This virtual real estate broker hereby declares freedom. Freedom from the traditional bricks-and-mortar business models that worship the institutions of the real estate industry. I have always been an iconoclast who is bored by the weekly office manager giving his inane speech about “get out there and get those listings.” I have always been sensitive to lies being clothed with smiles and the we’re-here-to-help-you pep talks by brokers who fully intend to get rich off all the ignorant agents they are using.<\/p>\n
The very institutions in the real estate industry that claimed to take our membership money to help us . . . have become behemoths intent on supporting their own executive salaries and bonuses. Associations created to protect consumers have become massive organizations that manipulate and deceive the very people they claim to protect.<\/p>\n
Like the saying, “Trick me once, shame on you, trick me twice, shame on me,” agents all across the United States seem to refuse to take responsibility for their own futures. As if they had no discernment at all, behaving like lambs to the slaughter, they glibly obey their traditional brokers and their associations, going to the office everyday like automatons, attending unproductive meetings, standing around the water cooler, chit chatting about some property that another broker sold, making a couple of cold calls, looking at the MLS online and surfing the Internet for hours under the guise of working.<\/p>\n
Of course, they would defensively deny all this, but it is far too common today in the big offices. Not just big offices, but many offices around the country, even small ones. Greg Swan is quite right (talk about an iconoclast) when he wrote, “What we teach is independence, the recognition that you alone are the source and the sink, the alpha and the omega of your knowledge, of your business and of your success or failure.” See The Unchained Epiphany<\/a>. Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This virtual real estate broker hereby declares freedom. Freedom from the traditional bricks-and-mortar business models that worship the institutions of the real estate industry. I have always been an iconoclast who is bored by the weekly office manager giving his inane speech about “get out there and get those listings.” I have always been sensitive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"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":[6,5,19],"tags":[513],"class_list":{"0":"post-14765","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-marketing","7":"category-real-estate","8":"category-technology","9":"tag-virtual-real-estate-broker","11":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18284,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18284\/overnight-news-celebrating-the-father-of-our-freedoms-the-freedom-to-own-real-estate\/","url_meta":{"origin":14765,"position":0},"title":"Overnight News: Celebrating the father of our freedoms: The freedom to own real\u00a0estate.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"This is me in The Arizona Republic on July 6, 2007: By the time you read this, Independence Day will have passed, but I thought I'd give you one more reason to celebrate our freedoms: Real estate. We call our culture Judeo-Christian, but we owe our laws and political institutions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1518,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1518\/consumer-is-the-loser-with-real-estate-licensing-broker-argues\/","url_meta":{"origin":14765,"position":1},"title":"Consumer is the loser with real estate licensing, broker argues","author":"Greg Swann","date":"June 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This is me in today's Arizona Republic (permanent link): \u00a0Consumer is the loser with real estate licensing, broker argues We've been talking about real estate licensing laws, admittedly an exercise in futility. Whatever arguments I might make for repeal, it remains that the Arizona Department of Real Estate is not\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":3191,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3191\/true-confessions-of-a-real-estate-broker\/","url_meta":{"origin":14765,"position":2},"title":"True Confessions of A Real Estate Broker","author":"Cheryl Johnson","date":"May 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The times are indeed changing.\u00a0 I am not a real estate salesperson.\u00a0 I am\u00a0the broker\/co-owner of a small real estate office.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Please put the hammer away, Greg.\u00a0 My partner Bob, and I, opened it up\u00a0precisely in order to\u00a0own our own\u00a0systems,\u00a0 and develop our own approach to business.\u00a0 Initially, it was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dirty Laundry"","block_context":{"text":"Dirty Laundry","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/dirty-laundry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2179,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2179\/a-consumers-guide-to-the-divorced-real-estate-commission-why-buyers-and-sellers-each-paying-for-their-own-representation-is-the-most-significant-reform-that-can-be-made-today-in-residential-real-estat\/","url_meta":{"origin":14765,"position":3},"title":"A consumer’s guide to the divorced real estate commission: Why buyers and sellers each paying for their own representation is the most significant reform that can be made today in residential real estate","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Part I: How we got into this mess in the first place Can we be straight with each other? I'm not a soft and subtle kind of guy, and my working assumption is that you are sick to death of being hustled -- handled -- lied to. We yammer all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":408,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/408\/blogoff-post-31-ask-the-broker-whats-in-a-name\/","url_meta":{"origin":14765,"position":4},"title":"Blogoff Post #31: Ask the Broker: What’s in a name . . . ?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a question from me to me, one I've spent quite a bit of time on over the years:What should I call my real estate brokerage?I really hate personality marketing in real estate, so I'm much stronger on the subject of what not to do. But here is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask the Broker"","block_context":{"text":"Ask the Broker","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/ask-the-broker\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1353,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1353\/are-you-an-appraisal-scofflaw-are-you-sure-you-know-what-your-client-is-doing-with-that-broker-price-opinion\/","url_meta":{"origin":14765,"position":5},"title":"Are you an appraisal scofflaw? Are you sure you know what your client is doing with that Broker Price Opinion?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In all the excitement, I missed this precious little bit of news. Nota bene:A concern has been raised that real estate brokers and salespersons are providing opinions of value unrelated to the prospective listing or sale of property.The horror! My home is worth $475,000. I have no intention of selling.\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14765","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\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14765"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14774,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14765\/revisions\/14774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}