I had trouble sleeping last night…..

But let me back up to yesterday afternoon to begin the story.

I was meeting my favorite real estate photographer at one of my listings. My listings get high quality, high res, photos because first impressions count and in todays world that first impression is online! Anyway I was speaking with the photographer about the state of the industry. My basic comment was “most agents are dinosaurs operating under old business models and complaining about the market pressures that are lowering commissions”.

Several years ago I saw it coming and realized that I needed to rethink my strategies and figure out how to lower my own costs so that I could still offer a very high level of service at a lower cost and pass those savings on to my clients. !!!!!!

So last night I was scrolling through some real estate Facebook groups and saw this post….

“The sting of losing a deal is manageable. But losing it to a newer agent who promises 1% commission is worse than the pain of my 2nd divorce…”

The comments were predictable. “If you cant be good then be cheap”, “They are ruining the industry”, “You get what you pay for”…. And on and on. It was agents from all over the country so none of it was directed at me but I began to take it personally.

Most agents are dinosaurs. It took me years of trial and error that eventually led me to becoming a broker myself to hold my own license so that I am 100% in charge of my business and my costs.

As I began to really put my business in place the only real guideline that I had was that I will not sacrifice my level of service to cut costs!

If I can create a business model that makes me a satisfactory amount of money AND saves my clients thousands of dollars isn’t that really just smart business????

Agents need to find new ways to work and survive in the new world of real estate or, like the dinosaurs, they will become extinct.