Why a Website and a Prayer Can't Compete With Brick and Mortar

The internet is surely changing our world too fast for even our nimble Blackberry fingers to keep up. So many traditionally physical connections and transactions are now taking the virtual leap and as even real estate properties have started appearing on eBay, the online world is spreading its silicon tentacles into the real estate business.

This transition presents itself as VOW's (virtual office websites) have begun sprouting up to try to muscle their share of the real estate industry. Like virtual operations in other industries, they tout the nimbleness of their lack of a building anchoring them down and their flight by the seat of their pants.

An article about the debate between these two competing cultures supports this advantage with the conflict between two ice cream stores, one of the traditional kind and the other operating online. "Which would you rather have Brick and Mortar Business with $200,00 in start up cost's and $4,000 to $6,000 a month in Expenses and a 70 Hour Work Week or an Online Home Based Business with no start up cost's and $120 a Month in Expenses and a 10 Hour or less Work Week?" (http://ezinearticles.com/?Quick-Comparison-Conventional-Brick-and-Mortar-VS-an-Online-Business&id=62833)

While it makes a convincing case for ice cream, the real estate business is unfortunately much more complex. As the newcomer to the scene, VOW's unfortunately inevitably take the position of the scrappy underdog. Well-established companies, which all remain entrenched in brick and mortar, hold the upper hand in advertising, paying millions of dollars to sites like Google or Realtor.com to ensure that their listings are featured prominently. Also, VOW's, as small businesses, tend to offer the bare-bone services, merely unloading houses and snapping up the cash; hapless buyers and sellers are left to fend for themselves in the Gordian knot of Escrow, title, and legal proceedings.

The number one cause of lawsuit in California remains real estate non-disclosure, that is the failure of sellers to disclose all legally recognized conditions of a property. Most of these are obvious, earthquake zones, fires, etc., but there are over forty conditions, covering things as obscure as methamphetamine contamination, red frog habitats, and underground asbestos deposits. Traditional well-established businesses pore over these esoteric laws so their customers don't have to while most VOW's leave their customers out in the cold, naked, above an underground asbestos deposit.

While hype has no doubt created a buzz over new innovative online businesses, in the real estate industry the traditional strong foundations of brick and mortar still reign supreme.

Career Night For Great Opportunities in Real Estate

At Century 21 Adobe Realty, remain dedicated to creating the best working environment possible for our employees, including meeting all professional needs with a productive and friendly workplace atmosphere, but also cutting through the fog of vague ambiguities that can engulf newcomers to an industry.

For that purpose, on Tuesday July 21, we will be holding a career night at our office: 5683 Kanan Road in Agoura Hills. Hapless ignorance will be cut down and eager minds enlightened to all the challenges, benefits, and opportunities of working in the real estate industry with presentations by Adobe Realty's founder Michael Schaller and our office manager Hector Diaz. The event will begin a 6:30 PM. All prospective employees are welcome.

Please contact us at (818) 338 - 1100 with any questions.

Why some of us are still in business!

Years ago when I bought a Century 21 franchise they sent us off to school to learn how to run a business. One of the first concepts that all of us were taught is about having enough company dollars at the end of the month to keep the doors open. Now that is one heck of a concept! A quarter of a century later some folks still don’t get it.

The reason I bring this up is that another local discount broker just shut down. Also, two of the major headlines grabbing discount brokers have filed for bankruptcy in the last year, while another one has “changed their business model,” and others have faded away. It turns out that some business models for selling real estate only work when there is a huge volume of sales. As one of my former mentors said, “Volume cures a multitude of sins.”

There has also been an exodus of agents out of the business, kinda like rats leaving a sinking ship. Except that the ship is not sinking! We did have way too many new agents in the business who did not know how to do a market analysis on a home or qualify a buyer. Many of them started in the business during the overheated market and had no reserves or way to stick it out during a down market. Goodbye, please do not let the door hit you in the backside on the way out!

That leaves a lot of us who have been in a slower market before. This is not the same market that we have ever seen before due to the huge number of foreclosed and short sale properties on the market and a drop in values that is not expected to fully recover for several years.

This means that proper pricing, staging and marketing of homes is paramount again. In the overheated market of 2004-2006 most any idiot could put a property on the market and it would sell. Many of them did. That no longer works.

Good news, we have much better tools for exposing properties to buyers than we did the last time we were in a slower market during the 90’s. The internet explosion has created new opportunities for marketing homes. We now have web sites, blogs, virtual tours, automated searches and email capacity that we never had before. All of this allows us to do a better job marketing properties and keeping in touch with our clients. That is the goal, to be high tech so we can also be high touch.

All of the technology costs money as does all of the advertising we do. My Grandmother used to tell me “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” Turns out she was right! When there is several months’ worth of unsold inventory on the market in the valley it takes an average of three to four months to sell a well priced property with good marketing. With this many homes on the market, overpriced homes do not sell.

With a continuing shift in the market you will see more real estate agents and companies go out of the business. The ones who do survive will be the strong. Companies and agents who give good service and value to their clients will still be around when the dust settles. I plan to be around for a while longer.

Michael Schaller

Century 21 Adobe Realty

Century 21 Adobe Is Now Hiring

The real estate industry's infamous slump has now passed over Southern California and the Conejo Valley area and we have reported consistent and consecutive growth since the beginning of 2009. Our office is now blessed with the problem of dealing with more business than our current very capable staff can handle.

We are looking for determined, serious, career-minded individuals, with high standards who are willing to be trained and work hard. New recruits will be overjoyed to join the proud ranks of over 140,000 professionals who take pride in what they do and specialize in providing a variety of superior real estate services to local communities around the world.

Century 21 Adobe has an established standard of excellence for training successful agents through its own real estate school which prepares you for not only a lucrative career in real estate but also an empowered and trained outlook in any area. Working in real estate allows you a level of independence and being your own boss that is very rare in today's ant colony corporations. You pick your own hours, work for your own unlimited income, and provide a valuable service to your community.

Prospective employees, please call or email Hector G Diaz at (805)624-4739 and at hector@century21.com. or take a look at our real estate school on our website.

A Platform for Real Estate

How many times have we heard "Think of me whether buying or selling real estate"? It's probably one of the most over used real estate slogans, but the main objective is to "buy brain cells". That's essentially what advertising and marketing come down to isn't it? Getting in to the mind of who you are speaking with by providing value is very important. If you are an Agent or someone who serves the public, it is vital for you to focus on your clients needs rather than tooting your own horn. New contacts will remember you because of the value you have added to their lives. So if you want anyone to remember you provide value first then ask for business. That being said, we are here for you when you are ready to buy, sell, invest, trade, rent or get into the real estate business. Consider us your platform for all your real estate needs. Free MLS search, No desk fees, Leads. Call, reply or email with your thoughts.