Entry by Lester Langdon

Take this test to know if you can see the change.

  3 Comments

For 17 years, since 1994, I was an agent for Coldwell Banker in Houston, until August 2011.  The first ten years was selling homes and then seven years selling commercial properties on contingency with a specialty in multifamily apartments.  In 2010, I had $12 million of listing the did not sell which could have made me $250,000 or more.

 I met the broker of my brother who charges $250 per hour and has been charging hourly since 1995.  Then I found the “Real Estate Consulting Institute” and became an ACRE (Accredited Consultant in Real Estate).

I Spoke with the Vice President of Commercial Sales at Coldwell Banker in Houston and he asked me to find a way to incorporate consulting into our business.  He also said that his research showed that rebates were illegal in Texas.  That was not correct and I sent him evidence to the support my position. 

Three weeks later, I informed him that I was leaving the company. He said that I was a discount broker and that I would not survive. (but he said it politely). 

Then I phoned the VP of residential sales in the Greenway Plaza office, “David”, whom I respect. He knew that recently Zip Realty, a national internet discount real estate broker, had recently announced they would discontinue giving rebates and discounts. He said that rebates would not be an effective business model.

Later that evening, I realized that I agree with his comments.

The rebate business model ( Only) will to work because giving rebates and discounts does not change the consumer contractual relationship from contingency.  Unless the consumer has "skin in the game", then no risk has transferred to the consumer. The discount brokers still work on contintency and have the same ratio of Non-successful.  The discount brokers are still working on contingency but not getting paid as much as traditional brokers, when there is success.

It does not shift some money risk to the consumer.   

Real estate executives can not see the basic reasons that industry change is coming.   Some brokers see the change before others.  Let me demonstrate.  Watch this brief video and tell me how many times they pass the ball. Keep you eye on the ball. https://youtu.be/vJG698U2Mvo  

3 Comments

Excellent post Lester and video.

BTW, I only counted 11 passes and did NOT pay attention to the gorilla.

I saw the gorilla because I couldn't believe they asked my x sister in law to be in the movie.  Lester, i agree with your point 100%, the buyer needs to be as serious as the seller, the buyer needs to be a partner in the purchase of their home.  Until the realtors dedmand the risk be shifted you will all be shafted.  I think I just hit my next blog title.

Be well Lester, Thanks!

I am with Molly. I saw 11 passes for the team with white shirts but I did not see the gorilla.  Change is inevitable but I see many people who approach it out of fear instead of as opportunity to make things better. When all is said and done, I believe the real estate market will be better off with a business model that is truly customer-centric. Our industry in the last few years has been going through so many challenges, we owe it to the consumer to have their backs. The consulting model provides us with the tools to do just that.

This page contains a single entry by Lester Langdon published on October 6, 2011 4:09 PM.

Think Different - The Best Tribute to Steve Jobs was the previous entry in this blog.

I do not think this service can survive is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.