{"id":13918,"date":"2011-01-17T16:56:04","date_gmt":"2011-01-17T23:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=13918"},"modified":"2011-01-17T16:56:04","modified_gmt":"2011-01-17T23:56:04","slug":"sharks-pilot-fish-dinosaurs-and-wishful-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/13918\/sharks-pilot-fish-dinosaurs-and-wishful-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks – Pilot Fish – Dinosaurs – And Wishful Thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don’t ya love it when a new way to call something old catches on? Smallish independent real estate brokerages are now often referred to as ‘indies’. Due to lower operating expenses, more agents working at home, and a perceived technology gap the size of the Grand Canyon, they’ll be an important factor in the death of the so-called BigBox (BB) mega-brokerages. In essence, by being meaner, leaner, and effectively leveraging their edge in all things hi-tech — the dinosaurs die the death of a thousand cuts. <\/p>\n

And Al Gore invented the internet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Been hearin’ this for so long I was shocked earlier this month when the phone at the 250 agent Keller Williams office was answered when I called. \ud83d\ude42 I consider the lead recruiter of that office, a longtime friend, a legit superstar. Also, I’ve known their new Designated Broker since the late 90s or so. When I spoke with ‘Jane’ the recruiter, she laughed at the thought of indies sending her company to the boneyard. <\/p>\n

In fact, in her firm’s experience, they’re the ones who’ve not only ended several indie firms’ existence, but absorbed them into the cavernous BigBox operation — often swallowing them whole.<\/strong> Indie owners don’t like hearing that, but it’s a fact about which I no longer become amazed, as it happens too often these days.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Much of the discussion on this topic is skewed by, what are in my opinion, false premises, wishful thinking, and putting the emphasis on the wrong syl-LA<\/strong>-ble much of the time. GM didn’t go off the rails cuz they’re too big, or that other, smaller, more tech-savvy carmakers beat them. They simply didn’t make cars as well as most of their competition. <\/p>\n

The false premises used for arguing the imminent demise of the BBs is their ponderous nature, hiring practices, low tech approach, basic inefficiency, and out of control operating expenses. Paradoxically, those are merely the result<\/strong> of the real reason some BBs won’t be with us soon, if they don’t change their ways. <\/p>\n

It’s the business model, not the size.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Those who insist on hiring newbies by the gross, while paying so-called Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don’t ya love it when a new way to call something old catches on? Smallish independent real estate brokerages are now often referred to as ‘indies’. Due to lower operating expenses, more agents working at home, and a perceived technology gap the size of the Grand Canyon, they’ll be an important factor in the death […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-real-estate","7":"category-realty-reality","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3358,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3358\/dead-dinosaurs-walking\/","url_meta":{"origin":13918,"position":0},"title":"Dead Dinosaurs Walking","author":"John Rowles","date":"July 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"As far as I can tell, the RE.net has been advocating for better broker Web sites for as long as there has been an RE.net. Many articles and posts focus on the twin pillars of eCommerce -- Search + Content -- but many brokers still have Web 1.0 sites or,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5903,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/5903\/not-all-dinosaurs-are-extinct\/","url_meta":{"origin":13918,"position":1},"title":"Not\u00a0All Dinosaurs Are Extinct","author":"Thomas Hall","date":"December 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I know an agent with big hair - she used to drive a Cadillac - she traded it in for a Lexus. She likes to lunch - alot - with friends, clients and colleagues.\u00a0 She started selling real estate when I started high school - basically ALONG time ago. She's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":332,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/332\/bedtime-links-lawyer-free-real-estate-zillowing-redfin-dancing-with-the-dinosaurs-the-map-to-mash-up-excellence-and-memorable-truths-about-real-estate-20\/","url_meta":{"origin":13918,"position":2},"title":"Bedtime links: Lawyer-free real estate, Zillowing Redfin, dancing with the dinosaurs, the map to mash-up excellence and memorable truths about Real Estate 2.0 . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Christine gives a nice run-down of seller-only agency as it is practiced in New York State. This is not very far from the way things used to be done in Arizona, except that, because of Article 26 to the state constitution, lawyers are not required to effect the transfer of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3365,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3365\/why-arent-the-dinosaurs-extinct-already\/","url_meta":{"origin":13918,"position":3},"title":"Why aren’t the Dinosaurs extinct already?","author":"John Rowles","date":"July 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In my last post, I made the case that many of today's old school brokers are Dead Dinosaurs Walking. In the last couple of days, two things have happened that have me questioning that theory and its keeping me up at night: I learned that a intelligent guy I know,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carnival of Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Carnival of Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/carnival-of-real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9472,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/9472\/a-governmental-takeover-of-real-estate-brokerages\/","url_meta":{"origin":13918,"position":4},"title":"A Governmental Takeover Of Real Estate Brokerages?","author":"Doug Quance","date":"August 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"An Extrapolation Of Epic Government Involvement At this moment, the President and Democrats in both Houses of Congress are finalizing a health care reform bill that not only no one understands - it won't\u00a0 even be read by any of them prior to its passage. The stated reason for this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1115,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1115\/true-reform-in-the-real-estate-industry-will-not-result-from-undermining-buyer-representation\/","url_meta":{"origin":13918,"position":5},"title":"True reform in the real estate industry will not result from undermining buyer representation","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 5, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been sitting on a post from Jeff Corbett, The X-Broker, for a few days. Jeff Argues that Realty.bots will eliminate buyer's agents. This actually ties in with recent announcements that major brokerages will be feeding listings to Realty.bots like Trulia.com and Google base. I get the idea Jeff thinks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13918"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14010,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13918\/revisions\/14010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}