Last year I was in an audience listening to a motivational speaker. He whipped out his wallet and pulled out a One Hundred Dollar bill. Holding it up, he asked,

The thing is that a good number of business owners fail to see when and how things start to go in the wrong direction. Later (sometimes too late) they realize that they cannot stay the same and that change is an inevitable action. Too often though the understanding that change is required and that necessary action has to be taken comes at a time when the business owner has lost heart for the business and confidence in what they do. The Broker of the Future must regain heart and confidence, and take the necessary action before the owner throws in the towel. (Carlos J Martinez)

I have been a member since late December and have followed the ongoing discussion regarding ACRE's present and future with great interest. I applaud all of you who are trying to reform the real estate industry and are willing to put forth time and resources toward that end as it certainly is an industry in need of changes. One thing that I am interested in knowing and can't find on the web site is how ACRE is structured. Is it a

• for profit corporation

• not for profit corporation

• partnership among the council members

• a sole proprietorship

• something else ?

The reason I ask is not because I have a problem with any of these set ups, but because I think if you want people to buy into a concept of transparency in their real estate practice that should be reflected in the way this organization is set up. I recognize that it takes considerable time and resources to run both an organization and a web site and I have zero problem with the people who do that being fairly compensated, but I do think the members should be able to understand how things are set up.

The related question I would then ask is where do you see ACRE headed structurally (and I recognize that is subject to change) ? It seems to me that if ACRE hopes to have a real seat at the table when it comes to how real estate is bought and sold, it will eventually need to be a member driven non profit organization with a President, board, etc. of elected members who are in charge and day to day operations handled by a professional support staff – sort of like NAR purports to be, but with members who belong because they believe in the organization rather than they have to belong in order to access MLS, and a leadership that actually cares what the membership really wants rather than relying on the fact that most members don't pay much attention to what their leaders are doing unless it costs them money. In my opinion, any sort of designation will not really mean much until you get to that point. The current structure seems to try to be sort of a benevolent dictatorship and that may be the way it needs to be to get things going, but seems unsustainable to me in the long term, given what I perceive to be the goals here.

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here.  I wrote a post on Activerain yesterday about a concept I'm going to propose to my clients.  Instead of charging a typical 6% property management fee on a townhouse that will require little, if any, services, I'm going to charge my clients by the hour.

Depending on the property, condition, and tenants, this could be really good for both the landlord and the agent.  A difficult property would pay more and easy tenants would be a better value for the landlord.

How does this sound to all of you?

Bryan

In planning for 2012, I'm thinking of adding transaction management software to my arsenal of tools. Has anyone ever used Settlement Room, Skyslope, or Sureclose? Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, but I haven't been able to find many reviews. If you have any experience with these or any other tools, please share. Thanks!

Hey! Guys,

I found this great new survey tool called PopSurvey. This is a free survey tool for a single user and only 100 participants a month for a survey. There are other options if your need is greater--for a cost, but for simple surveys it may be a great choice. 

I also have a survey for ACRE members. I am limited to 100 responses. Here is the link, https://www.popsurvey.com/s/jj5v52. 

Let me know what you think? Useful or not?

Thank you,

William Watkins

Today my wife emailed me her booklist that she receives from her employer. It was a relatively long list, mostly on management. But I found the book that I'm sure she wanted me to take notice of--the title of the the book is "Provoke" by Linda Bernardi.

What I would like to do is share the description of the book as laid out by Amazon.com. 

Please I'm copying and pasteing, so if it does come through properly just go to Amazon and do a search for the book and read the description. While reading the description think about real estate and its' future.

Also I'm putting all of ACRE on notice that I will challenge conventional real estate wisdom going forward. I truly want to find the Innovators. I just ask everyone to keep and open mind and check all egos at the door. This will allow all of us to see things more clearly.

Thank you

I came across this video that talks about ways to generate consulting revenue in commercial real estate. The link is below:

https://vimeo.com/ccim/how-ccims-can-generate-additional-revenue-through-consulting

I think it is worth watching.

New ideas need audiences like flowers need bees. No matter how bright and colorful, they will die unless others work to spread them.

Another great new video from Simple Truths: One Choice.