I just had a very interesting conversation with some well-heeled luxury brokers from Los Angeles. They told me that since the new requirement to sign a 14-page State-sponsored Buyers Agency Agreement before showing a property has gone into effect, they have seen a dramatic rise in dual agency deals.
After receiving about my 15th call is as many weeks from a distraught Association Executive telling me they just been fired, mostly for irrational and indefensible reasons, I just had to get my thoughts down to see what we can do to fix this systemic problem. I wrote an article entitled Why are so many of our strongest Association Executives getting fired?, about the ill-fated careers of many amazing Association staff leaders.
Now that the attorneys have been awarded nearly $1 billion, I believe we are going to see a lot more attorneys come out the woodwork to try to find additional vulnerabilities in our policies and procedures/traditions. I believe the attorneys and DOJ are just getting warmed up. Here’s one potential vulnerability that keeps me up at night….
As the current chair of the National Small Business Association, the oldest non-partisan small business advocacy organization in the U.S., I was thrilled to see RFK Jr. express so much passion to provide support for small businesses to make it easier for all of us to survive and thrive. So, what did I learn from this fascinating session? It’s truly hard to summarize it, but I’ll highlight some of the points that stuck out the most for me.
Today, it is more important than ever that the real estate industry nurtures and protects its best and brightest staff executives. We need people that are thoughtfully helping the industry navigate the uncertain waters we are swimming in right now. I have noticed an alarming trend, though, counter to this need. In the past year or so, many progressive Association Executive leaders have been dismissed without cause, advance notice, or well-documented justification. It seems as though as the market has gotten tougher the number of firings has increased. This alarming trend made me think about a few things that may be lacking in training and governance orchestration we may want to consider.
The latest Association addition to North Carolina Regional MLS moves the organization beyond the walls of their state and opens them up as one of the MLSs gaining traction in the formation of Southeast MLS collaborations. They are arguable one of, if not the fastest growing MLS in the country when measured by the addition of new Associations and moving beyond contiguous markets. When examining their meteoric expansion, I observed a few lessons that can be leveraged by other markets to deliver brokers the broader data access they are demanding. In my opinion there are five key reasons NCRMLS is successfully expanding to support its brokers and the agents and clients they serve:
Higher interest rates, record low inventory, rising home prices, and investors snapping up the most affordable housing – it feels like all the market conditions are working against first-time buyers. Then comes the news that zavvie, teaming with Luminate Home Loans and its NEO Home Loans, has been helping hundreds of first-time buyers (and others) break the bad-news cycle. By giving more buyers the opportunity to buy a home with a cash offer, there is some really good news – especially for first-time buyers. As a former loan officer for 8 ½ years – and from my time at Fannie [...]
By Kevin Hawkins with Korey Hawkins | Vol. 2 Post 28 REAL AI is a human-created weekly roundup of all things AI in real estate and emerging AI innovations in other sectors likely to impact real estate. We post a new edition every Friday, and our free newsletter is delivered every Monday. AI from RPR creates market trend video scripts Video for real estate agents has presented a conundrum since YouTube launched nearly two decades ago. Agents know the power of video, but most efforts have focused on posting listing videos that get very few buyer clicks. Even though YouTube [...]
By Kevin Hawkins with Korey Hawkins | Vol. 2 Post 27 REAL AI is a human-created weekly roundup of all things AI in real estate and emerging AI innovations in other sectors likely to impact real estate. We post a new edition every Friday, and our free newsletter is delivered every Monday. AI convenience versus risk Trying to keep up with the latest AI developments is like solving a Rubik's Cube that changes colors every second. There's also an extra layer of cutting through the hyperbole and inaccuracies reported daily. For example, a recent blog post touted a "breakthrough" using [...]
Approximately 75% of MLSs are owned by Associations today. With the history of being launched as a for profit arm of trade associations, MLSs naturally adopted the governance models and board make-up of their parent companies. Here’s why I believe that approach is no longer valid.
Sharing what's happening in your community with your clients is not just about keeping them informed; it's about building trust, enhancing engagement, and fostering community spirit.
Preparation leads to well-earned success, the commission is merely the award.
