REALonomics .net

Marc, welcome back! Another remarkable piece of penmanship from your quill. Unfortunately, we've been dry nursing an entire generation of spoiled RE Brats, whose view of the quick money was akin to an entitlement, while ignoring a plethora of opportunities to re-invent this industry. We have way too much Barnum & Bailey in our bloodstream and for a generation we've believed our own self-diluted right of passage. Today, NAR sent our another email Binky telling us what to do, i.e., encourage everyone to push Congress to enact the bail out. I attempted to gain some degree of renewed sense of security by succoring on NAR's bloated email teat. To no avail, it too is parched and all attempts to feed only serve as a reminder of our famine. Still, amazingly, there is no trumpeted cry for reform of the industry. I'm not sure we yet fully appreciate our reputation with the consumer and in this failing we may perpetuate the loathing sense of resentment consumers feel toward us. Ours in an industry replete with designer Binkies and warm bottles of RE Similac® wrapped in labels with the brand names we all recognize. With each convention we tour the vendor gala and load up our plastic bags with new mirrors and fancy smoke-makers. Thank you for bringing to our attention the shallowness of our business model and its lack of relevance in a world of increasing complexity. I definitely needed this today! And, if I may say so, I definitely needed you today! Oh, one more thing. Did they serve free nuts on that flight or did you have to pay for them? - REALonomics

The notion that positive thinking and misplaced hype can move us away from a faulty and failing economic model is more dangerous than the crisis itself because it demonstrates the lack of depth in our thinking. This crisis cannot be repaired by "making people believe the worst is over..." This is the logical result and outcome of poor economic modeling in the mortgage industry that loaned billions to buyers who didn't qualify and the real estate industry's fickle pretense that it exercises ultimate fiduciary in its dealings with clients. Rather than whining, what we should be doing as an industry is recreating ourselves in terms of standards-based brokerage practices, revamping our national and state networks into consumer-centric, transparent operations and utilizing the power of NAR to send a positive signal to consumers that we "get it" and that they are going to see a new side to the professional real estate industry they deserve and one that will refuse to close a transaction where the buyer does not qualify. A standards-based model should include heavy fines for brokerage firms that (1) hire under qualified agents who lack the academic training and counseling skills we need for consumer protection; (2) refuse to fulfill maximum (not minimum) financial training in economics and real estate investments and fiduciary training courses and finally, (3) much higher costs to enter the industry and stay in it. A standards-based industry would include national performance reviews and ratings of brokerage firms with financial and recognition incentives for creating and maintain standards of excellence that protect consumers and their investments in real estate. In addition, we need to look at the role of NAR and how NAR services the industry and consider refocusing its mission and resources on a newly profiled industry that really understands and accepts responsibility for its actions when counseling consumers to invest in real estate. One thing we believe with certainty, we are never returning to what we once knew. Having said that, what is it we would like to become as an industry after the dust settles? While the Feds scramble to resolve issues, we should be scrambling as an industry to reinvent ourselves. Such a reinvention involves painful analysis and truth-telling about where we have been and how we have operated. Only then can we begin the process of rebuilding a tattered industry that is increasingly viewed with skepticism by most consumers. REALonomics.net

Marc - The "quirky" and "aesthetic" world of 2.0, while leading many of us down exciting paths of business model exploration "offline" and "online," clearly contains some "silly" stuff that might be serving as a deterrent to real world brokerage modeling...one with sustained profit, predictable ROI and streamlined consumer-centric delivery models...all without slight of hand or maintenance nightmares. How many of us actually have time to nurse our LinkedIn, Twitter, FaceBook, Zillow and YouTube accounts and the host of other pseudo 2.0 tools that are supposedly connecting us? I don't know about you, but I'm worn out and dizzy. You're right! The "Killer" brokerage is one that can truly deliver value-centered solutions to people in language you have called "simple" and "trivial." Trivial simplicity is just keenly directed and meaningful exchanges that actually present value propositions to participants and ultimatel lead to business transactions in an open world. What a great opportunity we have in front of us as Web 2.0 preps and tutors us in the new language of openess! Once we get past newness and being cool, there is a wealth of business modeling we can use to renovate the industry, starting with our own companies. That "Killer Panel" should deliver some interesting and even frightening content for us all to ponder. Looking forward to your post RE Connect reports. NICE WORK!!! www.REALonomics.net