Creating BHG

A business trip to the West Coast always seems to be more exciting for some reason than trips to other parts of the country, and my trip to California last week was no exception. As I landed in San Francisco armed with a schedule that would exhaust my “Genex” team, I was promptly informed that Market Street and several of the surrounding streets were closed because of a war protest. Of course, that was the area I needed to get to quickly for the first of a series of meetings that day. As it turned out, last Wednesday was the five-year anniversary of the war in Iraq, and where better to protest than downtown San Francisco. Being Canadian, I always defer to the fact that because I can’t vote, I don’t really have a strong opinion one way or the other on political issues. Of course, that is not entirely true, but that is my story and I am sticking to it.

What I will say is that in true San Francisco fashion, it was a peaceful protest, with more police officers than protesters, and more paddy wagons than I had ever seen in my life. One of the things that I like about San Francisco is that everyone is treated the same (the homeless people get paychecks from the city) … and the proof is in this picture - just because you drive a Porsche doesn’t mean you are exempt from getting caught in the middle of a protest with no way out …

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Posted By Wendy Forsythe

Recently I’ve been devoting a fair bit of time to the development of the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Awards and Recognition program. Agents take their awards very seriously and I’ve often heard complaints from brokers and agents regarding various awards programs. So, after soliciting years of input (either wanted or unwanted!) here’s the chance to start fresh. If only it were that easy!

What and how many categories of awards should we have (individual agent, partners, teams, office, regional, national, specialty, etc.)?

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Navigating the Corporate Social Responsibility Platform of Being Green

As we build out the real estate arm of the BH&G brand, we are faced with wading through a sea of options when it comes to being green. The challenge lies in the fact that green extends into almost every facet of business and life. It’s not as if you can simply hold a fundraiser once a quarter for some particular cause and cut a check. That approach might just smack of greenwashing (scroll down to see NBC Today Show Video). To be really green, a company needs to consider its operations in their entirety:

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You might think I am going to write about great technology applications as they relate to “the real estate brand of the future,” and I will… but not in this post. Technology will continue to empower both the consumer and agent by allowing for more transparency and greater efficiencies, and the tools will continue to become more sophisticated in the months and years to come. All of this excites me, but without the right people (as in team) in place, it all falls flat.

One of the most exciting things for me about building BH&G Real Estate from scratch is having the opportunity to put a best-in-industry team in place - believe me, there is nothing more powerful. And if early feedback is any indication, we are off to an outstanding start! One of the key prerequisites to be considered for the team is a keen passion and desire to build a service offering from scratch that embodies the needs of broker owners, agents and consumers, that takes the best of what we have today and marries it with what the future should look like. It is one of those funny things… you either get it or you don’t.

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Posted by Sherry Chris

You can’t imagine how many people I have spoken with since the October 8th announcement that Realogy was re-launching the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Brand. Some of the people I spoke with had something to sell or license, some of them were looking for employment opportunities, some wanted to join as franchisees or agents, some wanted to offer advice as to how to launch the brand, and some were just genuinely curious as to how you decide what a brand is going to look like when you literally have a “clean slate.” The last group is why we named our blog “Clean Slate.”

There are a lot of people out there with a lot of opinions… and that is something I am personally grateful for. You see, we decided up front that we would talk to as many people as we could, and entertain all of their products, services, ideas and opinions. You never know when a good “out of the box” idea will be the end result of a conversation or presentation. We are also doing a lot of research into the habits of home buyers and sellers, the consumers who will actually be using a lot of the tools and services we develop. Reports such as the NAR “Profiles of Home Buyers and Sellers” are very helpful in confirming demographic information and statistical information around buyer and seller preferences.

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