August 2008

Posted by Wendy Forsythe

I was speaking with a broker the other day who was sharing his frustrations with attracting and retaining “younger” agents. It was his opinion that Gen Y and Gen X candidates don’t understand what it takes to be successful in our industry and aren’t willing to work hard. In his opinion, these behavior traits combined with the current market conditions has led him to the conclusion that recruiting younger agents isn’t worth the effort. He then proceeded to ask me what I thought of his conclusions.

I disagreed.

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Posted by Nicolai Kolding

Yesterday, Jim Cramer of CNBC’s Mad Money “called” the housing bottom as coming in July of 2009.  Whether or not you agree with his analysis and prediction, I’m sure there are many (including some who see him as no friend of housing) who will embrace this as welcome news to an industry that so badly needs it.

I view this with muted optimism.  On the one hand (whether I like it or not), people like him wield some influence on the market and I can’t help but smell a self-fulfilling prophecy taking shape if more predictions like this make news.  On the other hand (and here’s where I’m focused specifically on professionals in the industry), headlines like this can have a way of getting people to lose focus on the pain that could still lie ahead.

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In the pre-launch days of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, we were very limited in how we could communicate with the industry at large and what we could say. This blog became one way to let people know who we are and what we think about things.  It didn’t take long to figure out the important role social networking and social media in general is playing within business, and how it will become even more powerful in the future.

A Fad That Will Pass?
Some people would say that social networking is simply a group of people talking to each other.  That is partially true - there is a large group of us on Facebook all connected to the same “friends,” and the same goes for LinkedIn. Ditto for Twitter, and some might say the same for Active Rain and even YouTube.

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Posted by Jason Steele

Two weeks ago, my wife and I resumed our home search. This time we were exploring a new county. Yes, “county.” We still haven’t narrowed it down to a single location at this point. It’s all conjecture anyway because our only potential buyer to date drew up an offer with their agent and has not been heard from since.

It was an aggressive day with 8 properties to see in 3 different towns. With a new baby in tow, we don’t have a ton of time on our hands so we need to cram as much into a day as we possibly can. Our agent only takes 1 appointment a day so it is nice to not feel rushed with so many homes to see. Long story short, I will forever recall that adventure as “Bait & Switch” weekend. All I can say is that pictures only tell half the story and, on that occasion, the photos were actually more misleading than helpful.

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Posted by Bob Albanese

“Rule #13 - When put in charge…take charge”

One thing that agents want to have is a decisive leader. Yes, they want us to hear ‘both sides of the story’ and we must be always be good listeners, but when all is said and done a decision must be sometimes be made solely by the leader. This is what General Norman Schwarzkopf calls Rule #13…”When put in charge, take charge.”

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Posted by Kevin Doell

Podcasts are the silver lining of my 35-mile commute. On a good day, they can erase the trip, making me feel as though I got beamed through a transporter. Recently, I listened to “The Real Deal” podcast hosted by Tom Merritt and Rafe Needleman of CNET (check out the full boat of CNET podcasts). “The Real Deal” claims to help listeners master the “confusing world of technology.” I downloaded a topic that covered off on the technology of email, something everyone in business has a real stake in.

For this topic, Merritt and Needleman interviewed Merlin Mann, author of the site 43Folders.com and purveyor of his Inbox Zero concept. I picked his interview because I had seen him speak at the Inman connect conference San Francisco. Smart guy. Super well spoken. I couldn’t believe I had never heard of him before last month though, apparently, thousands have. Over 23,000 follow him on Twitter. OK, make that plus 1.

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Posted by Wendy Forsythe

Long gone are the days of spending your entire career with one company or even within one field. Americans typically change jobs every four years.

Despite the enormous pool of talent out there, many of us often have a difficult time attracting new talent to our companies. Thirty-five percent of organizations recently surveyed by CareerBuilder.com said they couldn’t find qualified talent for openings. If you isolated the real estate industry in those results, I bet you would get a much higher number.

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Use the clues and links to solve this Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate exclusive.  The first person to email or fax (973.407.8801) a correctly completed crossword will be recognized on this site (to great celebration) and sent a goodie bag chock full of all kinds of cool gifts from your friends here.

Feel free to use the comments field to ask for hints or trade notes with others.

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Every organization has values, either stated or unstated.  The core business values you establish are crucial in setting the tone as to how your business will operate and prosper. They establish your company’s personality, they speak to what is important to your organization. Core values do not change from time to time to suit various situations, they define your company’s culture, they allow you to hold your team accountable.

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Posted by Wendy Forsythe

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon of rest and relaxation until the blinking red light of the Blackberry caught my eye from across the room. I couldn’t resist. After skimming through about dozen messages, I came across a direct Twitter message from Seth Godin. What was this? A mysterious message instructing me to visit a website for more information on an exclusive group Seth was inviting me to join. Well, forget rest and relaxation, I couldn’t power up my laptop fast enough.

The gist of the campaign is that Seth reached out via Twitter to people who are following him (I admit, I’m a follower and a big fan) and then, through his website, invites you to join his “exclusive” Triiibes social media forum. If you believe that only a limited number of special people like myself (LOL) got this invitation then the only barrier to entry was to supply a receipt showing you pre-purchased his new book due out in October, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us.

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