The stakes are high, as Brian has pointed out. You yourself have been smart enough to build a Web 2.0 marketing strategy, but now you’re faced with the possibility that your broker, with or without the help of the brokers’ cartel, the National Association of Realtors, may try to take it all away. Here are some things you can do to pursue independence now:
- Get rid of the licensing laws. A minimum standard enshrined in law becomes the de facto maximum standard. Consumers have been deluded into thinking that the fog-a-mirror license denotes quality, so they don’t dig deeper for the added-value you bring to the marketplace. Even better, if there are no licenses, there are no brokers to tell you what you can and can’t do.
- But: That won’t happen, so work in your state to get rid of the broker level of licensing. This is already the law in a few states. Every agent can fly his or her own flag as an actual entrepreneur. Even if you should elect to affiliate with a Keller 21Max franchise, you’ll be at liberty to take flight whenever you want, since all your contracts will be your own.
- But even that is probably a long-term proposition. What will happen if your broker tries to shut down your weblog tomorrow? You need your broker’s license now — or as soon as you can get it — if your state still makes the distinction between salespeople and brokers. Even then your contracts aren’t your own, but you will have the ability to plan an orderly exit. And, having that mobility, you will have the power to negotiate with your broker as an equal.
- I mean no slight to our vendor friends, but take and keep control of your marketing technology. Of particular importance: If your broker controls your marketing, your broker controls your business.
- I despise laws, so I have complete contempt for “reforms.” The only reform that matters to me is repeal, which never, ever happens. Even so, a “reform” that would make a remarkable difference in the way the real estate brokerage business is conducted — even Read more
