of SPAM.

Really, is this what agents want in their real estate company?

You might want to pour yourself some Kool Aid since this is the weekly meeting over at Prudential California in Scripps Ranch.

Learn how to manifest anything you want in your life professionally and personally and how to have a life of balance and abundance.

• Learning how to do affirmations.
• Learning how to manifest your desires.
• Creating a vision board.
• Goal Setting.
• Positive Energy Exercises.
• Living the life you’ve always wanted to live.

Hey Nick, you might want to take me off your e-mail spam list.  The chances of me coming back to Prudential are slim to none, even if you are a Branch Manager, Trainer, and Coach.

Also the next time you send out your propaganda you might want to fix the “editable text here” on the front of the card.

Positive thinking does not keep ships from sinking.

Update – September 29, 2010

Just got another e-mail from Nick.

I am trying to use my manifestation powers to get off your e-mail list!  Here is a tip how to get Google Alerts.

Everyone talks a great game in having the best of technology.

A look behind the curtain usually reveals antiquated practices, fax machines, paper copiers, and boxes of documents.

Like the comic above, the realty of the solution is quite different from the one bragged about!

The other day as I was out previewing some property when I passed a real estate office. Did you notice they are getting harder to find?

As typical of most real estate offices, nowadays the windows were plastered with various flyer’s of properties for sale, a few “do good” non-profit flyers, and an a frame sign with agent on duty.  Peering in through the open door into the dusty portals of the office space it clearly was quite empty, with dozens of little partitioned 3×2 office cubicles stacked with paperwork, and the latest reminder to use in the in house lender.

Setting behind the “up desk” was one lonely agent, coffee in hand reading something on the ancient CRT monitor the size of a moving crate.  His name tag was twice the size of the computer monitor and his last deal was in 2002 with his brother.

Does anyone actually choose a real estate agent by walking in to an office and choosing an agent that has nothing better to do than lay in wait for a unsuspecting consumer to stumble in the door?  

Seth Godin wrote a wonderful post the other day titled “Good By To The Office“.  Take a few moments and read it.  Here is an excerpt from the post.

Factories used to be arranged in a straight line. That’s because there was one steam engine, and it turned a shaft. All the machines were set up along the shaft, with a belt giving each of them power. The office needed to be right next to this building, so management could monitor what was going on.

So the question is do you want your agent to have a tiny musty conference room to meet in, or would you prefer to meet in a coffee shop, restaurant, or better yet – on line.

Once my Clients have decided to write an offer, we can collaborate  together via an on-line webinar, post the draft for review, agree on the final contract and send for electronic signatures.  No set meeting time, no traffic, privacy, Clients can be in different locations in the comfort of their own homes.

Doesn’t this sound like a better, greener way to do business?

Real estate agents from all over the country are slowly  waking up to realizing social media might be a good avenue to expose themselves to prospects and Clients.

Here are some strategies to avoid in the following video. They have been inspired from recent Twitter feeds – would you really do this in real life?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7_BXGjsv9E

Somewhere recently, I read if you are a jerk, social media will just allow you to expand that fact to a larger audience.  For the sake of our already suffering image as fast talking sales people, please take some time to follow these folks who were a big influence on my efforts not to practice SSSM.  Here are some suggestions in no particular order – Enjoy!

• @CoachTomFerry – Real estate Coach who understands the business and how to apply SM to your business.
• @mattdollinger – Working on Web 2.0 and real estate technology – also the “You Factor”.
• @1000wattmarc – You never have to wonder what Marc is thinking, he will tell you.
• @krisberg – Hmmm best real estate agent in San Diego, where does that leave me?
• @phxreguy – One of the first and still original, relevant, and observant.
• @swanepoel – Stephen is the man to follow for trends in social media.

I was thinking the other day of all those strange things that we do in the real estate biz.  Over the years I have had some crazy experiences going that extra mile for clients.  Certainly one of the memories that sticks with me is when I was covering for a fellow agent named Kay back in my old home town of  Visalia, California.  Kay had just listed a very nice home in an area known as Green Acres, which was an upscale neighborhood of uniquely charactered homes.  One weekend she had to leave town so I covered her business while she was away.

Sure enough a call came in from an agent anxious to show the new listing to some out of town clients.  They had driven by the home and thought it would be perfect for their needs, how soon could they see the inside?  Fortunately, the owner was out of town and I informed the agent we could show anytime and an appointment was made within the hour.

Arriving a few minutes early to turn on the lights and open the home I discovered the key to the front door did not work.  I walked around and tried all the other doors to no avail, it seemed as if I had the wrong key.  When the agent and clients drove up I shared with them the bad news.  They of course were very disappointed and being from out of town it would be difficult to reschedule.  The agent asked me if there was anyway to get in and I told her not without getting hold of the owner for another set of keys.

Then a thought occurred to me, during my frantic search around the home for a door the key would work,  I noticed a rather large dog door.  Hmmm, perhaps I could gain access to the interior of the home and let them in.  I shared my thoughts with the agent who thought it was a teriffic idea as long as it was me going through the door, and not her.

Feeling my duty to get those poor folks in I went to survey the dog door.  At second glance it was not nearly as big as I first thought and I had my doubts about gaining access.  It did occur to me the door was large enough to gain access by a very large dog.

However, determined to get them in, I begin to worm my upper body though the door which was quite tight.  Several minutes went by until I had managed to wiggle my way half in on my back.

Halfway in the house with my legs dangling outside, I suddenly heard the pounding paws of an fast approaching killer dog.  My imagination ran wild guessing, doberman, pit bull, man eating hell hound?  Whatever it was, it was fastly approaching the corner into the kitchen, and my futile efforts to extract myself quickly were not working.  Everything was that much scarier as my view was upside down as my head laid on the kitchen floor waiting for the dog to round the corner into my line of sight.

Just as I was making my last ditch, panic effort to get myself unstuck, around the bend a rather small and very happy poodle came into view.  The friendly dog came to an abrupt stop at my now sweating face and gave my face a friendly lick.

Still rather shaken, I was able to gain access and let the waiting buyers in the front door.

The buyers did not like the house and excused themselves within minutes of opening the door for them with nary a thank you.  Just another day in real estate!

Photo courtesy of F L Studios @ Flickr

Is it just me, or has every blogging real estate agent in the country doing video while driving?  Kind of seems like a risky venture when you think about it, but I guess they are so busy, that multi-tasking is the key.  I was actually at the point where I was thinking of doing a video while driving, NOT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm633m7Yvpg

Come on everyone, let’s be a bit more careful out there. Thanks to Bruce Brown for the great parody on a dangerous trend.

A few years ago, while I was taking a vacation on Maui I took a Helicopter trip to view the falls on the southern end of the island.  Trying to save some money I found this company from a coupon in one of the many tourist booklets left in our hotel room.  The coupon discounted the already low price making it seem like a real steal – hmm almost too good to be true?

I had never been in a Helicopter before, and that was mostly by design.  I have a fear of heights, and never really understood how those machines stayed aloft, or why anyone would want to ride in one.

Before I left for our trip, I noticed another major carrier in Maui with sleek, jet-engine assisted Helicopters advertising their safety record, and the many happy tourists that had taken the flight.

So the day of the trip, the weather was warm, but very windy.  We arrived at the operator tucked far away behind a chain link fence at the airport.  There was no office or welcoming party, just a tiny Helicopter which did not appear large enough to hold the 3 of us and the pilot (see picture above).  The pit of my stomach sank  as we walked towards the tiny “wind up” contraption.  I’m sure it was recently purchased at Radio Shack or perhaps some “do it yourself” kit.

The pilot seemed nice enough as we boarded and put on our headphones so we could hear him during the flight.  He stated that we would be making a brief stop for fuel before our flight.  He fired up the tiny engine and we lurched from the tarmac, immediately being buffeted by the wind.  Within minutes we were back down on the ground next the the airport fueling station.

A large Hawaiian man can up to us with a disgusted look on this face – I could overhear him telling the pilot that he told him he could not keep coming back for small loads of fuel, he would need to purchase a full tank.  ”Great,” I thought in my head as I realized our pilot was on a financial wing and prayer, not even able to afford a full tank of gas.  Several more minutes of angry discussion insured with the tank being filled with what seemed like very little fuel.  Thoughts of, “I wonder what else he was skimping on?” danced around in my head.

Finally, the pilot was back in our whirleybird and we were once again off.  For those that have not been in a small helicopter with a bubble cabin, you really get a front row seat of everything.  My stomach dropped as the small craft strained to gain altitude and started over the sugar cane fields towards the Volcano.  All I could pay attention to were my white knuckles holding on for dear life.

Overcoming the initial fear of falling from the sky and lost hopelessly in the  the sugar cane field, I noticed how the tiny machine was bucking the headwind.  I was even more alarmed as I noticed a man far below on a bike speeding ahead of us.  Moments later one of the beautiful blue jet assisted helicopters buzzed by us  at three times our speed – it was really beautiful.  The tiny cabin was buffeted back and forth as we moved slowly across the landscape towards our destination.

What seemed like forever, the small craft finally made the bumpy ride around the Volcano, and set a heading towards the very rugged southern part of Maui, where these immense crevices with high waterfalls fall into the Pacific Ocean.  By the way, several more beautiful blue jet equipped birds with happy smiling tourists sped by looking down on our clumsy little bird bucking the wind.  I am quite positive I saw a few of them laughing at our tiny ship. Very amusing!

I have to say that these falls are beautiful, but I did not enjoy them for one second.  It seems that our pilot thought it best to drop his small copter down into these deep valleys close to the falls.  Each dip into the abyss towards the falls I thought would be my last as the little craft struggled back upwards.  The beautiful blue jet engine assisted copters hovered high above us, as if to say “why is he going down there, that’s not safe?”

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, and certainly more time than the fuel pumped aboard, the pilot turned towards home.  Each of us looked at one another with relief as we made our way back to the airport.  The trip was much speedier as we now had a strong tailwind, and soon the tarmac was in sight, oh yes sweet sweet land!

The pilot took our complementary digital photograph and we jumped in our rented car and made our quick get away to the safety of our hotel.

Surviving the trip, I remembered what my Dad always told me, “Jeff, a cheap man often pays twice.  You get what you pay for.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAeprWIOQqQ