by Dave Phillips

CEO, PA Association of Realtors

Author website

I travel Interstate 64 between Charlottesville and Richmond at least once a month. It is a fairly lightly traveled highway (compared to 95 and 81), so it is justifiably only two lanes wide in either direction. It is also a fairly boring drive because the scenery (which is nice) does not change for 50 miles. The road is straight, flat, and requires a stop at Starbucks before you brave the monotony.

The lack of interesting scenery or road challenges allows my mind to wander and think up Blog posts like this one. On a recent trek back from Richmond, I experienced a common source of frustration – a legitimate pet peeve of mine – when I found myself going 5 miles UNDER the speed limit while driving in the “fast lane.” As you can guess, there was an otherwise “normal” person merrily cruising down the left lane and ignoring the signs that say “Slower Traffic Keep Right.” Cars had stacked up behind this slowpoke as they attempted to negotiate passing the vehicle on the right.

There was a law on the books in Virginia that made it illegal to pass on the right, but that was removed several years ago because more than one member of the General Assembly shares my pet peeve. I would have preferred that we stiffen the penalty for driving slow in the left lane (perhaps jail time) instead of justifying cars weaving through traffic, but then again, how much sympathy can you have for drivers like me who believe a State Trooper’s mantra is “eight you’re great, nine you’re mine?”

For many agents, the same frustration occurs in the real estate business. I often hear complaints about less “professional” agents slowing up a transaction. In essence, the complaint is that one agent involved in the transaction is hurting the efficiency of information flow needed to get the deal done, much like a slow driver in the left lane hurts the efficiency of traffic flow. This analogy, however, breaks down when you compare the root cause of the problem. The driver in the left lane is simply rude or inconsiderate Read more

by Eric Blackwell

The Real Estate Group, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA

Author website

MIke Farmer got me to mention the thought of Navy Seal Teams as a basis for real estate marketing. He got me thinking on that…and my mind turned towards my Market Channel Dominance Theory(s).

Or…let’s just call it B-I-N-G-O. In the game of BINGO, you can win by being the first to dominate one row, either across, down or diagonally. Let’s throw out the diagonal option for a second. (and the free space in the middle-there’s NO free lunch).

First off, real estate marketing channels, (local radio, newspaper, TV, Organic Search, Paid Search, Blogging (and you have to break this out for EACH niche and hyperlocal) can take the place of letters BINGO making each column represent dominance of a marketing channel and each row represent exposure generating ability across ALL marketing channels.

My theory #1: If you are a listings focused REALTOR, you need to get exposure across as many channels as possible. Why? Because you want to WIN listings presentations and to do that, you need to answer the $64 question..”What are you gonna do differently to market my home?”. You want excellence for your clients and nothing less.

My theory #2: If you are focused on buyers, you do NOT need to be all things to all people, but to be effective, you need dominance of a marketing channel. This gives you excellence in attracting buyers by having top of mind presence and does not require dominance of other marketing channels.

My theory #3: The ULTIMATE Guerilla marketing group (whether brokerage, team or lone agent with employees-franchise or not) is a highly skilled group of folks who can EACH dominate a vertical (read: marketing channel) and they work UNSELFISHLY to defend each others’ turf. This gives you excellence in attracting buyers and in sellers by having top of mind presence for your merry little band…errr…brand. Like Greg’s recent point here about BHB. None would get orders from headquarters. They would not need to have excellence defined for them. They ARE it. Each would be a specialist and yet communication of threats and opportunities would be immediate and instant. Read more

by Geno Petro

Chicago Broker Owner Realtor | RE 2.0 Blogger

Author website

I’m pretty sure the simple fear of  ‘getting caught’ has kept me from doing a whole myriad of things other braver, but perhaps, less ethical men have done with impunity. Take the dirty cop trials going on in Chicago this week where 10 city policemen have decided to come forth to reveal their own bad behaviors–various unlawful acts performed at the arrest scene to ensure ‘the criminal’ doesn’t escape Justice–acts mostly surrounding issues of probable cause, search, seizure, and varying degrees of Miranda indiscretions (for the greater good of the community as a whole, they claim); little white lie kinds of cop acts like you see on Law and Order every night—bum-bum…  “These are their stories.” Northwestern University professor Jona Goldschmidt refers to this seemingly justified behavior as “Noble Corruption.”  I personally am too fearful to be nobly corrupt or even run-of-the mill corrupt for that matter.  And some days it’s the only redeeming thing I can say about myself…

“Hey guy,” as I look at myself in the bathroom mirror, “at least you’re not corrupt.”  Good thing I’m not a cop, I suppose. Too bad I’m a Realtor.

“Sorry Mrs Climbladder, but I’m fairly certain I’ve taken an NAR Oath of Ethics or at the very least, checked a box admitting to as much on my quarterly dues coupon. They always cash the check so I guess I’m in.  Anyway,  I couldn’t possibly recommend that you move forward on this Inspection Punchlist Nightmare the listing agent is calling an REO. You have the right to remain silent…”

I bring this up because for the third time in as many weeks, I’ve advised a client against moving forward on a property I felt was a dog; and not a Bloodhound dog either. A mutt. And not a lovable mutt either. A dirty old smelly mean three legged junkyard people killing mutt. A beast, actually. An upside down, sideways beast. With fleas.

I heard a self-proclaimed bottom feeding foreclosure poacher on NPR the other day state that he was actually doing a service to the neighborhood as a whole by preying on the misfortunes of the disamortized few.  And while I think I might even concur with him on some level, I’m way too afraid Read more