WAV Group partner, Victor Lund will be traveling to Paris again this year for what has become an annual journey to share and learn with our European counterparts in real estate. The conference is being held October 3rd and 4th. Here is the link to RENT and you can look at the agenda. (http://www.rent2018.net). RENT is like Inman Connect for Europe.
If you plan on attending, WAV Group will be hosting a reception and we would love to extend an invitation to enjoy our hospitality.
This year, I have the pleasure of interviewing the Sherry Chris, the President of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. Our topic is a discussion about emerging technologies for real estate in the United States. In 2018 alone, there was $6 Billion dollars invested technology Innovation here in America. The magnitude of this investment is transforming the industry for the benefit of innovative companies. We will be discussing trends in predictive analytics, big data, artificial intelligence, and how brokers and agents are optimizing customer relations with them.
What We Can Learn from Europe
Europe has not embraced the Multiple Listing Services the way we have here in America. For the most part, the broker sells their listings. In some countries, there is no such thing as an exclusive contract to sell. WOW! Every listing is a secret pocket listing! Many listings are marketed with a confidential address – they drop the property pin in a neighborhood rather than an exact location. These challenges are also interesting opportunities that I learn a lot from.
I had a profound experience at the RIS Media summit on this topic. My friend, fellow industry consultant, and frequent trouble-maker, Ken Jenny was talking to a broker and he said “the biggest cost to your brokerage is not selling your own listings.” Think about that for a minute in the context of cooperation and compensation, or referral and relocation networks.
Ken and I have agreed to disagree on the value of the MLS. I join brokers like Helen Hanna Casey of Howard Hanna who truly believe in the MLS. Hanna shared the story about how her father partnered with brokers to form one of the first broker owned Multi-lists (now West Penn MLS). My support of the MLS is also backed by some serious research done by MLS Listings, a leading MLS in California. The data shows that homes shared in the MLS sell for higher prices. This is good for the seller, but not so good for the buyer.
Today, listing brokers represent the seller. Listing brokers do not sell homes. Brokers representing buyers are the ones that sell homes. Done right, dual agency is just fine. Indeed, I belive that brokers who know about listings that are coming soon have a golden opportunity to let their buyers know. Pacific Union, now a part of Compass, inspired their agents to produce $400 Million in coming soon listings to launch Private View™.
You need to understand a few things about the process of listing homes in Northern California. For the most part, before the listing goes into the MLS, homes are staged, inspected, disclosures packages developed, etc. They do not market a home, accept offers, then go through inspection and renegotiate. That is why days on market is less than 8 days in much of the bay area. Buyers bring offers with no contingencies that take weeks to process. Private View™ makes sense. It allows buyers working with Pacific Union agents or any other brokerage to have a bit of time to contemplate a property before it hits the MLS. It’s the European model.
Some other great technology that I have seen at RENT includes a map overlay that shows how the sun travels over the property during different times of the year. This is super cool when you are looking at city property where tall buildings may provide shade. I have seen awesome virtual tour applications. It’s also great to see DocuSign’s penetration into Europe. They love it. I met meero there last year – a company that completed a $75 Million round in July of this year and just opened an office in New York. They provide on-demand photography. You can order your photos and have them taken and processed in 24 hours. And they do an amazing job.
http://www.rent2018.net/pages/exhibitors – Check out this exhibitor list – 200 booths! None offering scarves, jewelry, face cream, massage, or other filler crap. Just all technology. It’s inspiring. If you want to be inspired, join us in Paris!
