Should Brokers Do REALTOR Background Checks

Too often, brokers and managers get caught up in recruiting goals that they skip some basic best practices – Background Checks, Customer Satisfaction Checks, etc. Perhaps agents should be checking out the backgrounds of their broker too. Before the New Year, Todd Kohlhepp, a real estate broker was linked to 7 murders and a kidnapping. Todd was the broker in charge of TKA Real Estate. Inman news reported that the guy had spent 14 years in jail for kidnapping a 14-year-old girl. Of course – his agent ratings on popular listing syndication websites gave glowing reviews. (The agent has been [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:58-07:00January 4th, 2017|Broker Technology Research, Main category|Comments Off on Should Brokers Do REALTOR Background Checks
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Companies Are Not Designed to Merge

WAV Group has participated and observed the mass amounts of merger activity that has hit a high pitch in 2016. It is happening at all levels of our industry – agents merging into teams, brokers merging into mega brokers, Association of REALTORS® mergers, and MLS mergers. Based upon our work schedule for Q1 of 2017, this trend does not seem to have any ebb in sight. WAV Group will facilitate more M&A activity in Q1 than any other quarter in our firm’s history. Company founders and Boards of Directors are often not open-minded about mergers. The first reaction to a [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:22:59-07:00January 3rd, 2017|Main category|Comments Off on Companies Are Not Designed to Merge
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Time For Brokers To Clean Up Online Profiles

Real Estate Agent and Brokerage Profiles Online are a mess. Specifically, agent and broker profiles on the broker website, Zillow, Realtor.com, and Homes.com are naturally in disarray at this time of year. With transaction volume low during December, it is a very good time to clean everything up. Most brokerages audited by WAV Group consulting average 10% inaccuracy, which reduces lead generation and undermines a firm’s online reputation. Start With Data Collection It is a relatively easy task to collect the data necessary to update profiles. Start with your offices. “Offices have identities,” says Marilyn Wilson, partner with WAV Group. “When [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:01-07:00December 1st, 2016|Broker Technology Research|Comments Off on Time For Brokers To Clean Up Online Profiles
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Drones: A Game-Changer for Real Estate Marketing

For most real estate agents, marketing with aerial photography or video has been considered an extravagance reserved only for high-dollar properties and luxury homes. However, a new federal policy now permits Realtors to market properties at all price-points in ways that were cost-prohibitive in the past. The “Small Unmanned Aircraft Rule,” expands the possibility for commercial drone usage for the real estate industry—without the previous restrictions and complicated application process. With this new accessibility, aerial photography and video are shaping up to be the next evolution of transformative real estate marketing solutions. While video has already proven its value for [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:04-07:00September 27th, 2016|Marketing|1 Comment
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Social Networks vs. Local Expertise: A New Challenge for Brokerages

The opinions and experiences of friends and acquaintances have always shaped the way people think about buying, owning and selling homes.  New research suggests that the social networks that influence attitudes towards real estate decision-making today are more likely to be national, not local, and the consequences could be serious.  Thus, consumers are making critical decisions about buying, selling, owning or renting in part based not on conditions in the markets where they live but on the experiences of friends who may live across the continent. The new way people think about real estate presents real challenges to real estate [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:08-07:00August 16th, 2016|Broker Technology Research|Comments Off on Social Networks vs. Local Expertise: A New Challenge for Brokerages
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Mastering Market Literacy

Perhaps the most valuable lesson that real estate consumers learned from the housing crash was that home values can fall as well as rise.  More than seven million families lost their homes to foreclosures and short sales; a brutal wake-up calls that though homeownership is safer than most investments it still involves risk.  Today’s buyers are very aware that a single wrong decision or factors beyond their control can cost them dearly. That is one reason 90 percent of today’s buyers think it is very important to have an agent with knowledge of the real estate market.[1] Successful listing presentations [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:11-07:00July 21st, 2016|Marketing|Comments Off on Mastering Market Literacy
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Mary Meeker’s 2016 Internet Trends: 3 Takeaways for Real Estate

One of my favorite research rituals is the annual release by Mary Meeker of her Internet Trends Report, the latest of which was issued on June 1. Meeker was catapulted into the financing world spotlight as the lead manager at Morgan Stanley for Netscape’s IPO in 1995. Later that year, she and Chris DePuy at Morgan published The Internet Trends, and it quickly became the definitive digest of the current state of the Internet, as well as discerning big-picture trends. Meeker would go on to serve as a research analyst for another notable Morgan Stanley IPO in 2004: Google. Today, [...]

By |2020-07-10T12:05:21-07:00June 14th, 2016|Broker Technology Research, Reports|Comments Off on Mary Meeker’s 2016 Internet Trends: 3 Takeaways for Real Estate
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Consumer Questions a Broker Website Must Answer

There are less than 2% of the homes for sale around the nation today. Typically, that number is 3.5%. Hence we are in a sellers’ market. So the consumer thinks – “Where am I in the market?” What Home Can I Buy? Over 90% of consumers looking to purchase a home have one to sell. The rest are currently renters or second home purchasers. Buying a home is never about buying what you want. It is always about buying what is right for you. The old story of Location, Location, Location is a bit lost on me today, unless it [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:17-07:00April 25th, 2016|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information|Comments Off on Consumer Questions a Broker Website Must Answer
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The New Process for RFPs in Real Estate

This change was caused by a quiet revolution. During the Y2K surge that transitioned software from mainframe to browser, there was recognition that the old process of software development was too bureaucratic, slow, and overly regimented. An alternative to traditional project management that emerged in the early 2000s is called Agile software development. They use terms like Scrum, Extreme Programing, Dynamic System Development Method, Feature-Drive Development and many others. The overarching focus of all of these methodologies is to deliver frequent, high quality working software, delivered in “sprints,” which are measured in weeks, not months. The result is continuous improvement. [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:19-07:00March 30th, 2016|Broker Technology Research, MLS Insights|Comments Off on The New Process for RFPs in Real Estate
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Using Market Data to Drive Media Coverage

Are you getting published in your local media? Is your firm shaping the way opinion leaders and real estate consumers view critical issues in your housing market Associations, MLSs, and brokerages have access to the best local data ever available on trends in their local markets. Sales, prices, inventories, time on market—every day real estate professionals interpret these and other data to win the confidence of their customers and clients. You have a significant opportunity to turn market data into news that attracts business and establishes credibility. National data services like RealtyTrac and CoreLogic as well as sites like Realtor.com, [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:20-07:00March 22nd, 2016|Marketing, MLS Insights|Comments Off on Using Market Data to Drive Media Coverage
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Graceful Vendor Termination

System conversions are very difficult in real estate. If there is one eternal truth, agents will absolutely resist change no matter what. Even with MLS system conversions where the death of the application, vital to their business, is eminent; they hang on during the parallel period until the very end. Then there is a flood of complaints about failure to notify them or train them. It’s a way of life that extends beyond the MLS system to the brokerage system. More and more, brokers are providing end-to-end business systems to their agents. Over years, the company trains and supports the [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:22-07:00February 29th, 2016|Main category|Comments Off on Graceful Vendor Termination
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Brokerage Reputation Management Starts With Loving Yourself

Real estate brokers have a difficult time battling the challenges with reputation management. Brokers hire agents. Agents deliver services to the consumer. The consumer judges the brokerage on the service level of its agents. Brokers try to hire well to preserve their reputation. Around and around it goes. Many brokers to do not track their reputation as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI). They track unit volume, agent count, broker dollar, and so many other things. Only a few firms use services like Quality Service Certified or Real Satisfied or Testimonial Tree to measure satisfaction. Those brokerages who are following best [...]

By |2018-05-03T21:23:23-07:00February 15th, 2016|Main category|Comments Off on Brokerage Reputation Management Starts With Loving Yourself
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