Daydreaming deep

As young man, in my early 20's, my bedroom (in the attic of an old Victorian) had an alcove with a window that looked out over the entrance to a wooded area. The alcove was deep enough to house one chair. I would read here. Do homework. Or work out the music for the great lyrics my then band mate would pen. Those songs eventually won my group a record contract. Often, I would put my books down, lean my guitar against the wall and just stare out that window. And I would let my imagination go wherever it took me. The thing is, most of what I envisioned, one day became a reality. Befitting for the last days of 08, this piece hopefully serves to stir your imagination as you prepare for what will be a year that might very well depend on it. -Marc

Life has a way of bringing you just what you need when you need it.

The $20 dollar bill you find in a pants pocket you hadn't worn in ages when your wallet's empty.
The prayer that's just been answered.
The great new idea you just hatched.

You can bet that right now, somewhere inside a makeshift office, a few undernourished and overtired   innovators are using up various colors of erasable ink scribbling on a whiteboard. Their great new idea still in stealth mode, code name and all under lock and key.

Maybe it's a web application. Maybe it's a new commission model. Maybe it's a zany new design idea for a real estate office that includes a waterfall, tropical fauna, a few exotic birds and video of homes and neighborhoods broadcast onto a 60-inch plasma screen 24/7. All the furniture is oversized and comfortable, sitting on plush shag rugs and accented with art deco lamps, an oxygen bar and self-serve gelato.   

You can bet that right now, one your most ardent competitors are conjuring ways to steal your market share. To out advertise you. To recruit your best agents. To undercut your commission. To ramp up their site traffic

You can trust right now, all over America, the majority of real estate practices are blissfully unaware that anything I have just described is taking place. I say, let them. I'm sure dinosaurs where just as blissfully unaware of the great meteor and, if by chance, one caught wind of it, they probably wouldn't have known what it was or what to do about it.

And truthfully, life is much better without big dinosaurs running around.

What a day for a daydream

When I left college after my junior year to sign a recording contract with Polydor, I spent the ensuing months during recording, staring out the window of my apartment daydreaming. Hours would go by and then, after a time, lyrics began to make their way to the page. Then the music. It was astounding to me how minutes earlier that creation didn't exist. Its manifestation the result of a wandering mind. A few weeks later, the songs were performed on stage. In front of thousands. Two made their way to national radio.

I still daydream. Over the last few years, I have come up with a bunch of ideas for real estate. Some I've built, others never left a Power Point slide.

Some were over-the-top insane. But that's okay. Somewhere in between insanity and nothing is a place where the next, new, great ideas simmer. The Ideas that make their way to whiteboards. Then to the launch pad. The kind that go live and make you crazy wondering why you didn't think of them yourself. The kind that make you think you've been lazy. Or just arrogant enough to think that what isn't broke need not be fixed.

If it isn't broke... break it. 

Try it. Look around your office. Look at your revenue model. Your recruiting plan. Your advertising. Your presentations. Your website. Your hairstyle. The Feng Shui of your office. Your blog  design. Or the lack of having a blog. Or the time you spend blogging when you could be daydreaming. Your hesitation to go to the next conference. Your paper based operation and the time you spend standing in front of a copy machine.

If you think you have it all nailed down, rethink it. Break that mindset. Become an idea zealot. Get a whiteboard. Put it up on your wall. Let it be empty. The Mona Lisa was once a blank canvas. Find a window and stare out into the yonder. Find that one thing, one idea, one change to your current process that you can call your own. Put it on the white board. And then stare it a while.

Make this your contribution to you. The future you. The one that wants more money. More clients. More agents. More customers. More business. More time off. More recognition for being brilliant rather than just one of the crowd.      

Life has a way of bringing you just what you need when you need it.

It could be Andrew Jackson.
It could be the answered prayer.
And if you allow it, it could be your next great idea.

- Davison
Twitter: 1000wattmarc

Real estate on steroids

Stattweets launched today, enabling sports fans to follow their favorite teams, get spreads, scores, standings, ranks etc.

The idea isn't new but their angle is. The content here is broadcast direct from the teams themselves rather than from the arbitrary public. 

Immediate info.
Direct from the source.
I love this.
 
And I would love this from real estate.

Imagine a REStatweets that broadcast Just listed, Just sold, Pending, local stats and spreads from every major, minor and collegiate real estate brand locally and nationally. 

Subscribers might include agents and brokers who would be able to acquire new listing information from any or every one of the brokerage brands listed in the network. If agent A gets a listing right this second, how much time would elapse before that listing is uploaded into the MLS and broadcast to out to the agent population? How much time would it take before it's broadcast out to the marketplace?

REstattweets could reduce that down to seconds. 

This does not replace the MLS. It simply acts a surrogate service that gets the ball rolling quickly. It's a listing alert on steroids. It's an open house alert on steroids. It's what's happening on every block on steroids. 

It's real estate on steroids.
 
Consumers could subscribe too. Now, I know sports engenders a certain fanaticism that you may think real estate does not have. But I'm not dribbling in that end of the logic court. I believe real estate is addictive. I believe it's voyeuristic. And I believe those who work inside it (agents, title reps, mortgage orginators, and the like) as well as those outside - the consumer - possess a healthy passion for it.

Especially now.

Micro-broadcasting in real estate is still in its infancy. Early adopters are currently focused on broadcasting about themselves and what they are doing. I've learned there is value there but I am still convinced that content only has a few seconds of real relevancy and pales in value to reporting useful data. 

Sports might be apples to real estate's oranges. But data is data. Any engine that could power the instant delivery of it is one I believe is worth subscribing to, paying for and driving. 

- Davison
Twitter: 1000wattmarc

Bedrock

Abracadabra. Your Web site has vanished.
Your blog: MIA.
HomeGain, Trulia, Zillow, ActiveRain … all gone. As if they  never existed.

You reach for your phone but there's no dial tone.
Your computer -- no Internet activity.
No e-mail. No IM. Dead calm.

Lead generation, TMS, CRM … fond memories.
Lockboxes. Coaches. Trainers. Continuing-ed outfits. Gone.
No more "vendors" profiting inside real estate.

Through the courtesy of Fred's two  feet

It's been water cooler talk. Now it's taken hold in the blogosphere: The notion that real estate would be better served if vendors could be deleted from the process.

We're not just talking about technology vendors. Conference vendors, professional services vendors, training vendors and brokers, too, should be banished -- especially those who attempt to offset the cost of operations by selling things like training, education, Web sites and marketing materials

Utopia? I  hardly think so.

Without vendors, real estate could be a sort of Bedrock filled with Fred Flintstones, Barneys, Wilmas and Bettys. Still door-knocking. Cold-calling. Scratching out deals on paper using wood writing devices filled with lead. Driving documents across town for $5 a gallon. Praying at the altar of the paper gods -- fax and copy machines, postage clerks and file cabinets.

Agents would be viewed by consumers as glorified delivery people. Gatherers. Order takers. Desk-bound. And tied to the apron strings of convention -- the archaeological dig where only the fossils of the past reside. The vendors are doing their part to correct that perception.

A 'yabba-dabba-doo' time

Real estate without vendors. No yadda-dadda-doo time for anyone. A prehistoric landscape void of critical tools. Agents milling wood and hand-carving stone tablets to create yard signs. Slinging paper clip darts from rubber bands to generate leads instead of paying others for Web sites, blogs or e-newsletters. Reading stars for navigation and using smoke signals for communication instead of GPS, smart phones, Twitter, live chats and other overpriced tools produced by predatory vendors.

They would be weaving local market reports with the sinew of opinion rather than fact-driven analytics ported by feeds, applications and reports assembled by vendors who provide great agents the tools to look and sound as great and modern as they are.

These are otherwise equally disturbing stereotypes cast upon vendors and how some believe they look at real estate. 

Personally, I think the real estate bus is big enough for everyone. We all need each other. Because the perception is all around is incorrect. One no better than the other. One united industry.

Agents, disintermediators. Interlopers. Vendors. Outsiders. Them.

Us

- Davison

By the time I left Lisle, I had a pocket full of cash

This is about people. 60 or so AE's from Illinois to be exact. They came to my rescue as I paced across the lobby floor at the Marriott in Lisle on Thursday. My wallet was missing; something I discovered not minutes after a session I gave ended.

I left it in my room after I checked out. I know, pretty lame. I removed it from my jacket pocket prior to ironing it seconds before I ran down to speak. When done, I put the jacket on and bolted. Wallet stayed behind.

Party on, housekeeping staff.

I'm on the phone applying damage control and plotting my course home with AMEX roadside assistance. There's cards to cancel and other reservations I need handled as I am traveling through most of next week as well. Meanwhile some AE folks are rummaging through my backpack and luggage hoping I was wrong about housekeeping. Others headed upstairs with security to check my room again.

When nothing turned up, they took up a collection.

By the time I left Lisle, I had a pocket full of cash and enough "what else can we do for yous" to last me a lifetime.

7 hours later

I'm Downtown Chicago now. Way past midnight. For the last few hours I have been on the phone begging the Lisle Police to print me a report. They say even a miracle won't get it done before next Friday. The Sergeant, after much persuasion, faxed me a letter around 1:00 am. It was full of spelling errors, including my name.

I could really use a miracle right around now.

I leave later today at 5:00pm if US AIR will have me. Right now, without ID, I don't exist. Well I take that back. I exist in Starwoodland. I checked into the W on Lake Shore Drive with only my reservation and a Starwood number. One security question later they handed me a room key. With an upgrade.

I sense a blog post coming on.

Various people have asked if I have anything else in the form of ID. They seem shocked I don't have a library card or a signed canceled check floating around. If I did, I wonder, wouldn't that be in my wallet?

Maybe there is a Midwest trend of having a back up wallet.

Miracles

I'm heading to the airport. Sacramento DMV was no help. I begged them to fax me a copy of my license. They said even a miracle couldn't get it there until Friday night. After my flight is scheduled to leave.

Here's my plan. I'll explain to security that I must be me. Considering the predicament I mean, who would want to be me anyway. Not me, I can tell you that. If I could be anyone else, I would. There appears to be no obvious advantage in being me right now. Hence, I must be me right? 

I could sure a miracle right about now.

By the time I got to Phoenix, I had a pocket full of cash

Flight 504 from Chicago to Phoenix scheduled to leave at 5:30 left at 6:30. By the time I got to Phoenix I had a pocket full of cash and no way home.

All flights to San Luis were filled. Next available one is Sat night at 8:00. I get to tell my story about Lisle all over again when I return to Sky Harbor. When I do I will make sure I mention how I how I traded a wallet and a few lost miracles for a lifetime of "what can I do for yous" from a group of Illinois Association Executives who meant every single word of it.

In the long run, its a worthy trade off.

It'll be over a 100 degrees today in Phoenix. Thankfully I have friends here. John V, picked me up at the airport. I just saw him on Monday, when this whole trip began. When I flew down to celebrate his merger. We hit the gym with a friend of his from Chicago. Hit Red Devil pizzeria afterwards and then his home where I am now his guest. 

I miss my wife and kids. And the cool California Coast. Right now, I am enjoying the moment.

I'll be back to Chicago someday. When I do, I'll be sure to bring a back up wallet. And cash in a few of those "what can I do for yous" from the folks at IAR. I look forward to seeing them again. There are a few "what can I do for yous" that I'd like to offer them in return.

Thank you for everything.
Seriously.
You guys rock!

- Davison