There are a lot of reasons we have decided to build a new network of Independent brokers. Some can be found in a recent post Greg Swan did about “getting your frolicking broker’s license” and in what Kris Berg wrote about going independent, but it boils down to this:
Progress in general, and Web 2.0 technology in particular, has leveled the playing field, eliminating most of the advantages the national Real Estate franchise offered brokers in the 70’s, 80’s, and through the 90’s.
When the franchises were getting started, they signed up a lot of local, independent brokers who saw the value of paying a vig to an organization that provided benefits most local brokers could not provide on their own. National TV advertising, for example.
Media was a lot more concentrated in the 70’s, and the franchises used mass media to build brands by showing how a guy in a gold jacket could be your sherpa on the path to the American Dream. It worked. It was a simpler time.
Now, the world has changed, and the trend has reversed. As the benefits of being part of a franchise have been eroded by the splintering of mass media, the easy availability of information, and a smarter (and more jaded) populace, paying that vig is no longer what it was cracked up to be.
The freedom to do business as you please while keeping more of your profit is a powerful thing. Watching the franchises squander whatever vestigal momentum their brands have left makes the decision that much easier.
A loose network of Indie brokers, organized around a fun but powerful natural language search engine would provide a powerful consumer benefit: When a consumer finds a listing on our network, they will be connected to a good, local independent broker. There is real meaning in that for the home buyer who is lucky enough to connect with a Kris Berg in San Diego, or a Jim Whatley on the Emerald Coast, or a John Kalinowski in Ohio, or a Mike Dimella in Boston.
The tangible benefit of being reliably connected to brokers of this caliber is, in itself, more meaningful to the average person than any national Real Estate brand, a fact that was confirmed by Consumer Reports last year.
So we have big franchises with meaningless brands, and local brokers who bring meaning but don’t have a unified brand they can use to communicate that meaning to the public.
What if we changed that?
Can independent brokers and a handful of geeks crowdsource a new, national Real Estate Search brand?
If you are an independent broker and would like to join us in finding out, please visit RealSearch(your state).com (like RealSearchCA.com) and reserve an exclusive territory.
