The real estate office of the future will offer a menu of services rather than a "One size fits all" model.

By: Terry Shortt, CRSâ, GRI, Broker

The consumers of today are not the ones of yesteryear that watched passively as the real estate industry evolved into the giant that it is today. Today’s sellers and buyers are more educated and more knowledgeable thanks almost entirely to the growth of the internet. This of course is not news to the agents and brokers in the daily practice of the real estate business. Before even making the initial contact with a broker today a seller is more likely to have done his homework and can spot an inept practitioner quickly.

Nearly everyone interested in selling a house gives at least initial consideration to going it alone without a broker. A relatively small percentage (industry experts say between 15% to 20%) actually takes the plunge and an even smaller number are actually successful.

That final number of successful sellers is, however, getting larger by the day thanks to companies like Help-U-Sell, Assist 2 Sell, ForSaleByOwner.com, byowner.com , BrokerDirectMLS.com, FlatFeeDirect.com and others.

The successful real estate brokers/owners going into the next evolution of the real estate business will be the ones that align the service that they offer with what consumers are demanding more choices, more control and lower fees in exchange for a higher level of teamwork and seller participation in the marketing effort.

There remains no question that the day of the full service high commission broker (aka Traditional broker) is far from over. There will probably always be a demand for residential brokers in certain specialties such as the luxury home market, international brokerage and circumstances where sellers can’t or don’t want to be involved in the process. However, most markets in the United States are nothing like that. Most market areas are towns and communities where brokers compete hard for the market share that they have.

The reality is that there has been very little change in the real estate industry even during a time when practically every other industry has adapted to changing consumer demands and today all real estate agents still look about the same to the consumers.

Being in an industry that is so resistant to change offers some incredible opportunity for brokers with insight, courage and the acumen to capitalize on it by reinventing his business and his processes to better serve a changing customer base and gain tremendous market advantage.

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