Millennials, Shmillennials: Why aren’t we marketing to the over 50 crowd?

Advertising contrarian Bob Hoffman gave a talk at Matt Beall's Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers' Worthshop 5 conference last week, which is a wake up call to real estate agents and brokers everywhere. Why are we spending so much time, energy and money marketing to 18-34 year olds when the greatest, wealthiest, most powerful spending group in the world in nearly every major product category is 50+ years old? Remarkably, Bob helps us answer that question and a more important one: How should we be marketing to the over 50 crowd? Full disclosure up front: The majority of the marketing [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:28-07:00December 16th, 2015|Main category|1 Comment
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7 Surprising Facts from NAR’s Newest Research on Buyers and Sellers

Each year, the National Association of REALTORS releases a study of homebuyers and sellers, which is my favorite REALTOR research publication. The NAR Research Group publishes publishes excellent research  -- including its superb daily Economists' Outlook -- but this one is especially chocked full of golden statistical nuggets, which is ideal for a data junkie like me. These are the kinds of facts I love to pull from research because these data points are what help tell a story, and that’s a great way to earn the attention of a reporter who covers our industry. Here are seven facts from [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:28-07:00November 11th, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|2 Comments
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5 Hot Trends in 2016 to Look for at NAR

This year’s REALTORS® Convention & Expo in San Diego traces its origins to the first Chicago meeting of the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges held May 12-14, 1908. One hundred and seven years later, some 20,000 real estate professionals will visit the San Diego Convention center where more than 400 organizations will display their offerings and pitch their products. 2016 promises to be a pivotal year of rapid adoption of sweeping innovations and the emergence of new powerhouses in the residential real estate matrix. Here are five hot trends to look for and listen at the workshops to learn [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:29-07:00November 11th, 2015|Main category, Marketing|Comments Off on 5 Hot Trends in 2016 to Look for at NAR
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Millennials and Home Buying Revisited

The great statistical debate continues on the impact of Millennials today on home buying. About a year ago, I wrote about the conflicting data (“Millennial Marketing Madness”) that argued Millennials were not going to drive the majority home sales in 2015 despite what marketers and self-interested parties were claiming. Fast-forward today, and it looks like the hardcore data was accurate and the marketers missed the mark. Today’s headlines have taken quite a turn from those we saw last year. Now those pundits who said Millennials would be driving today’s housing market are scrambling to explain why they are not or [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:32-07:00October 27th, 2015|Main category|1 Comment
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3 Ways to Leverage Your PR

A potential client called recently to engage the services of WAV Group Communications. Typical to most initial conversations with many potential clients in the real estate industry is the misunderstanding of what public relations is. I assured him it was much more than simply writing a good news release and publishing it on a paid wire. That topic alone is another column. But the conversation reminds me of how little time PR people take to educate our industry about what PR is. To help in this effort, let’s explore a crucial area that shows how powerful strategic PR can be [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:32-07:00October 27th, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category, Our Services|2 Comments
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7 Things every executive must know before taking questions from reporters

One thing that most executives are not trained for is talking to reporters. Some have a natural talent for it, but most learn the hard way. Having spent more than 25 years coaching executives on how to best work with reporters, here are the seven most important thing that all executives must know before they talk to the press. Getting ready The first thing to remember when a reporter calls is that most of them are writing on a deadline. Even though you may have sent them the material days ago, and they may have already contacted you with a [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:34-07:00October 6th, 2015|Main category, Our Services|Comments Off on 7 Things every executive must know before taking questions from reporters
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Brokers need full data transparency and unified standards, not self reporting

The room was filled with brokers, eager to hear how the real estate industry is beginning to make great strides in wrangling Big Data to the benefits of everyone: Brokers, agents and consumers. The three panelists on stage represented a broad spectrum of the industry: Rainy Hake, a well respected brokerage leader who oversees the Technology, Marketing, Training and Strategy departments for Alain Pinel Realtors; Trent Gardner, the CEO of ListTrac, known as the “Google Analytics for Listings;” and Jeremy Crawford, the dynamic MLS leader who heads up RESO (Real Estate Standards Organization) and the chief evangelist for the Data [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:34-07:00October 6th, 2015|Broker Technology Research, Main category|Comments Off on Brokers need full data transparency and unified standards, not self reporting
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Partners Trust Joins The Enterprise Network

Recently, Partners Trust launched a new fully mobile responsive site designed to dynamically change for over 250 different screen sizes. Along with the “mobile first” web site, they launched new mobile apps for android and iOS. The design was done by 1000watt Consulting in collaboration with Partners Trust and the proprietary technology is provided by Booj.  Booj (Be Original or Jealous) is the platform that powers The Enterprise Network. Booj is an interesting technology provider because they deliver a very good and well-supported solution that is exclusive to a single brokerage in a market place. I got to meet the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:35-07:00September 28th, 2015|Main category, Our Services, Press Releases|Comments Off on Partners Trust Joins The Enterprise Network
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Why Millennials won’t buy Boomer McMansions

Self-confession: I love surveys. Data is my kryptonite. I got hooked in my grad school stats class and I’ve never looked back. At Great Western Bank, I created the Realty Confidence Index, which surveyed face-to-face broker-owners in 23 states. At Fannie Mae, I got to pitch to reporters nationwide the most comprehensive housing surveys of its day. At Imprev, I helped craft and launch the real estate industry’s first Thought Leader Survey and continue to spearhead that effort. This all means I know intimately what Mark Twain meant when he popularized the saying, “There are lies, damn lies and statistics.” [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:36-07:00August 19th, 2015|Main category|4 Comments
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Unintended Consequences That Cause Spectacular Results

I just returned, as some 3,000 other folks have, from attending Inman’s Real Estate Connect in San Francisco. For many of the industry leaders whom I spoke with, it was one of the most successful Connects that they have attended and certainly the busiest. I found myself squarely in the same camp. I discovered something incredibly special about what I think makes Inman Connect unique: It fosters the creation of what I call “unintended consequences that cause spectacular results.” I have a few great examples from this most recent Connect to illustrate what I mean. Origins of Real Estate Connect [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:36-07:00August 19th, 2015|Main category|1 Comment
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Learning from chickens: Are agents putting their leads in someone else’s incubator?

Who's incubating your eggs? I recently read an article about today’s modern poultry business. I was struck at the parallels between the real estate business and the poultry business and how both industries have changed with new technologies and automation. I was most fascinated to learn that the behavior of hens has changed with automated egg incubators: Hens have learned that they no longer need to lie on their eggs to incubate them, so they don't. This means that the modern day value of the industrial hen has been reduced only to its ability to produce eggs, not to incubate [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:38-07:00July 23rd, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|3 Comments
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Listing ownership: Whose grass is it anyways?

“Who owns the listing?” appears to be a never-ending debate in real estate, despite a recent court case that certified the broker owns the listing and the MLS can protect it. Somehow there remains this belief among some incredibly intelligent people in the industry that real estate agents do the work, so they own the listing content. They do not. This has never been the case, and unless an agent becomes a broker/owner, it never will be. A listing was, is and will be owned by the broker/owner and not the agent. Whose grass is it? Think about your grass.  [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:38-07:00July 23rd, 2015|Broker-Agent Information, Main category|Comments Off on Listing ownership: Whose grass is it anyways?
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