Real estate professionals need to think differently about the future. They need to do more and they need to move faster.
It has now been more than 10 years since my first book on trends, Real Estate confronts Reality, and many of the changes that we have been writing and speaking about are now coming to fruition. Things are definitely changing, and on a large scale. Within the next five years the real estate brokerage industry will significantly have changed and brokers and agents that don't adapt now will not enjoy the benefits of the next economic upswing.
Many of the leading companies of the next few decades are already starting to emerge and the time to stake your claim is now. How do you do that? The answer, of course, is not a simple one, but one that I will nevertheless endeavor over the course of the next few months to shed some light on.
Let's start our journey by identifying five factors that will characterize the future:
1. Change
Change is real. It is neither bad nor necessarily good. However it is constant and ever present. It is the very essence of life. So change in our industry is not something new, nor should it be deemed unexpected. It will however alter they way you do business. The more change we experience in a condensed time frame, the larger the transformation will be.
2. Complexity
Most adjustments in life are usually hard and therefore we by nature resist them. We have to deal with many changes occurring at the same time that are integrated with activities, products and processes we do not always understand - all of which create a myriad of complexities. And as the future is uncertain and ever changing these complexities just cloud the issue, often hiding very change needed.
3. Confusion
And so the change together with the complexity creates confusion for us. We become bewildered by the new and often fixated with the idea that we cannot do something. This uncertainty is unfounded and must be overcome. As certain as there are new things you do not know, so also is the fact that you can master any new product, service or skill and that the path going forward can be revealed.
4. Choice
Remember that every scenario provides options and alternatives. Failure is more often than not self imposed barriers. Each problem, obstacle and impediment has more than one solution and you have the capability of discovering it. It just requires commitment, focus, time and execution.
5. Courage
Do not resist change. Embrace it. Make it work for you. Find the thread from the past that you can carry into the future - build on your existing knowledge by adding new knowledge, grow your skill set by expanding your horizons and remain competitive by embracing innovation. Rather than resisting or fearing the change help shape the future of the industry.
Every year the Swanepoel TRENDS Report identifies, analyzes and then details out the most important and imminent changes that are expected to impact the real estate industry over the coming 12 - 18 months. The 2009 edition is currently in the final 60 days of research and writing.
If you have information that you would like to share with me feel free to email me and my research team at 2009@REtrends.com before Monday, November 17th.
Great post, great points. Thanks for sharing these words of encouragment with us stepan.
Best to you and yours
I read in a post tonite that you were a hit at NAR! Interesting reading...
Great post. Yes, change is good and we have to adopt to survive.
Hello Stefan, As usual your message is one that we can either embrace or we can resist. Change will of course win out in the end as most of what made this country great is also changing and we can either lead the change or we can ignore the trends. I suppose for those that wish to follow,the view never changes and the leaders will chart new territory. The future and all the amazing new opportunities is ours to embrace.
Courage... sometimes to the point of being obstinate, is a BIG element!
We have to stay up to date on new technologies and social media to engage the consumer. Those that are afraid of change are stuck in the past and the consumers (buyers and sellers) are way ahead of us. Change is scary at first but it can be embraced and and we can grow in our knowledge and skills.
Great comments Missy and Bill.
Change is scary at first and Change will of course win out.
I agree 100%. Thanks Stefan
Change. Complexity. Confusion. Choice. Courage.
Very nice. I will try and remember that. Thanx.
Great post! Thanks for the information; it certainly will be useful to all of us.
Stefan - exactly and the most difficult of all is taking action. I wrote this early this year - The New Real Estate Economy. There is incredible opportunity for those that embrace change and act on it.
@ Fred
Thanks for the link to your whitepaper. I look forward to reading it.
Stefan
Thanks always being positive Stephan.
Stephan,
You are so right. I have always believed that it is during hard times that we grow and become better people. What an opportunity we all have at our fingertips right now. Thanks for sharing.
I read this quote a few weeks ago, I think I even included it in my "Weekly Words of Wisdom" blog post...
We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. -Charles Swindoll
Have a great day & thanks!
Stefan..enjoyed the post. It is so true what you have written. Embracing the change IS tough. What a new time this is! It has definitely taken any possible monotony we might have had out of our day to day. Thanks for your insight..Sheila
Great points! Very encouraging. These are the very characteristics of successful people!
Excellent post! Change is inevitable and we must embrace it in order to make adjustments in the way we do business. Knowledge is power and gaining insights into trends is very important; thank you for the resource that you included as a link in your post.
Hi Stefan, Very well constructed and of course very much on target. For a number of years we have spoken about the re-birth of this industry and yet I am not sure we have seen that fully manifested as yet.
The internet has all but eliminated the need for the old paradigms of the industry. But I also feel that we have seem only the tip of the iceberg. And seeing the rest of that iceberg may actually slow down a bit as the decline in the economy takes front and center. However, it will create as all change does even newer opportunities and this time, I suspect it will by-pass the more conventional aspects of the real estate transactions as we know it.
There has been a push forward to the ultimate and complete on-line transaction and we will most likely see it more fully exercised on the next few years. There will be a greater emphasis on digital signatures and we may actually see the beginning vestiges of the fall of the last great paradigm, that all real estate is local.
The first three factors remind me of "chaos theory" which I spent a lot of time researching in graduate school and when I was a trainer - managing on the edge of chaos. It's almost like you have to surrender to some sort of control you falsely think you have in the world, plunge in and something will definitely churn out. I just joined Twitter and I finally got it in the field I am no in. I avoided it because it seemed like too BIG of a change, definitely confusing and definitely complex with all the followers who may post 8-10 tweets a day and so forth. It really freed me up - I am probably going to post about it this week. Thanks for pointing out the factors.
"Chaos" - Cathy that may be a very good word to describe the position the real estate and financial markets currently find themselves in.
Stefan,
Great post. Thanks for sharing this information with us. I met you at a reception at Champions School on 1960 in Houston several years ago. Please keep providing us with this great information.
Thanks Richard. Hope to see you again next year. Happy holidays.
Stefan