The real estate brokerage industry has gone through some dramatic changes in the seven years that I've been privledged to particpate in it. And quite often, the acceptance of these changes could be marked by the industry-wide kicking and screaming as we struggled to accept, innovate, and keep up. Yet nothing has had more dramatic an effect on the way we do business as the advancement of technology. In the early 1990's, only 10-15% of buyers started using the internet as a primary search tool. And my industry was shaking in its pants! After all, we were the keepers of the information. If you wanted to know anything about what homes were on the market, when they sold, what they sold for, or even to get access to them; you had to come to us. Then all of a sudden.....OMG! If the consumer now had access to all of this information, then what did they need us for? Even though I wasn't a Realtor a the time, I distictly remember op-eds talking about the end of the real estate brokerage industry as we knew it. Needless to say, these gloom and doom scenarios never materialized. But,we don't even have to go back that far. The transaction itself is quickly turning into a paperless affair. For example, Coldwell Banker's Homebase system takes the entire transaction online giving all parties online access to all pertinent informaton and documents. And as expected, some agents are balking at having to turn over pertinent paperwork and/or information about about their clients.
Reality check: We will never again be the keepers of the information. And our value to the public that we're so priviledged to serve lies not in some fictitional proprietary claim to John Does' phone number and email address.
Our value is derived from the mastery of the process!
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