I am at the Rosen
Shingle Resort attending ReBarCamp Orlando. If you’re in the real estate industry you may be familiar with Rebarcamps. They are peer to peer opportunities for learning and sharing.

On my Facebook profile I
Mentioned that I was going to be there, and someone wanted to know what applications there were to justify the purchase of an iPad by a real estate professional. So, being as shy as i normally am, i have decided to lead a conversation about that. Part of that thought process led me to research some tools that I might use on
Th iPad , and I came up with the blogging app I am using to write this post. It’s not a full featured blog
Editor, but it seems pretty easy to use. In fact it’s so easy I bought the full version for $1.99 so I could edit an existing post.

Once again it seems like I’m about to learn something at Rebarcamp. Thanks Guys!

August is not my favorite month.

On August 5, 2008 I lost my best friend when my wife passed away suddenly. In 2009 I lost my cousin Jane Mehl after a long battle with lung cancer, and yesterday I had another reason to dislike August.

Joe Ferrara passed away yesterday.He was only 55 years old, and his death was untimely , caused by a brain tumor. Joe was a blogger and his contributions to what is loosely known as the RE.net are well chronicled. His work as a blogger is not what compels me to write this brief note today.

Joe was much more than a blogger. He was a smart man , with a large heart and a pleasant and interesting personality. He was always pleasant to be around and added positive energy to everything he did and everyone he met. That is what I will miss, and what I think the world will miss the most.

Joe’s mind was always open to new ideas, and to  open and engaging discussion . It might seem odd that one of the things about Joe that I considered most endearing was his love of conversational arguments.

Though Joe and I met in 2008, it was at ReTechSouth in 2009 that I got to host a “cage match” discussion between him and my friend Rob Hahn. Both Joe & Rob are smart guys and like me enjoy a good principled and articulate argument.  The event was a blast for the three of us, and was well received by the audience. It was only one of many great discussions I was to have with Joe, but all were extremely enjoyable and memorable because Joe was never afraid to take a position or think about someone else’s position.

For ReTechSouth 2010 we were to reprise our “cage match”, but prior to the event I found out that Joe was going to unable to participate. Later I found out about Joe’s illness, and through his partner Scott Forcino followed his struggle through the year.

I’m not a fan of cancer . Having lost my mother to a brain tumor and my father, and sister to lung cancer, I’m too familiar with the pain of the “cancer dance” where the patient suffers the disease while the family and friends suffer with them. I hate that Joe is gone, but I hope that he is at rest.

The worst thing about losing a person is the hole they leave in the world. Joe leaves a huge hole. But as long as a person is loved and remembered, they are never truly gone- and people like Sheila and Joe are remembered by all of the people whose lives they touched and changed by their very presence.

Joe met my wife Sheila before she passed away. Like Joe, Sheila was an incredible  loving and caring person but she was also a terrific hostess. If there is a place where wonderful  people go, I know they are there today.  I love you and miss you honey, but I know you’ll welcome my friend Joe and make him at home.

You guys live in my heart and memory – and the hearts and memories of others. Miss you both.

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I’m in San Francisco for the third ReBarCamp. As a result I got to hang out this weekend with my friend and partner  Ginger Wilcox, and spend time with her children and my friends Todd Carpenter and Andy Kaufman.

While we were having breakfast this morning Ginger asked me to read the latest post on her awesome “Blog by the Bay“. The title was “Is It wrong to Walk Away from an Underwater Mortgage”, written by George Crowe. The topic of the post was strategic default. The topic is interesting enough and struck a strong enough chord within me to require a response here ( for me, even if not for you )

If you don’t know what a strategic default is, it is a term used by people to apologize for their failure to live up to an obligation they created contractually. In other words, it describes people who are walking away from mortgage loans that they are capable of repaying.The key here is that the borrower has the ability to make the payments required by the loan, but they choose not to.

I am not a fan of strategic defaults. I can understand that people are stressed financially, but the mortgage documents don’t say that you can don’t have to pay if you get upset. I understand that the banks are being seen as the bad guys in the current economic climate, but the documents don’t say you don’t have to pay if you don’t like the actions of the lender. You borrowed the money, you bought something with it, and you’re supposed to pay back the loan.  George quotes a New York Times article:

Back in January Roger Lowenstein argued the case for strategic default in The New York Times Magazine, and he made some pretty good points:

“Mortgage holders do sign a promissory note, which is a promise to pay. But the contract explicitly details the penalty for nonpayment — surrender of the property. The borrower isn’t escaping the consequences; he is suffering them.”

I am not as familiar with mortgage lending in California or New York as I am in Pennsylvania where we sign a mortgage and a note. The mortgage document is the pledge of real property for the repayment of  debt, and the note is our personal pledge to repay the loan. Under the terms of those documents, the borrower might be liable for a deficiency judgment to return to the bank the funds that they do not recover through the foreclosure process.  But in any case, that is not a discussion of what is right or wrong, only what might be financially expedient.

Then there is the idea that “its only business” which seems to me to be another excuse. When people tell me something is business, not personal, it’s always because they are about to do something unpleasant, and they want to distance themselves from the moral responsibility for their actions. In this case, the term is being used to indicate that the decision here is a financial one, not a moral or legal one. And that’s just not the case. You can’t be moral only when its easy, or you have no real sense of right or wrong.

I don’t pretend to be able to stand in judgement of others or their actions. And I can understand the temptation to walk away from a loan because of the pressures of the economy, but your reaction to that temptation is what determines who you are.
When my late wife’s father passed away, her mom was left with debts from his business. She didn’t own a house, and was not responsible for his debts, but she worked for years to pay off each debtor. Tillie Rosen is an stand up human being. As a widow with limited resources, having only recently returned to the work force in a low paying clerical job, she made good on the obligations of her late husband (only one of e reasons I love and respect her). She could have chosen strategic default to benefit her family but she chose to scrimp and save to pay off the obligations of her late husband because she knew that was the right thing to do .

In a market like that in Marin County where Ginger works and lives, people are struggling to pay mortgages that are currently in excess of the value of their property. That’s a really tough problem, but the property was worth more when they bought it, and will probably be worth more again some time in the future.  Obviously, there is a financial benefit to the borrower if they walk away from the property and then buy another property back at the new lower value and wait for the recovery of the marketplace. But that is a financial decision, not a moral decision.  I wouldn’t blame a homeowner who was underwater and unable to make the payments for defaulting, or for “giving the keys” back to the bank through a deed in lieu of foreclosure. Those are cases of bowing to the inevitable. But for a member of the privileged class, who has a loan that they don’t want to pay, because the thing they bought went down in value? That’s just not right, at least in my opinion. Its not fun, but living up to the promises you make in life is always the right thing to do .

In closing his post George says:

If you buy into the argument that it was the irresponsible and greedy behavior of the banks that brought about the housing bubble and corresponding bust, then maybe it’s fair that they’re left holding the bag. It’s a tough question with no easy answer. What do you think?

Since the banks were not  partners in profit when  properties went up in value during the boom they should not be expected to be partners in the loss of value today. They are lenders, and they lent money to willing borrowers, who in these cases were and are able to make the payments under the terms they agreed to – even if it isn’t the most expedient thing to do, it is the right thing to do.

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Allow me to start by acknowledging that the goals of Franchise organizations are not necessarily the goals of their individual franchisees.

The primary job of the Franchisor is to sell franchises, though supplying tools and systems to their franchisees is also an important goal. The primary goals of the franchisees  differ since they are all centered around their own  specific operations and the things that provide the greatest benefits to their businesses and their owners.

I saw a tweet by Chris Kieff that the Social Media Manager at Coldwell banker had responded to his Post “Oops!You Wanted a Full Answer to That Question?”, and being the Realogy franchisee that I am (in my role as CEO of CENTURY 21 Advantage Gold), my curiosity was piqued, so I headed over to check out the post and the response.

It seems that Chris Brogan had tweeted something about the new Coldwell Banker website, and Chris (Kieff)  had visited it , only to find that CB corporate’s national website only includes listings from Coldwell Banker franchisees. Kieff makes the point that this might disappoint consumers who visit the site, making them less than well disposed to the franchise. There is a whole argument here about the whether the Franchisor should be competing with their local franchisees for the limited number of eyes looking for real property, but that’s another post, so I will digress no further.

The post speaks for itself – Chris Kieff is an articulate guy who can (and does) make his own argument. And in response to the argument, something entirely new popped up for me.

The Social Media Manager for Coldwell banker, a guy named David Marine, responded to the post  in part, by saying;

We do allow consumers to see all the IDX listings in the area they search by promoting an IDX link on our results page, but this takes them to a local site of one of our Coldwell Banker affiliates and abides by the MLS display rules for that area. You’ll notice that these sites don’t have a number of the features that our site offers like video, social sharing, ability to save properties using our Home File product, etc.

Excuse me? Did he really just say :

You’ll notice that these sites don’t have a number of the features that our site offers like video, social sharing, ability to save properties using our Home File product, etc

Sort of like saying -

You’ll notice that our broker’s sites are really second rate propositions that don’t have the features  our corporate site has so we think consumers will be OK with our limited property data set etc.

I understand the need to respond to the post which placed the Coldwell Banker Corporate site in a critical light. And I think  the point they made about the various IDX feeds around the country was  important in helping people to understand their strategy, though other national franchises felt differently and have met the challenge of providing more information to  the consumer.

But where the David makes a huge faux pass is when he denigrates the sites of the brokers that make up the Coldwell Banker system. In its core, the value proposition of any franchise must include a commitment to the reputations of the participants in their system – and that is the big #Fail in this interaction. In fact, the question to me becomes “If Coldwell Banker thinks such features are valuable to their consumers (and therefore their franchisees), why have they not equipped their brokers with those systems?”

I don’t know David Marine, and I have no feelings about him pro or con, nor do I have any negative feelings towards the Coldwell Banker Brand. You probably know that I am the CEO of CENTURY 21 Advantage Gold, and therefore have my own franchisor/franchisee stories. In fact, Mr. Marine  and Coldwell Banker get points in my humble opinion for reputation monitoring, and attempting reputation management by engaging with a blogger who wrote about their brand. However I think there may be a cautionary tale here for all franchises in responding to mentions in the web 2.0 world. You can’t be sure who is reading your response and how it may affect the reader. Therefore  greater thought needs to be given to the content of the response,  and additional emphasis on protecting the reputation of the franchisee and the value of the franchise tools provided to them while defending the corporate decision.

In other words guys – Don’t throw your brokers under the bus to make the brand strategy look better – in fact, don’t even look like you might be throwing them under the bus – its not going to be good for franchise sales.

Just had the pleasure of teaching the Social Media Marketing Institute (SMMI) CSM course in Portland Maine, with the wonderful Amy Chorew,

The first day of the class was held at the Portland Board of REALTORS, a lovely facility close to the Portland International Jetport, and the room was packed with  REALTORS anxious to learn about social media.

Last nigth Amy and I had dinner at Fore Street , before going for a quick walk down to the waterfront to enjoy Portland’s Old Town at night. The food was wonderful, and the class recommendation of the restaurant was totally validated.

Today the class moved to the Art Gary School of Real Estate in Westbrook Maine, a short distance away, and the class is being shown the tools of bloggin with Wordpress.

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I travel more than most people, but I am always in touch with my office, working on property assignments and valuations, communicating with my offices, and generally needing to access files from multiple computers. It becomes even more complicated because I work on both PC and Mac platforms.

Even if you don’t travel as much as I do, or work with multiple platforms, you probably still need to access photos or flyers, or other files from remote locations. Perhaps you started work on a document in the office on a desktop, and now need to complete it or send it from your home computer. Or perhaps you use  a desktop at work, a desktop at home, and a laptop when you’re at Starbuck’s having that well deserved latte late in the day.  Or maybe you just got a new Ipad and need to access documents or presentations or photos you store on other devices. What ever the case is, it seems with the proliferation of  different devices in our lives, the need for remote solutions or “cloud based” solutions seems greater and greater.

I’ve used both  GoToMyPC, and LogMeIn , and found them to be decent work arounds when I am not near the computer where my files were stored. However if there is a challenge with the speed of the internet connection at either locations, the experience can sometimes be more of an issue.

Using the internet for storage then seems to be a decent solution so you can work across platforms (PC or MAC) just through the expedient of storing the documents on  Google docs and then allowing collaboration or download to different devices as needed. I like Google docs (in fact the whole Google suite of products are great tools) but you can experience some formatting issues if you start a document in a program like word or power point and then try to work through it on Google docs.

Recently I started working with dropbox and so far I’m liking the experience.. When you open a dropbox account, a file is downloaded on to however many computers you use. You can drag and drop files to that folder and the folders on all of your computers are automatically synchronized. For MAC users, another program called Growler actually notifies you when files are added to your folder.

A free dropbox account allows you to store 2 Gigabytes of files and the upgrades seem pretty inexpensive (if the solution works for you) at $9.9.5 a month for 50 Gigabytes of remote storage (the ultimate dropbox.com account costs $19.95 a month and allows 100 Gigabytes of storage). For me the benefit is multiplied because I can share photo files not only from computer to computer (when I’m not using my eye-fi card to upload directly to flickr) but with my assistant who can then use them in our marketing without creating zip files and emailing from place to place. In addition, having a central repository for files avoids the “Where did I store that?” problem that so many of us face.

In a recent post in RealTown, Mike Bowler wrote a post about change in the real estate industry that ended up being more about his preference of educational choices then it was about real change in the industry.

Mike asks the question “Are we at the crossroads where, all companies should just expect agents to go to where the education is being provided versus trying to be all things to all people? ” – and then goes on to say “I think the day of independent contractors depending on the brokerage for any education is nearly gone. Most business models cannot provide all that is needed and should not pretend to say they do.”

He points at the 4000 registrants at the Virtual ReBarCamp saying “it’s obvious that we can learn more from our peers around the country than we can within the 4 walls of an office”. Unfortunately that statement is really a “non-sequitur” – a Latin phrase meaning “it does not follow”. 4000 registrants for a free online experience doesn’t indicate anything more than “if its free its for me” is a philosophy of the masses. And any educator can tell you that the number of people that register has never had anything to do with the quality of the presentations or what the participants actually learned from the process. In fact, since people all learn differently, it would be almost a sure bet that there were as many people that learned nothing from the experience as there were that gained anything from a single channel experience like that.

I think Mike’s perspective may be a little skewed by his passion for some of the new collegial educational opportunities, and I can’t blame him for that. Like him, I’m a big fan of ReBarCamps (not so much on the virtual ones) because they (the real ReBarCamps) are conversations when they are done best – and those conversations are great learning experiences because we never know where they can go , or what we can get from them. The virtual ReBarCamp presentations were, by nature, planned presentations with limited participation from the community, and were in some cases sales pitches for the presenters rather than real educational experiences or collegial education.

As a forward thinking real estate person in a troubled market, change is desired, but is often not what we anticipate. I think some things will stay the same -

• I believe companies that are large enough will provide training to new agents, and opportunities for experienced agents to increase their skill sets.
  • As in the past, smaller companies will rely on third party tools and educational products to help them bridge the gap for their agents.
• REALTORAssociations  will continue to provide educational opportunities for their members through webinars, educational opportunities at conferences and business metings and through 3rd party providers like SMMI , the REALTORS Institute, REBAC, etc.
• National Franchises will provide training for the agents in the offices of their franchisees through a variety of distance learning programs as they are today,
• The best agents will still seek additional education wherever they can find it , and remember that they should always be seeking new educational opportunities.

Unlike Mike, I believe that independent contractors will continue to rely on their brokerages (among others) to provide them with educational opportunities, and that the brokerages will step up to meet those challenges. Though the additional opportunities for agents will continue to morph and change and take advantage of the newest ways to communicate, brokerages, franchise organizations, REALTOR Associations, and other educational providers will continue to provide educational opportunities for our industry. And that is more about commerce than it is about change.-

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In January I returned from the Inman Connect Conference and the ReBarCamp in New York City and had the opportunity to talk to people from all over the country about the real estate industry.

As is the case in a lot of conferences, there was substantial social interaction as well as business networking, but since its January and we’re all creatures of habit – the first question on everyone’s lips was “How did you do last year?”. My answer was always the same, “We’re doing better, but its still not where I want it to be”.

I had to leave the Inman Conference and return to Philadelphia because I had a meeting today with our company’s Sales Managers. In preparation I did a little research so we could talk about how to improve our company’s productivity for the coming year. And I received quite a shock. I found out that I had unwittingly told a little white lie – and because being truthful is really important to me  I want to take the opportunity to apologize right here and right now to my team at CENTURY 21 Adantage Gold.

When I checked the Century 21 corporate web site to see how our company had performed in the comparison to other Century 21 firms in the country, I found that what I thought was actually wrong – we were doing pretty well in a challenging market.;

1. We were in the Top 5 companies in Pennsylvania based upon the amount of Gross Commission earned,
2. We were in the Top 3 companies in Pennsylvania based upon the number of properties we sold.
3. We were in the Top 100 Century 21 companies in the entire country based upon the amount of Gross Commission earned, and
4. We were in the top 67 Century 21 companies in the entire country based upon the amount of properties sold (out of a system with thousands of companies across the United States)

I wasn’t really displeased with the reality, I am just upset that I spoke without having the facts at my disposal. I am really big about writing what you know, not what you think when it comes to blogging , and the same rule should apply to all of our communication. When we speak from impressions rather than facts, we create false impressions – not the least of which take root in our own thoughts impacting our actions and decisions.

As we approach the end of the Tax Credit (About 34 days are left for people to buy), I wonder what we will learn on May 1, 2010. Will we learn that the tax credit was supporting our current activity? Will we learn that the market has recovered enough for the spring to have a reasonable aactivity level of its own? Will we learn that there are enough investors buying homes again that the REO inventory will diminish? What is reality telling you in your market?

I just listened to my friends Marc Davison and Teresa Boardman talk with Maya Paveza, Michael McClure & Todd Waller on their #RTB Radio Show at Blogtalkradio. They are smart, articulate, people and the chat room was filled with other really smart people  so it was a fun way to spend an hour.

If you’re not in real estate or active on Twitter you might not know that #RTB stands for “Raise The Bar”, a movement of sorts (or at least a discussion) about how the real estate industry needs to achieve a higher level of professionalism.

The conversation is sometimes interesting, and the participants engage in the conversation with great passion, but parts of it seem to me to be more “Durm und Strang ” (storm and stress) than actual suggestions to improve the industry.

We have people trotting out business truisms without really knowing if they make sense. Today one of them was ” real estate businesses don’t make money, the money is made in the affiliate relationships” (I believe I am paraphrasing, but pretty accurately). That’s just not smart business. If you are a large enough real estate  concern to have title , escrow, insurance or mortgage companies as part of your operation, each one needs to be profitable, or you would be better served by operating an affiliate and letting someone else lose money on the real estate company. Of course, if you are a smaller real estate firm, you may not be able to operate affiliate firms, so that logic would leave you with the option of just operating your real estate company without making a profit – a lousy option at best.  The  person who made the statement is a friend of mine and a smart professional person- which doesn’t mean that they cannot fall in to the trap of relying on “common knowledge”.

Though I believe that the open exchange of ideas between professionals can lead us to some very interesting places -  we need to get there because we know what we’re talking about, or at least admit when we’re postulating or theorizing. In the #RTB conversation, many people talk about stuff they have no experience with, and therefore have limited understanding of – and that’s a problem.

An agent really can’t speak about running a real estate brokerage until they have opened one, run it, and know what makes it tick. To me its like coaches who talk about how to sell real estate even though they’ve never done it. And Brokers fall into similar traps when they talk about agents. To be accurate they need to put aside their business models and prejudices, not be self-serving, and remember what it was like to do that job.  In other words, if we’re going to have this conversation, let’s put aside “what we think” in favor of “what we know” and  develop opinions based on fact rather than pre-judgement?

The concept of  raising the bar in the real estate industry isn’t remotely new. The National Association of REALTORS was created for just that reason in 1908 and our code of ethics , adopted in 1913 pre-dates  all of the real estate licensing laws in the U.S. Now that’s an example of raising the bar in an industry.  But that was a long term commitment based upon a desire to improve with a willingness to be held accountable through this new organization. This conversation doesn’t rise to that level at all. Don’t get me wrong, there are some very smart, passionate, well intentioned  people talking about this, but in a very fragmented and disordered manner. As I read some tweets today about “thinning the herd” it struck me that the conversation was much more about “look what a poor job the other guy is doing” rather than  “how can I do my job better?”.

Look, I’m all in favor of raising the bar – but I think we have to start by raising our own bars, not talking about how others need to raise theirs.  Too often it seems we’re just talking about the agent or company that made us mad, or the broker that didn’t appreciate us or pay us enough. None of that is productive – whining never is. So if you’re a real estate agent,  recognize that your broker is not there just to facilitate increases in your income, they are running a business and entitled to try to be profitable. If you don’t like the way your broker runs the company, go and try to have a frank talk with them first, and if that fails go open your own company. If you’re a broker and you don’t think your agents appreciate your efforts or waste the resources you provide them with , or don’t  work hard enough, you have a few options. Change your company culture, hire new agents, or manage the agents you have in a more productive manner. But always remember that the relationship between broker and agent should be symbiotic not parasitic and that we each need to value our team mates and work had to be a valued member of their teams.

So if you want to raise the bar for the industry, its easy. NAR and your state and local associations are working on that every day. Contact them and volunteer. You might be surprised to find out how many other people have been working on that bar while you were talking. But I have to admit, there is part of me that really enjoys the #RTB discussion, and perhaps you think the bar should be raised some other way. So tell me,  how you think the bar should be raised in the real estate industry?

I’m a fan of silly things – they usually make me smile , but sometimes I end up just scratching my head and wondering why people do silly things when they don’t intend to. And more and more frequently I see people doing sill things in social spaces.

Your community ( or audience, or market) needs to be the prime consideration when you write or say things, so I am stunned  by many real estate people who  think their audience needs to be interested in the things they want them to be interested in. I reserve  ReReflections for the comments on the real estate industry that are so peculiarly mine that I ‘m not sharing them over at AgentGenius. My social media thoughts are either published there or at www.smminstitute.com or www.buzzbuilderz.com. My blog posts that might be of interest to consumers find their way to either MovePhilly or C21AgVoices. Not because I want my writings to be hard to find, but because I want to be saying things that are relevant to specific readers.

It not a new phenomenon but before the advent of social media, we needed to be present to hear real estate agents say silly things. For example, an agent might tell a client whose listing was expiring “You can’t list your property with someone else – I’ve really spent a lot of time working on it”.  Why does the seller care? Their property isn’t sold and their needs are not being met. and they still needed to sell the property.  A more relevant tactic would have been to give them a reason to stay listed that made sense. Perhaps a discussion of their pricing and marketing position combined with a comparison of the marketing efforts  of the current and prospective real estate companies.  It might not have convinced the client to extend the listing, but at least the conversation would have been relevant instead of simply self-centered.

Today, poorly informed  agents who use social networks to broadcast commercial messages make their lack of thought a public spectacle. The “Facebook listing” is an iconic example of abuse.  With listings reiterated in thousands of places through IDX feeds and listing syndication, putting listing information or open house information in a social environment demonstrates not only a lack of concern for the other members of your community, but a lack of respect for your “friends”.

By demonstrating lack of relevance in your content, and a disregard for the social context, you demonstrate disrespect for your ‘friends’  that results in a dismissal of your message and a reduction in your online relevance .

Recently, I saw an interchange on Facebook that went like this:

When I read this he sounds like a multi-level-marketer talking about “income potential” . No one cares what you make (unless you’re paying their bills) – they care about things that impact them or your relationship with them. Not to mention the fact that the whole response might have been better placed as a message rather than a wall post.

And while we’re talking about advertising disguised as social interaction – how about this;

Where is the engagement in this blind solicitation? Who could be silly enough to think that this person cares about their career ? This could easily have been lifted from a bus bench billboard – is that what we perceive our social network values?

I think that talking about work in social settings can be appropriate , just as it would be in face to face settings. For example, you might say in a social setting that you had a tough time working with sellers to obtain a listing, but you probably wouldn’t whip out a flyer for the property and give it to the guests.  If we could just take a moment to think about whether we would do something in person that we’re about to do on-line, it might really improve the quality of our communications, and the bonds we have wth our communties,