The traditional real estate brokerage may have a future of change according to a number of investigative reports. Predictions that the next few years may mark the ending of an era of real estate brokerage service as it is known it right now. It is unlikely that change is unavoidable as a result of proliferation of big property portals, fee for service style brokerage companies, drastically changing online solutions, and the significant restructuring and release of data from listing services.
What has resulted is two things: continuing consolidation into larger and larger real estate brokerage companies that control multiple segments including mortgage origination and relocation or a new paradigm real estate model that supports buyer representation, agent employed, technology driven fee for service. The impact of this plus the push to change the traditional role of the agent as only a transactional middleman, places a downward pressure on commissions.
Innovation is required in order for brokerages to provide encompassing transaction support to clients throughout the real estate contract to supplement decreasing net income. Real estate business services have extended into home mortgage, title, insurance coverage, home warranty and home repair types of professional services.
The Internet and telecommunications advances have enabled a new kind of real estate. The consumer has more information available through national real estate portals such as Zillow and Trulia and begins a home search long before contacting a real estate agent. These portals may have made more real estate data available but added a middle man between agents and their clients. This has increased the amount of money spent in real estate marketing to consumers. The agent recommended on these portals is not necessarily the best agent but the one who paid the most to be in front of the consumer. The data published by the portals tends to be less accurate and less comprehensive than that of local brokerages.
Long gone are the days where agents could simply put a sign in a yard or an ad in the newspaper to be successful. Agents must become masters of many skills that help their business and be experts in their market. Real Estate has traditionally had a relatively low barrier to entry, ability to be your own boss and high income potential. Agents only had to display minimal proficiency to pass a licensing exam and then were left to their own devices to acquire continuing education.
Nowadays, new agents face more stringent education requirements, continuing education and years of transaction experience to advance. The mindset of the traditional agent, fueled by competition and the attitude of putting their commission before the needs of the client, has ultimately been the undoing. Agents must now provide the highest level of service to everyone by becoming a master of technology and expert advisor rather than behave as a traditional agent who guards their best secrets and fears the competition. Real estate agents who are committed to the success of others around them will find more success. They will need to understand a variety of things in addition to real estate, such as marketing, people, sales, negotiation, and finance.
Productive realtors will likely differentiate themselves as providers of counsel to customers and co-workers while continuing to learn about each and every part of the real estate industry. This position of sharing increases trustworthiness and nurtures clients who respect the real estate agent's wisdom, consider their competence and receive reputable hints together with foreseeable ultimate results.
The only way to avoid becoming obsolete is to reinvent your role before the marketplace does it for you. When the concept of real estate brokers arose, there was no Internet. Brokers controlled all the information so that from afar, there was no way to know anything about a property. There were far fewer ways to advertise properties too. The role of the real estate agent needs to focus on what services can you provide that a client can't already do online. This means collecting, managing and sharing information rather than simply using the same information that everyone else has. Be absolutely trustworthy by doing the right thing proactively. Find a way to create and shape a role that significantly benefits clients.
Brick and mortar brokerages which have sponsored and supported independent agents will be most impacted by the changes materializing within real estate. The vast majority of us need and want the beneficial customer service that agents provide. The traditional broker structure steers toward getting an increasing number of agents that frequently are incompetent when it comes to client care, ethics and sales and consequently lowers the overall delivery of quality service. Very often the brokerage gets an even bigger commission split produced by poor achieving sales agents, producing a reputation crisis for the entire brokerage. Higher producing real estate agents receive a bigger commission rate cut mainly because they deliver the most return which implies there's diminishing valuation of the real estate broker.
This model must change to build consumer confidence in an industry where there is so much data available to the public. The opportunity for the new brokerage is to curate content for their customers to help determine the relative value of data and sharing that information with buyers, sellers and investors. Brokers can apply the same strategy to strengthen their agent relationships by making technology choices. Brokers can provide the service of constantly evaluating technology and making choices for the agents.
Technology has made it easier for a boutique brokerage to operate effectively with fewer people to manage business operations. Collaboration is the best way to solve difficult problems and is a rising trend as a means for brokerages to provide more value to a team of agents. Setting high standards for customer service and training agents on a common technology platform fosters outstanding agent performance because of the nurturing office environment. One of the benefits of collaboration for brokers and agents is a smoother, more consistent delivery of services to the customer. Another is the increased sense of belonging that can reduce agent turnover. The collaborative approach support specialist roles which enhances the collective knowledge and skill set of the entire team. The team approach is more effective in assuring the individual's success.
The consumer trend is to seek trust, transparency and a better real estate experience. Mobility, speed and personal service are critically important in serving today's savvy consumers. Success in real estate requires that agents understand local markets and sharing that information with consumers through their preferred communication channels (email, phone call, text, social media, etc.) Most buyers now prefer to spend hours searching portal sites like Realtor.com and Zillow largely because of the trust issue with real estate agents. They are demanding greater transparency at every stage of the buying process. But when a buyer is ready to act, they want an immediate response. Consumers are also relying on their Facebook friends and other online sources for referrals to real estate professionals. Social media is where everyone looks but you have to build trust online and provide valuable information not sales pitches. Consumers still rely on agents for help sorting through data, negotiating the transaction and walking them through the whole process.
More supervision of agent education, software and customer service delivery allows the creation of a formidable brand awareness by real estate brokerages. Typically, brokers must take on the business of lead generation and investigate innovative methods to provide increased value for their realtors. By developing a prominent online presence, creating videos and communicating with the consumer, brokers are able to ensure that their agents deliver outstanding service to the customer. The general public is substantially less dependent upon real estate professionals because local real estate information readily available via mobile device, social and electronic technology. Agents who ask the right questions and offer wisdom will make themselves invaluable as a vital source for clients. Streamlining throughout all areas of business will provide an industry advantage to the real estate agent and broker.
The ActiveLife Realty Team has embraced this brokerage model and places emphasis on outstanding service to clients. By fostering a culture of cooperation and collaboration amongst the team members, the brokerage empowers agents who work together to ensure the best possible real estate experience for clients. As in any business, when the team members are happy, uncompetitive and confident in their abilities, this positive atmosphere is transferred to the client.
With the guidance and supervision from Broker, Alice Gardiner, the boutique real estate brokerage was started in 2009 as Gardiner Real Estate. Accompanied the same year by Sandy Hanner, the brokerage firm was established upon a strict standard of ethics, tightly held values and championing the rights of every single client. The primary business scope was focused on the specialized niche of Sun City Texas simply because of the lengthy work experience with the builder by the founders. With a combined career background with Pulte of over 25 years, familiarity with every facet of newly built as well as resale houses in Sun City Texas serves as a beneficial body of knowledge available to each customer of the real estate brokerage.
The brokerage was renamed Sun City Realty in 2011 to reflect the niche market in which the brokerage primarily worked. Then in 2013, it became evident that the active adult market would be expanding in the area as other builders sought to take advantage of the largest wave of retiring baby boomers. Sun City Realty then became the ActiveLife Realty Team and added two agents to assist clients. In late 2014, the builder of Sun City Texas announced the expansion of the community with the purchase of an additional 1500 acres. The ActiveLife Realty Team has expanded their marketing niche to include all master-planned communities in the Central Texas area with emphasis on 55+ communities.
Now the ActiveLife Realty Team has developed technologies to manage clients, transactions and marketing, provides training and support to agents, overseas and maintains the quality of transaction management, and nurtures a team approach to every aspect of customer service. The brokerage has implemented many of the changes that provide more value to clients and only works with buyers. Having always been focused on delivering quality lead-generation to agents, the ActiveLife Realty Team has built a website that provides so much information to consumers that by the time they respond to calls to action to subscribe to the newsletter or get a free "Buyers Guide", they are already qualified leads that have found a trustworthy and transparent source for their real estate needs. The fact that the ActiveLife Realty Team of agents are only buyers agents and the website educates consumers in regards to the distinct advantages to having unbiased representation in real estate dealings, solidifies that trust. The ActiveLife Realty Team is the future of real estate for a more consumer oriented business model.
What has resulted is two things: continuing consolidation into larger and larger real estate brokerage companies that control multiple segments including mortgage origination and relocation or a new paradigm real estate model that supports buyer representation, agent employed, technology driven fee for service. The impact of this plus the push to change the traditional role of the agent as only a transactional middleman, places a downward pressure on commissions.
Innovation is required in order for brokerages to provide encompassing transaction support to clients throughout the real estate contract to supplement decreasing net income. Real estate business services have extended into home mortgage, title, insurance coverage, home warranty and home repair types of professional services.
The Internet and telecommunications advances have enabled a new kind of real estate. The consumer has more information available through national real estate portals such as Zillow and Trulia and begins a home search long before contacting a real estate agent. These portals may have made more real estate data available but added a middle man between agents and their clients. This has increased the amount of money spent in real estate marketing to consumers. The agent recommended on these portals is not necessarily the best agent but the one who paid the most to be in front of the consumer. The data published by the portals tends to be less accurate and less comprehensive than that of local brokerages.
Long gone are the days where agents could simply put a sign in a yard or an ad in the newspaper to be successful. Agents must become masters of many skills that help their business and be experts in their market. Real Estate has traditionally had a relatively low barrier to entry, ability to be your own boss and high income potential. Agents only had to display minimal proficiency to pass a licensing exam and then were left to their own devices to acquire continuing education.
Nowadays, new agents face more stringent education requirements, continuing education and years of transaction experience to advance. The mindset of the traditional agent, fueled by competition and the attitude of putting their commission before the needs of the client, has ultimately been the undoing. Agents must now provide the highest level of service to everyone by becoming a master of technology and expert advisor rather than behave as a traditional agent who guards their best secrets and fears the competition. Real estate agents who are committed to the success of others around them will find more success. They will need to understand a variety of things in addition to real estate, such as marketing, people, sales, negotiation, and finance.
Productive realtors will likely differentiate themselves as providers of counsel to customers and co-workers while continuing to learn about each and every part of the real estate industry. This position of sharing increases trustworthiness and nurtures clients who respect the real estate agent's wisdom, consider their competence and receive reputable hints together with foreseeable ultimate results.
The only way to avoid becoming obsolete is to reinvent your role before the marketplace does it for you. When the concept of real estate brokers arose, there was no Internet. Brokers controlled all the information so that from afar, there was no way to know anything about a property. There were far fewer ways to advertise properties too. The role of the real estate agent needs to focus on what services can you provide that a client can't already do online. This means collecting, managing and sharing information rather than simply using the same information that everyone else has. Be absolutely trustworthy by doing the right thing proactively. Find a way to create and shape a role that significantly benefits clients.
Brick and mortar brokerages which have sponsored and supported independent agents will be most impacted by the changes materializing within real estate. The vast majority of us need and want the beneficial customer service that agents provide. The traditional broker structure steers toward getting an increasing number of agents that frequently are incompetent when it comes to client care, ethics and sales and consequently lowers the overall delivery of quality service. Very often the brokerage gets an even bigger commission split produced by poor achieving sales agents, producing a reputation crisis for the entire brokerage. Higher producing real estate agents receive a bigger commission rate cut mainly because they deliver the most return which implies there's diminishing valuation of the real estate broker.
This model must change to build consumer confidence in an industry where there is so much data available to the public. The opportunity for the new brokerage is to curate content for their customers to help determine the relative value of data and sharing that information with buyers, sellers and investors. Brokers can apply the same strategy to strengthen their agent relationships by making technology choices. Brokers can provide the service of constantly evaluating technology and making choices for the agents.
Technology has made it easier for a boutique brokerage to operate effectively with fewer people to manage business operations. Collaboration is the best way to solve difficult problems and is a rising trend as a means for brokerages to provide more value to a team of agents. Setting high standards for customer service and training agents on a common technology platform fosters outstanding agent performance because of the nurturing office environment. One of the benefits of collaboration for brokers and agents is a smoother, more consistent delivery of services to the customer. Another is the increased sense of belonging that can reduce agent turnover. The collaborative approach support specialist roles which enhances the collective knowledge and skill set of the entire team. The team approach is more effective in assuring the individual's success.
The consumer trend is to seek trust, transparency and a better real estate experience. Mobility, speed and personal service are critically important in serving today's savvy consumers. Success in real estate requires that agents understand local markets and sharing that information with consumers through their preferred communication channels (email, phone call, text, social media, etc.) Most buyers now prefer to spend hours searching portal sites like Realtor.com and Zillow largely because of the trust issue with real estate agents. They are demanding greater transparency at every stage of the buying process. But when a buyer is ready to act, they want an immediate response. Consumers are also relying on their Facebook friends and other online sources for referrals to real estate professionals. Social media is where everyone looks but you have to build trust online and provide valuable information not sales pitches. Consumers still rely on agents for help sorting through data, negotiating the transaction and walking them through the whole process.
More supervision of agent education, software and customer service delivery allows the creation of a formidable brand awareness by real estate brokerages. Typically, brokers must take on the business of lead generation and investigate innovative methods to provide increased value for their realtors. By developing a prominent online presence, creating videos and communicating with the consumer, brokers are able to ensure that their agents deliver outstanding service to the customer. The general public is substantially less dependent upon real estate professionals because local real estate information readily available via mobile device, social and electronic technology. Agents who ask the right questions and offer wisdom will make themselves invaluable as a vital source for clients. Streamlining throughout all areas of business will provide an industry advantage to the real estate agent and broker.
The ActiveLife Realty Team has embraced this brokerage model and places emphasis on outstanding service to clients. By fostering a culture of cooperation and collaboration amongst the team members, the brokerage empowers agents who work together to ensure the best possible real estate experience for clients. As in any business, when the team members are happy, uncompetitive and confident in their abilities, this positive atmosphere is transferred to the client.
With the guidance and supervision from Broker, Alice Gardiner, the boutique real estate brokerage was started in 2009 as Gardiner Real Estate. Accompanied the same year by Sandy Hanner, the brokerage firm was established upon a strict standard of ethics, tightly held values and championing the rights of every single client. The primary business scope was focused on the specialized niche of Sun City Texas simply because of the lengthy work experience with the builder by the founders. With a combined career background with Pulte of over 25 years, familiarity with every facet of newly built as well as resale houses in Sun City Texas serves as a beneficial body of knowledge available to each customer of the real estate brokerage.
The brokerage was renamed Sun City Realty in 2011 to reflect the niche market in which the brokerage primarily worked. Then in 2013, it became evident that the active adult market would be expanding in the area as other builders sought to take advantage of the largest wave of retiring baby boomers. Sun City Realty then became the ActiveLife Realty Team and added two agents to assist clients. In late 2014, the builder of Sun City Texas announced the expansion of the community with the purchase of an additional 1500 acres. The ActiveLife Realty Team has expanded their marketing niche to include all master-planned communities in the Central Texas area with emphasis on 55+ communities.
Now the ActiveLife Realty Team has developed technologies to manage clients, transactions and marketing, provides training and support to agents, overseas and maintains the quality of transaction management, and nurtures a team approach to every aspect of customer service. The brokerage has implemented many of the changes that provide more value to clients and only works with buyers. Having always been focused on delivering quality lead-generation to agents, the ActiveLife Realty Team has built a website that provides so much information to consumers that by the time they respond to calls to action to subscribe to the newsletter or get a free "Buyers Guide", they are already qualified leads that have found a trustworthy and transparent source for their real estate needs. The fact that the ActiveLife Realty Team of agents are only buyers agents and the website educates consumers in regards to the distinct advantages to having unbiased representation in real estate dealings, solidifies that trust. The ActiveLife Realty Team is the future of real estate for a more consumer oriented business model.
About the Author:
Be sure to investigate all of your opportunities for living an active life in a master planned or active adult community. Get all the information about active adult lifestyle communities and home ownership opportunities from the experts for Central Texas.
