Month: May 2009

You know what really threatens people? INFORMATION.

Information about them, information about where they live, what they do, what language they speak, and what religion they practice.

One would think that we are fortunate enough that by living in Canada, we don’t have to worry about these types of differences causing any kinds of major problems, right?

Now I’m not so ignorant to think that small prejudices don’t exist and won’t impose themselves on people in their everyday lives –but there really isn’t any reason, in my opinion, to want to hide anything.

 As you know, I work in Real Estate. I am blessed to be doing something that I love, with co-workers that are incredibly devoted, and I get to work with people in an exciting time of their lives. One thing that I like to do with my clients – is provide them with INFORMATION. I give them insight into different areas and housing types, specific information and research on certain specific houses, sales history, sales trends, and surrounding sales comparables. Quite often enough, my clients are blown away by the resources that I have at my disposal – and rightly so. I think they are pretty darn powerful myself! After all, in this day and age, privacy is a thing of the past, right? My affiliations within Organized Real Estate (Municipal, Provincial and Federal) give me access to a tremendous amount of information from the Land Registry System, Statistics Canada, Various Boards of Director’s professional opinions, and a seemingly limitless amount of related professionals to tap into (Mortgage Brokers, Lawyers, Home Inspectors, Engineers etc). All of this is INFORMATION – and I am not afraid to give it to you.

 But there are people who are.

 Some people would rather hoard information as to make it seem like they are pulling magic strings and digging up this information from a mixture of expertise, elbow grease and connections in the marketplace. As a matter of fact – my mentor and Broker at Partners Advantage GMAC , Dr.Bruce Firestone, has advocated ‘free information’ for YEARS! On his personal website – http://www.dramatispersonae.org – he writes: 

 “MIT has taken the position that it will put all of its course outlines, course materials, even examinations on the web for free. The engineers at MIT are among the smartest in the world. They feel confident that this will enhance the MIT experience- essentially; they are saying that they don\’t care if someone on another part of the planet wants to teach a MIT course or use their material. They believe that the spread of knowledge can only benefit humankind. MIT will instead, as my friend Professor Tony Bailletti says, sell the \’delta\’ factor- that is, the opportunity to actually be in a classroom with the creators of the material; to be exposed to their minds; to experience first hand the Socratic method of student/teacher interaction”

 So where am I going with this? Here is my dilemma – I want to give out INFORMATION, and I am a week or two away from doing so. I want to provide my people with relevant information about their housing types in their areas so they can make informed decisions, have accurate opinions, and make good judgments about their own property values. How would you feel if you got a monthly report card in your mailbox that outlined the location and size of sales activity in your neighborhood? I think it would be pretty cool. I think it would not only help people as I described above, but I think it would help stabilize the equilibrium in our Real Estate market – albeit a small effect as it may be. What I mean is – people would not think their property is worth 30K higher or lower that it really is, as they perhaps would have had they not had access to such information I want to provide them with. People just don’t know! And its not their fault. I want to help. If the prices on the marketplace can more accurately reflect what their true market value should be – then the marketplace will be more efficient. People will sell their houses faster, no parties would be getting ‘ripped off’, and all stakeholders would benefit from the transparency and logic of free market influence. What is so scary about that?

As I said earlier – some people would rather protect that information and make it seem like they are the experts that came up with this information on their own, and it is part of their value proposition. Well – it is part of a Realtors value proposition.

 Here is the key – its only PART of my value proposition. A very small part. I would call it a given.

 I am not afraid to make that information available and risk a FSBO (For Sale By Owner) try to sell their homes themselves. I am not afraid of people taking this information and going to another Realtor out there. I am not afraid of other Realtors copying my idea and giving you the information in my place. Why?  Because the information is NOT what makes the difference between me and others. The information is FREE – take it. I want you to be more informed!

 Regardless of who out there has information – I would bet I am in the top 1% of the hardest workers out there in the game. The difference that I bring to the table is I push the limits of effort exerted for my client’s interests. I get out on the street and I work HARD. Part of my business model is to focus on my core competencies and make my own ground rules (within rules and regulations of course) that brings Real Estate activity to a platform where I am king – where I am the new common denominator and I do it best. I wont be part of the rat race and focus on getting the biggest ad in the paper, or getting the nicest pair of shoes to woo my clients. Im not about perception – Im about substance. I believe that people are savvier than ever and can recognize the difference between  style and substance.  A quote that I like is “You can pile on the lettuce and tomatoes and special sauce, but people are looking for the beef, the content that you offer”.

 So that’s my spiel. Style Shmyle. Im young, healthy, I exercise and dress well enough to hold my own in that department – but Im not going to pretend like that is why you should do business with me – because of my style. I don’t have to rely on an image to speak for me. My results speak for themselves.

 So take the information and run with it if you want – I can make it available and I plan on doing it soon – shake things up a little.

 But when you get tired running around between 8-10 different parties at once, trying to navigate legal documents, prepare marketing campaigns and sales strategies, crunch numbers, find and rationalize market data, negotiate price, terms and conditions, all while being at work or at home trying to eat dinner on a Sunday night – and potentially all for someone who is not qualified or experienced enough to hold up their end of the bargain – THEN you might think about getting a hard worker on your side. One that is smart, sharp, and able to get the job done.

 I am one of those people.