*SSPA = Shameless Self-Promotional Article
I’m about 24 hours into decompressing from a trip to San Francisco for the Inman News Real Estate Connect Conference. These conferences are wicked fun, and it’s always great to see old friends, meet new ones and try to get a finger on the pulse of what’s happening in real estate.
For the last couple of years, all the chatter has been about social media, blogging, video and this year in particular mobile and geo-location. And yes, there was a lot of all that this year too. But it seemed, at least to me, there was a little more buzz around “the brokerage” than there has been in the past.
There was some talk in conference sessions about what brokerages can do to better serve both consumers and agents, be more profitable, and grow their business. Personally, I had several conversations in the hallways, at “LobbyCon”, and at the RE Bar Camp the day before Inman Connect, about many different aspects of real estate brokerage.
The last day of the conference, Sherry Chris, the CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, presented a list of 24 brokerages she termed “Beta Brokerages” – the next generation of innovative real estate brokerages.
Well lookee there, we made the cut!
Chris said:
The next generation brokerage markets themselves in new ways – ways never thought possible – and connecting with consumers across the myriad of social media channels that were once considered frivolous or off limits to marketers.
Some of these brokerages were founded by agents working within traditional organizations who felt the need to step out of past and into a present that their brokers either misunderstood or ignored.
That fits.
We’re honored to be included in this list of great young brokerages. Many of these are headed by people I know personally, and whom I deeply respect. People like Galen Ward, Garron Selliken, Glenn Kelman, Jeffery Douglass, Kris and Steve Berg (from whom I shamelessly swiped the screen shot idea), Greg Tracy, Brad Nix, Elizabeth Cooper – Golden, Krisstina Wise, Michael McClure, Tony Longo and Noah Rosenblatt (hoping I didn’t miss anyone there). And I’m sure those I don’t yet know are equally gifted.
We may not change the state of the real estate industry…
Or maybe, collectively, we can.
At least someone in a big-box brokerage ivory tower ought to be sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Uh oh, there’s something going on here. . .”
I'm Jay Thompson, and I have a little blogging problem... Welcome to The Phoenix Real Estate Guy, or "TPREG" as I fondly refer to it.
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