The View From The 84th Floor

Yup, I reached the 84th floor today - my goal is to make it to the 100th floor.

I suspect I am the oldest real estate broker on AR and I am pulling seniority to make some observations on this momentous day

• My wife and I were licensed when I reached the 50th floor - she was still on the 30th floor
• Some of you were still in high school or in diapers 34 years ago, but you've caught up :)
  

It has been my privlege to witness and participate in many dramatic and primarily positive changes in our industry (it is not a profession).

• The initial MLS online systems were of a retrieval nature - there was no agent input
• Western Union Datagrams authorizing an agent to sign documents were the forerunner of electronic signing by both seller and buyer
• Loan approval was done by a committee at the lender's office twice a week before loan approval software was developed to facilitate the loan approval process
• Realtors all worked for the seller until Buyer Agency law and regulations delineated the responsibility of agents on both sides of the transaction

Al Gore invented the Internet when I was on the 70th floor

• Karen launched her first website in 1997 well ahead of the rush
• We joined social networking sites offered by both our association and NAR prior to year 2000

What am I saying ?

• There are those who assume we "oldies" have to learn new ways, but remember
• We helped bring about the need for the "new ways"

Recently, an agent with less than 5 years experience responded to a blog comment by my wife. "you either flip burgers or learn to work with listings CORRECTLY" I can assure that agent Karen will be here long after the agent has left the business and is flipping burgers.

For those of you who doubt I will reach the 100th floor - the vast majority of my family passed on in their 90's - they didn't have a wife 20 years their junior taking care of them :)

Art Kruschka