I started The Nature of Real Estate 10 years ago. It’s been such an amazing journey to build a tribe of amazing REALTORS® who care deeply about their clients and are committed to the excellence required to serve them in a way that is truly valuable.
Real Estate is cool. It’s property, community, housing and big money. When people get real estate right, both their lifestyle and their financial security is enhanced and a great REALTOR® can help that happen.
The existence of real estate agents is threatened. I think most people read this article in REM and I have been writing about this for years now but never as directly as this article. My approach has been not to scare you but to help you gain the real skills that will keep you viable during this tsunami of change…but perhaps it’s time to be more direct. My experience selling and trying to buy a home has shown me clearly that most REALTORS® aren’t good enough to earn their commissions and those that are good are remarkably valuable, rare and critically important to a great real estate process. More than ever, I want to be part of the evolution of the real estate industry.
Nature has a complex definition. It’s the inherent character of a person or thing, it’s temperament, it’s the way people, situations and things are. It’s different than wilderness. Nature includes human nature, natural environments, the natural world and natural processes. The way real estate is traded is changing and we need to change with it.
I believe that when we are doing something as important as helping people make decisions about where they and their family will live and how they will spend enormous amounts of money, we have a responsibility to understand their nature and the nature of the market. We have a responsibility to create a natural process for them and to be sure to deliver our services free of our own personal biases.
The approach that has been taught to REALTORS® from traditional training is the opposite. It’s about tricks and techniques to close clients through scripts and mistruths to get them to do something that benefits the agent. It’s disgusting and it’s why we are so vulnerable to the tech companies that are taking our industry away. The consumer doesn’t like or trust REALTORS® and they feel that we get paid too much. And for the most part, they are right.
I think that in the future, people will be able to buy and sell real estate without an agent. The information will all be available to them and will be curated in valuable ways. The process will be simple and linear and easy to understand. They can find, view and buy a home with a few simple clicks. They can sell a home in the same simple way.
Our job won’t be as agents, but as strategists. Houses will trade online. Getting a house will be easy, but getting the right house, a rare house, a great house won’t be so easy. Transitioning a family from one home and community to another won’t be easy. Negotiating a fair price and a set of terms that satisfies both sides, won’t be easy. As strategists, we can still help people make amazing decisions about real estate – but we may be doing is as consultants and not as commissioned sales people.