“I don’t believe in the science of the numbers anymore after the downturn,” he explained. “I’m not interested in same-store sales or looking at August vs. August of last year. I want to know what happened last week. I want to put those numbers in front of agents and managers. I think we have no immediacy in this business and that’s what we need to start paying attention to.”
According to Mesa, in his native Florida market, “the national average has never meant anything. The recovery is sustainable today; today in Florida, we are at 2004 price points.”
An inventory shortage has certainly been felt in the many markets served by Mesa’s firm, so he has adopted a proactive approach to ramping up listings. “There is a great deal of sellers sitting in their homes that have no idea they now have equity. We’ve told agents you have 90 days to go make these sellers aware. If they don’t, the company will. When it comes to agents, I want to be in a committed relationship.”
In Rodgers’ Southern California marketplace, the traditional real estate model is broken, he claimed, as competitors continue to arise in many different guises. To compete moving forward, Rodgers believes his firm will need to focus on providing agents and consumers a variety of options to choose from.
“I personally believe we will have to offer a menu of services and choices for agents and consumers,” he explained. “I think that will be the model in our face, whether we like it or not.”
