Nobu Hata
By Nobu Hata, 2009 NAR Conference Blogger
It’s been an interesting couple days home!
Your thoughts, Joe-Six-Pack? We’ve got a site for that.
Lost amid the cocktails of the YPN get together, and the hubbub of HouseLogic/RPR/NAR Second Century Initiative babble, was the Houston Association of REALTORS®’ win of NAR’s Visionary Award.
Taqi Rizvi, CTO of HAR, “created one of the first MLS public Web sites in the country, HAR.com, and led a team to implement more than 100 practitioner and consumer tools.” On Monday, they took home NAR’s Game Changer badge, effectively securing NAR funding and support of these initiatives, paving the way for these tools to be implemented nationwide in the future.
One of these new consumer-oriented tools HAR developed is a “Client Experience Rating.” The idea is that any consumer in the HAR market can use this wonderfully sticky Web site to rate their REALTOR® experience while they are browsing for a home, identify the process needed to buy the home, and *gulp* choose a REALTOR® to help them do so.
Coincidence or not, in the couple days I’ve been home from NAR’s 2009 Conference & Expo, I’ve had three conversations regarding some sort of public rating system of REALTORS® with a very one-sided view point: over my dead body will that ever be allowed in my/our/this association!
We REALTORS® are a fickle bunch, afraid of what we cannot control. What we fail to realize though is that in this day and age, Joe-Six-Pack-jilted-by-insert industry here-practitioner, is already taking it to their Facebook page/blog/Twitter/yelp!/Angie’s List pages and airing their disapproval in a very public forum, tainting all who read them.
Ask Horizon Realty about their Twitter post lawsuit, or a law firm partner you know about abovethelaw.com. Untold damage was done because grievances, real or not, were never immediately addressed nor countered on the very platforms they were aired on. It’s just a matter of time before someone decides to pool together real estate grievances onto a blog or a professional social networking site with a large user-base (LinkedIn? Yelp!?). They’re going to need a tool like this to stay relevant. It’s inevitable, people; get used to the idea.
I say bring it on! While HAR’s and Peoria Association of REALTORS®’ sites will have its share of skepticism with a perceived conflict of interest and lack of transparency – Hello? Rating REALTORS® on a site RUN by REALTORS®? – it’s a wonderful step forward to rebuild the trust lost in us. In a climate of unprecedented consumer pessimism regarding our share of the blame for the economic condition of this country, a consumer-centric site like this is taking a huge step forward to do just that. We owe it to our past, present, and future clients to lend insight into our industry by having sites like these, and addressing the good and bad that comes of it.
More of these sites will come… so embrace it! Google Alert your name, along with “REALTOR®” and the name of your state, to keep an eye peeled on your presence on these and any future Web sites. Counter it immediately, like-kind. Control what you can! Hop on LinkedIn, get recommendations, and flex your REALTOR® muscles by answering questions posed by home owners, buyers, and sellers, and drive folks off LinkedIn to it. Get involved in online communities like TruliaVoice and HouseLogic, and reaffirm yourself in the public eye.
And for heaven’s sake, make your online presence transparent! Really, if you’ve done your job, what are you worried about? Game Changer indeed.
Jessica Hickok
By Jessica Hickok, 2009 NAR Conference Blogger
It’s Sunday, day 3 of the annual conference here in beautiful San Diego, and I can’t help but think I don’t want it to end…however, I’m really excited to get back to work!
Every year that I have attended the NAR Annual Conference and Expo, I always find it to be a huge shot in the arm. A shot of motivation, a shot of confidence in what I do, and a huge shot of ambition to become even better.
I have put together a list of my personal top 5 highlights of the conference this year and find it to be reason enough to plan on attending next year’s conference.
1. Networking with your peers and colleagues is invaluable.
I have attended some fabulous parties and tweet-ups and learned so many new things about how my fellow REALTORS® balance things with their personal and business life. It’s always fun to meet your online friends in real life.
2. I found out that Transaction Desk is going mobile!
The Expo trade show floor is huge and I have found some new alternatives to managing our office listings and contracts. One thing that I’m super excited about is that Transaction Desk by Instanet Solutions is bringing their stuff to the mobile device! Talk about time saver!
3. I Crossed Something Off My Bucket List.
Speaking for the first time at NAR was a huge accomplishment and opportunity for me. One of the best things you can do to learn more for yourself is to teach what you know to someone else. Again, talking with colleagues is all about sharing and learning. During our property management session, we received so many questions from others that it got us thinking and planning new ideas for the way we run our business. Thank you guys for contributing to our session!
4. I saw the Priceline Negotiator!
Granted, I didn’t get to actually meet William Shatner in person because of the time crunch I was on, but I did get to see him and snap his picture from approximately 10 feet away. NAR does a great job of setting up things to where you don’t feel excluded if you have something else that you need to get done.
5. I love what I do and I believe in the NAR organization all that much more.
It may sound cheesy, but I get all pumped up about what I do from discovering new things. And that is the biggest highlight. I’m proud to call myself a REALTOR® because it is a brand that I believe in and that has treated me, and 19,000 others, very well over the last four days. Can’t wait to see you all next year!
Jessica Hickok, a self-proclaimed blogging and Twittering fanatic, is with Dizmang Properties in Springfield, Mo. Visit Jessica’s blog: www.jessicahickok.com.
By Erica Christoffer and Katie Tarbox, REALTOR® Magazine
The Young Professionals Network (YPN) had a lot to celebrate at their annual networking event this year, which was held at the chic pool deck of the Hotel Solamar and sponsored by NAR Community Affairs, HP, HouseLogic, and the Center for REALTOR® Technology.
More than 300 young professionals attended the event, which featured wine, mini-sliders, and sweet bites of dessert. Members of YPN, which is targeted to REALTORS® under the age of 40, came from across the country to share business ideas and optimistic predictions for 2010.
YPN manager Rob Reuter honored Minneapolis with the 2009 Chapter of the Year Award. Houston and Missouri were honorable mentions. Jared James, the Web Choice for REALTOR® Magazine’s 30 Under 30, was also acknowledged.
Additionally, winners of the Center for REALTOR® Technology (CRT) Spotlight Awards were recognized at the event. Tina Merrit, the director of training at Virginia-based firm Long and Foster, won her Spotlight Award in the category of Advocate. As the creator of Wolkia, a real estate technology resource, Merrit’s focus is education.
Ed DeRosa, director of technology at the Florida Association of REALTORS®, received the Spotlight Innovator award. DeRosa saved the association $150,000 through his video conferencing and webinar series initiative. Brandon Rodriguez, a practitioner in Dallas, Texas, was honored in the Pioneer category. He successfully created a virtual office that competes with the bigger firms in his market.
Taqi Rizvi, chief technology officer at the Houston Association of REALTORS®, won the Visionary award. He created one of the first MLS public Web sites in the country, HAR.com, and led a team to implement more than 100 practitioner and consumer tools.
Photos by Kevin Berne
Dawn Miller
By Dawn Miller, 2009 NAR Conference Blogger
If you didn’t have a chance to go to the YPN reception last night, you missed out! The rooftop of Hotel Solamar was packed as early as 6:30 p.m. when YPNers from across the country met to introduce each other, share, and exchange ideas.
If you did go, I hope we had a chance to meet! Start looking for #ypn and #joinypn on Twitter to help find your fellow YPN REALTORS®. We’ll be able to do more networking, socialize, and maybe even send a referral back or forth.
By this time in the conference you have probably been going nonstop. From meeting to forums, to the expo and receptions. Recharge your batteries tonight, because tomorrow I want to take you on a trip around the world!
Don’t leave the conference without meeting some fellow international REALTORS® tomorrow at the International Networking Center found on the international side of the expo. There will be many networking times throughout the day to meet REALTORS® from many different countries as early as 10 a.m.
Don’t forget to visit my friends Claudette and Roberto at Playa Boninta Beach Residences booth and Luis with Boomers Abroad. I had the opporunity to meet them in July during an International Real Estate Expo in Dominican Republic. As you’re leaving the international side of the expo, take some time to visit with Amanda Dykes at the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing booth where they have incredible opportunities to mix luxury home marketing and International real estate together!
Heather Soldonia
By Heather Soldonia, 2009 NAR Conference Blogger
Friday at the 2009 NAR Expo was fantastic!! I decided to attend 4 sessions:
• Marketing in 2010 and Beyond
• Treating Your Business Like a Business
• How to Avoid, Survive and End a Sales Slump
• Road Warrior
Max Pigman was a great speaker, for the benefit of the non-YP (aka the more ‘seasoned’ professionals) he focused heavily upon Facebook and other social media. My favorite thing about Max is that he has a personal campaign to end the in-your-face marketing from “friends” …you know who they are. These are your peers, colleagues, and friends on FB who inundate your wall with listings, open house shout-outs and cheesy industry sayings. Max emphasized that your current and potential clients are “friending” you on FB so that they can see who you are…they already know what you are: An awesome REALTOR®! Thanks, Max, for pointing this out to people!!
Richard Flint seems to have his own following of positive thinkers. He’s a great speaker and keeps it real. He has a great way of playing with words, has lots of sayings and exudes enthusiasm. He encouraged REALTORS® to stay focused on the positives and that transitional markets expose the strengths and weaknesses of leadership. He advised to ask yourself “Is this going to feed my confusion or strengthen my clarity?” before making decisions with your business. Thanks for getting us in the right mindset, Mr. Flint!
Despite being in a large room, Joe Meyer is very personable. Not once did he mention Nike, but the whole time I listened to him this one phrase kept popping into my head: Just Do It! He’s a no-nonsense-guy and he emphasized that “there is no such thing as a good market or a bad market. There are only good agents and bad agents…and good agents will adapt to any market.” Joe was pretty serious about being “bold,” and upon realizing that I was the newbie in the room he had me repeat my name as loudly as possible to make his point. Thanks for the recognition, Joe!
And last (but far from least) was the Road Warrior session. Thank you, Shannon Williams King, for sharing your wealth of knowledge and resources about how to operate as remotely and efficiently as possible. This was truly a session that met the YP interests! There are so many great resources, I couldn’t possibly list them all but check them out yourself her site: http://shannonwking.com/ilove/
Rob, Erica, and everyone else involved in the YPN mixer at Lounge Six, I applaud you! It was a great venue and an enjoyable time. You did a great job, thanks so much!!
Heather Soldonia is a Broker/REALTOR® in the San Francisco Bay area with Windermere Welcome Home. She can be found at www.heathersoldonia.mywindermere.com.
Nobu Hata
By Nobu Hata, 2009 NAR Conference Blogger
Friday night’s NAR/YPN get-together was unlike any other REALTOR event I’d ever been to. Members of 47 national chapters networking, talking shop, and bouncing questions off each other, not to further their business, but to further their YPN cause both locally and nationally. A group of people taking this new, open, collaborative model of real estate to the next level for the betterment of our industry. ”Our” industry. Who’d have thunk that?
Membership and sponsorship drives? Well, yeah.
Local media and PR relations advice? Seriously?
YPN model collaboration? Yes, please.
Educational curriculum sharing? Please do!
Local and national political action? Tell me more.
I don’t remember hearing one iota of “me” the whole night; it was “us” and “we.” It was a decidedly un-REALTOR like evening.
My Minneapolis YPN chapter was voted Chapter of the Year for 2009. I was stoked. Honored. Less than 24 hours later, however, I can’t help but think that this award is a testament to a group of current and future real estate leaders, who at critical mass started setting the blueprint for the future of our industry.
So I urge all of you on the fence about YPN, get on board! Get involved! We’re getting stronger, and we’re not going away.
Brian Copeland
By Brian Copeland, 2009 NAR Conference Blogger
This week in San Diego, I had an opportunity to interview three YPNers about the biggest challenge they face going into 2010. Here are the results:
Agree or disagree? Answer in the Web poll below. What is YOUR biggest challenge?
Make a live audience poll at Poll Everywhere
Jessica Hickok
By Jessica Hickok, 2009 NAR Conference Blogger
They say that birds of a feather flock together. That is so true, especially here at the NAR Annual Conference and Expo currently taking place here in beautiful San Diego, California.
If you want to find out where the hot sessions are, where the go-getters, YPNers, and motivated agents are while at the conference then you need to follow them. Hang out with people who inspire you. Start by going to the NAR CRT Blogger’s Lounge located in room 7A of the Convention Center. There is free WI-FI! Go meet with people while you tap out your next blog post, upload your conference pics to Flickr or just check your e-mail.
YPNer Jessica Hickok in the CRT Blogger’s Lounge in room 7A of the San Diego Convention Center.
While you’re there, talk to people about the sessions they are attending. Then get their Twitter name and follow them on Twitter for the rest of the conference. They will talk about where they are having lunch or what party they are attending later that evening. Then follow them and be where they are. These are your people! Flock together with them and find the encouragement and inspiration to keep you and your real estate business moving.
Didn’t make it out to the conference? Then live vicariously by watching the live Twitter stream. Go to http://search.twitter.com and put in the hashtag #nar09, #ypn or #nardiego. We’re a fun group, you’ll see!
Jessica Hickok, a self-proclaimed blogging and Twittering fanatic, is with Dizmang Properties in Springfield, Mo. Visit Jessica’s blog: www.jessicahickok.com.
Dawn Miller
By Dawn Miller, 2009 NAR Conference Blogger
In the real estate world where the average age of a REALTOR® is 52 years old, some may agree it’s a challenge as a young professional, or YPNer. I may have just added another challenge to the equation—trying to break into the international real estate world.
While myth has it that one should know another language besides English, travel around the globe, or live in California, Florida or Texas, this is not the case. Saturday I will be receiving my CIPS (Certified International Property Specialist) designation. I am here to diminish the myths and challenges of everything one thinks about getting involved in “international real estate,” including a former broker who once said, “As if you’ll ever use it!”
Serving in international real estate involves helping those in the your local area who were not born in the America purchase or sell in your own backyard, helping those in your area purchase or invest overseas, or helping someone living overseas purchase or invest in your local area.
We are living in a shrinking world. Gone are the elementary school days where one adopts a “pen pal” overseas, writes an actual letter and waits a month for a response back via mail. Here we are today, where I send a LinkedIn message to one of my international real estate groups looking for fellow colleagues attending the NAR Conference, and a day later am meeting Federico A. Marin-Schumacher, a builder/developer from Costa Rica at last night’s International Welcome Reception. The ability to connect with people in any part of world has exploded, and the amount of information available has as well.
Join me during the conference while I am recognized for obtaining my CIPS designation, and I’ll tell you more about the possibilities of serving your “international” market in your own backyard and the opportunities this conference offers in the international market. Meanwhile, I am off to catch up with @GerryCarillo7 to learn more about a new Hispanic real estate organization, at Booth 3309.
Brian Copeland
By Brian Copeland, 2009 NAR Conference Blogger
Zero money was spent on ads. Zero information went out through overly official channels. Social media and organic communication lead more than 500 registrants to NAR’s first RE BarCamp held at Stingaree (a venue bar in the Gaslight District). The day kicked off with a whole lot of amazing networking.
I always worry about what I call “social media dissonance,” what you expect when you meet a person face-to-face after networking with them online for months/years. Needless to say, in 99 percent of the situations, the meeting exceeded my expectation. And, by the way, I’ll be hosting a RE BarCamp in Nashville, Tennessee in 2010…if Taylor Swift can win entertainer of the year for the CMAs, Nashville can pull this off!
Once everyone got oriented to how the day was to flow, a day of impromptu session, everyone gathered around several big dry erase boards to find out where they were going to spend the each of the 30 minute segments. Sessions centered around the social media theme and included video blogging, mobile apps, WordPress SEO, social media brand equity, blog content, legal issues in in social media and blogging, advanced Twitter, distressed sales/short sales and brokerage of the future, just to name a few of the 58 topics.
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