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By Jeremy Conaway, real estate brokerage consultant
Our industry is in the fourth year of the down market and everyone wants to know: What are brokers doing about it, and are they going to survive?
Unfortunately the number one answer is that brokers are hunkering down and waiting for the old market to return. This answer is often followed by a shrug and the question (generally rhetorical): What else is a broker to do? The diplomatic answer to this response is, "Perhaps there are other options available." The not so diplomatic answer is; LOOK AROUND YOU. OPPORTUNITY IS EVERYWHERE. GET OUT OF YOUR BUNKER. IT IS NOT GOING TO PROTECT YOU, AND IT IS CERTAINLY NOT GOING TO TAKE YOU ANYWHERE YOU WANT TO GO!
Working to survive is a forced march into an uncertain future and a barren mindset.
Being motivated by opportunity is like walking on the beach. The sun is always warming your face; your feet are in the cool sand; your imagination is soaring with the seagulls, and always there is the sound of the waves, each one announcing a new opportunity.
Opportunity can be found everywhere in today's real estate marketplace: a new consumer, a whole new agent pool, a new inventory price point, new government approach to housing, a new affordability, and opportunities for new relationships that would never have existed in prior markets. There are new consumer demands to satisfy, new sources of information to share, new technologies to create painless transactions. There are new roles for everyone in your firm to assume. There are new ways to communicate, and new ways to establish value and relevance. The sum total of these circumstances creates a world that is literally begging for brokerages that will rise to the occasion, declare that survival is not enough and embrace the passion of opportunity.
But don't dwell on generalities, consider some specifics. By way of example, consider the opportunities associated with the "green movement."
Most real estate professionals, especially those over the age of 45, roll their eyes and groan at the very mention of the "green" movement. Many are annoyed at what they see as an intrusion into their "Boomer-centric" lifestyles. Others complain about how "green" will drive up the cost of housing. Others take a class or perhaps even a designation and can hardly wait to hold themselves out as experts, not realizing that most industry courses were written in 2007 and barely cover the origins of the movement let alone its exploding iterations.
What is the green movement? What is it all about? And, most importantly, what opportunities does it hold for the real estate professional?
Our friends at Wikipedia provide us with a good working definition of the green movement. Green politics is a political ideology that places a high importance on ecological and environmental goals, and on achieving these goals through broad-based, grassroots, and participatory democracy. Green politics is advocated by supporters of the Green movement that has been active through Green parties in many nations since the early 1980s. The political term Green, a translation of the German Grün, was coined by die Grünen, the first successful Green party, formed in the late 1970s. The term political ecology is sometimes used in Europe and in academic circles.
Supporters of Green politics, called Greens, share many ideas with the ecology, conservation, environmental, feminist, and peace movements. In addition to democracy and ecological issues, green politics is concerned with civil liberties, social justice and nonviolence.
So what's the big deal? Green has been with us for almost 40 years, and we are all still driving cars that get 18 miles to the gallon. The big deal is that a critical mass of responsible citizens (having recently elected a new President), driven by the awesomely powerful Net Generation (74 million strong), now realize that creating a sustainable economy is no longer an option but a necessity. In other words, among other things it is the "thinking" person's reaction to $4 per gallon gasoline.
What's the opportunity? Green issues are all about a responsible and quality lifestyle. Although green issues address a wide range of subjects, many of them are centered in real estate-related areas of interest. Rather than moaning about the fact that green requirements are going to raise the price of housing, brokers motivated by opportunity should be examining this phenomenon for the plethora of opportunities it holds for its early adopters.
One quick trip to the wonders of Trendwatching.com provides us with a hint relative to the endless opportunities arising out of the green movement. The field is moving so fast we can't seem to invent new words to describe it fast enough. Are you ready for Eco-Bounty?
What do you know about Eco-Frugal, Eco-status, Eco-iconic, Eco-stories, Eco-metering, Eco-Mapmania, Ecoconcierges, Eco-tips, Eco-matching, Eco-naked, Eco-feeders, Eco-generosity, Eco-perks, Eco-free, Eco-rewards, Eco-boosters, Eco-superior, Eco-embedded, Eco-EDU, Eco-vertising and Eco-expectations?
Your answer ought to be ‘very little', because this is just a sampling of the new areas of knowledge and activities that the Eco movement is taking us.
Finally you ask, why would this be an opportunity for real estate professionals? The simple answer is because it is there and it is associated with lifestyles and real estate. There are no academic or training programs for Eco-advisors or Eco-counselors. Yet millions of American households are going to be thrust into a movement that will soon be influencing virtually every part of their lives from consumption to knowledge to participation to politics.
This is what opportunity looks like and this is but one of the dozens of opportunities that lies just ahead for your firm, your associates, your consumers and yes, for you the successful broker.
Come on gang, let's go blow the bunker. We can do this.
