Jeff Castner

I have recently been doing a lot of thinking about web sites.

As a Realtor and more importantly a real estate practitioner, I am starting to wonder the strategy of putting so much time, effort, and money into my web site. The facts say that I/We need to have a web presence. But why? What is the purpose of a web site? My thinking used to be to provide the consumer with information, provide the consumer with the ability to search for property, provide me with a way to capture that consumer.

The reality of the situation is there are a number of sources the consumer is going to find and visit before they find my littler corner of the Internet.

May it not be a better approach to have a web site that gives the consumer the opportunity to get to know us as first people first, secondly as agents/brokers, and third as service provides they can count on for professional service?

My new thinking was reinforced tonight as I visited this

http://www.hitwise.com/datacenter/main/dashboard-10133.html

Of the top 20 real estate sites only 6 are actually real estate companies. Two are essentially the same company (Realogy). That leaves us with 5. Meaning 75% of consumers are searching for property everywhere but real estate web sites.

It seems like once again we are behind the consumer wants and needs curve.

I don't have the answer but I look forward to your comments.

This morning I was discussing the concept of what do real estate agents really need or want from their respective companies, is it tools and systems to generate and capture leads or is it all about the commission split.

Most companies promise some sort of lead generation. The national brands talk about the consumers predisposition to go with well know brands. The smaller more boutique offices talk about their brand presence in a certain market segment. Both of these arguments suggest the agent is willing to give up a portion of the commission for these lead generation tools. On the other hand the 100% concepts argue that the business is all about the money and the company, for lack of a better term, is just a place for a licensee to practice, an incubator for the entrepreneurial spirit of an agent.

Having read a number of blogs about the pros and cons of both systems is it still feasible to have a company provide all the lead capture and generating tools and have an agent on a 50% commission split? Or would agents rather pay a monthly fee for a packaged or bundled tool box and keep 100% of the commission?

Or can some sort of Hybrid System be worked out. A kind out network an agent could join where leads provided by the network a paid out at 50% and leads generated without the network are paid at 80%-100%?

Is there a perfect balance between commission split and tools? Are there any new programs out there that merit special attention?

I recently came across the term "Disruptive Innovation". The term was coined by Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen, and describes a process in which a new concept, idea, product, or service takes root at the low end of a market or industry and then relentlessly moves up the preverbal food chain and displaces the market or industry establishment.

Thinking about our industry, its past, and its future, I began to realize we are now in the midst of what could be the greatest time of "Disruptive Innovation". Looking to the past, I think the dawn of Realty Executives and Re/Max was a period of great Disruptive Innovation. No longer could a Broker/Owner count on an agent staying with a company on a 50/50 commission split. Agents became the center piece of the industry. Agents began branding themselves; the really good ones began operating their practice as a business. An entire industry grow to serve these new entrepreneurs, as a licensee you can't go a week without some company trying to sell you the latest and greatest. The old guard fought this process tooth and nail.

The second phase of "Disruptive Innovation" came with the advent of the Corporate on stop shop. Companies like Cendant (Realogy) and Home Services began to "take back" the industry by providing the consumer a one shop stop concept. Offering mortgage, title, and insurance services these corporate giants began to attract agents offering turn key solutions to agents and convenience to the consumer.

We are now in an environment where technology and consumer demand is radically changing the one stop shop concept. This begs the question, what is the next big "Disruptive Innovation" in the Real Estate Industry. Technology is too broad an answer. My thought is the next big driver of "Disruptive Innovation" is the man or women on the street. I look at some of the recent litigation that has happened and continues to occur and wonder if the industry is, as I think is its history, fighting the "Disruptive Innovation" that the consumer is demanding. The latest controversy I came across is with Google and a Realtor in Indianapolis.

Isn't the goal of any business profit through service. We know what service the consumer wants. Why fight it? I am curious, where do you see the industry going and what do you, the real estate licensees want with the next Big Idea. I look forward to your comments.

To sign or not to sign? That seems to be the latest controversy within the Chicago Real Estate Community. Apparently the City of Chicago has had on its books an ordinance that prohibits advertising signs on public property. Public property certainly includes sidewalks and the like. As Spring approaches the City has indicated that they are going to place added emphasis on the enforcement of the ordinance.

This seems to have a number of my colleagues in a tizzy.

Although I can image that open house signs bring in some traffic I find it very hard to believe the numbers are of any significance. We all know that consumers are getting information from the internet and the "more traditional" methods of attracting buyers and sellers are becoming obsolete.

As a community, Realtors should view this as a positive. The City of Chicago has created a situation where the public is forced to find open house information from the real estate community. Wouldn't it be nice if every buyer needed to consult with his/her Realtor in order to get open house information? I would not object to a law banning for sale signs? Providing information that clients and consumers want and need is the future of the industry. Anything that allows me to do that is a plus.

Just what I needed before bed....I get a tweet saying here is a list and map of TARP recipients, http://ow.ly/1YfN . Being the skeptic that I often am I do a Google search for "Firms that received TARP funds" low and behold here is the list http://www.bailout.propublica.org/main/list/index.

The numbers are staggering.

Not being an economist, I start looking for who do we have to blame. A quick Google search of "who is to blame for the economic mess" yields the following results:

http://www.moneyunder30.com/who%E2%80%99s-to-blame-for-this-economic-mess

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1877351_1877350,00.html

As I read the Time Magazine article I notice David Lereah the former economist for the National Association of Realtors...wait a minute...the Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors. I help pay this guy. Then I start to think, what is NAR? Plain and simple NAR is a lobby group. Not only is NAR a lobby they (we) are the top lobby on the hill http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/index.php?party=A&cycle=2008

Here is hoping that we can take back control of the association and make it truly an organization that fosters homeownership, lobby's our legislators responsibly, and remember its stated vision

"Working on behalf of America's property owners, the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® provides a facility for professional development, research and exchange of information among its members and to the public and government for the purpose of preserving the free enterprise system, and the right to own, use, and transfer real property"

http://www.realtor.org/realtororg.nsf/pages/narmission

We are beginning to work our way out of this mess. A number of industry experts started predicting a soft bottom beginning in the second quarter and the beginning of a recovery by Q3. Let's hope we all learned from the mistakes of the past.