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Whitepapers and Research
Stefan Swanepoel, Stu Siegel and Allen Wright
Gone are the days when the real estate agent was the main source of information for home buyers and sellers. Today’s consumer has access to an exponentially unlimited amount of real estate information; some accurate and some questionable. This enhanced access empowers a much different consumer and market environment for today’s real estate agent. The “real-estate-smart” consumer is creating a new role for those seeking to be a real estate professional in today’s competitive marketplace.
The information empowered consumer has already affected other industries. For example, previously financial information was distributed via a financial broker or a newspaper after the fact or by the television on a delayed feed but today that financial information is delivered in real-time to consumers with Internet access. In addition, the information provided has mushroomed from the opening and closing price to an almost encyclopedic array of news releases, biographies, past history, profiles, comparisons and related matters.
Thus consumer access has caused a significant change by creating not only new competing business models but by reengineering the paradigm. With the potentially more informed consumer the real estate professional’s role is changing to a subject-matter-expert, information processor and transaction facilitator rather than a salesperson, order taker or chauffeur.
The question the industry will have to toil with is: Can today’s agents manage the data overload and, if not, what are they going to do to change that?
Available for Instant Download at the RealtyU Bookstore
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Stefan Swanepoel and Allen Wright
In today's competitive and complex marketplace, an entrepreneur's success is far from guaranteed. Some businesses seem to succeed in spite of themselves, especially when customer demand for their products or services is great. In this situation, the mistakes made by many start-ups and growing businesses are simply forgiven by the marketplace. But don't be misled by inspiring stories of successful start-ups covered in the media; about 70 percent close after two to five years in operation. It's no mystery that one of the essential keys of launching, operating, and growing a successful company is sound business planning.
This whitepaper has as a goal to help you better understand the business planning process, the steps, the benefits and the execution. Like chess, business planning has various pre-determined steps. It requires thought, the evaluation of options, identification of hurdles, organization of priorities, the creation of strategies and the decisiveness of execution.
Playing chess without a plan is foolish. Working in real estate sales without a plan is also foolish. Planning helps with the coordination of actions, activities and next steps. Planning saves money, time, effort and causes the best result. The outcome of a well thought out, well-conceptualized real estate business plan can create long-term progressive positive advancement regardless of the business climate or real estate market.
Remember as you go through the steps of business planning for the first time or the tenth time, it is important to see yourself not only as the Architect of your own business, but as a Pioneer, seeking the right path to some new and distant frontier.
Here’s to the success of your well planned career.
Available for Instant Download at the RealtyU Bookstore
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by Stefan Swanepoel, Anne Randolph-Murray & Stephen Murray
This eighth publication in the series explores the tangled world of one-stop-shopping through an analysis of the bundling of mortgage and closing services. In the history of the various industries providing products and services to consumers, there is a fairly predictable sequence of events:
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A truly new product or service is offered,
- The product or service adds many extensions, options and/or arrangements in an effort to provide the consumer with a good deal of choice and then,
- The sheer amount of choice becomes inefficient and the consumer looks for (and the industry provides) simplified and in many cases “bundled” standard packages.
Residential real estate agents will tell you that consumers are already coming to them armed with the exact homes they want to see in a particular neighborhood. There is no doubt about it, the consumer is gaining control of the home finding process, is beginning to look for ways to control the home selling process and is looking for ways to simplify and bring predictability to the settlement process - all the services they need.
Only time will tell when and how brokers, agents and suppliers will respond.
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by Stefan Swanepoel & Janet Branton
For the past 6,000 years merchants have continually
sought to acquire customers. The premise and promise
is simple and the idea is nothing new: Sell or exchange
products and services and thereby create profits that
in turn create salaries, assets, companies, cities,
nations and economic world models.
Today the question remains the same: How does a
business turn the management of real estate brokerage,
financial services, insurance services and/or other
assets into a cost effective, sustainable and profitable
enterprise?
The sixth publication in the series, “Customer
Acquisition,” explores the new strategies, new
methods, new products and new services that will help
real estate professionals find, transact and maintain
a long-term relationship with their customers. |
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by Stefan Swanepoel & John Tuccillo
The revolution in the accumulation, interpretation
and transmission of information has dramatically changed
the nature of the real estate business. It has changed
from a business where people skills were paramount
and information was the sole property of the REALTOR®
to a business in which information is democratized
and knowledge creation, as a service to the consumer,
drives success. This change has contributed to the
already declining profitability of real estate firms.
“Profitability,” the fifth publication
in the series explored how real estate brokerages
could become more profitable by re-margining their
businesses. Further discussion also evaluated the
importance of incorporating ancillary services into
the suite of service offerings of a real estate brokerage,
how such selection could be made and how said service
could be implemented.
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Stefan Swanepoel, Dennis Galloway and Kenneth Jenny
(January 2001)
Since the 1980’s there has been extensive debate
about the shortcomings of the Glass-Steagall Act and
during this time the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System and the Secretary of the Treasury softened
some of the act’s separation provisions. By
2001 proposed legislation recommended the removal
of the separation of commercial and investment banking
entirely, thereby allowing banks to enter the real
estate brokerage industry. In opposition to this legislation
the National Association of REALTORS®, claimed
that consumers would be the ultimate losers if financial
institutions entered the real estate brokerage industry.
Supporting this legislation the American Bankers Association
contended that the benefit was access to greater choice
and healthier competition.
more... |
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Stefan Swanepoel
(November 1999)
The first whitepaper in the series was published
at the height of the “dotcom” market and
expanded on the Technology, the Internet and e-Commerce
elements identified in the “Reality”
book.
“Technology” covered nine specific
technology trends that industry professionals needed
to focus on and suggestions how to restructure and
incorporate new technologies such as MLS data integration,
transaction management systems and wireless technology
into their daily lives. Today many of these items
have already become commonplace and we almost wonder
how we survived without them for so long.
more... |
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