The Decline of the Real Estate Agent in Perrysburg
March 18th, 2009 . by Jon ModeneOne of my favorite authors/speakers is Seth Godin.
Smart. Forward thinking. Sold a “dot.com” he started to Yahoo.com at the very top of the market. Now he just does what he wants. An occasional seminar (life changing if you are interested in marketing – and I have spent a whole day with him), weird books (The Purple Cow) that always make you think, and probably whatever else he wants to do.
Confession #1: He just had a seminar/meeting in London that I was thinking about going to. . . . but I did not even dare ask the Wife Unit. She would not have let me go without someone else who shall remain nameless tagging along. Exploring the Lake District while I slaved away in a conference room.
Which right now seems to be making pithy observations about agents, agency, and the interface of agents, consumers, and technology.
Like a blog comment he wrote this week found here.
Which made me think . . . that a whole lot of the old “Perrysburg War Horse” Realtors and Brokerages are gone.
Vanished.
Moved away.
Retired.
Passed away.
Sold out or up or closed shop.
One local firm has 4 listings. Another one 4 or 5 agents with 2 listings between all of them.
Why? I think Seth Godin is right. Realtors have to hyper-specialize to succeed and to thrive and to even survive.
Confession #2: I have a very rare library of old MLS books.
A historical record of data on past, long ago sales. Sales and data so old that they are no longer on our on-line MLS.
I use it often to save time and get old data on new listings I take. Most times I am mentally prepared to see that of the 9 listing agents per page from the dusty old archives that almost all of them are gone.
8 out of 9. From not that long ago.
Gone.
Godin’s right. Specialize and provide valuable counsel or get out.
Me? I am a Seth Godin believer.
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