Across the country, homes in many markets have regained value—a lot, in fact, passing their peaks prior to the recession. Brokers are riding the tailwind, with the majority of Power Brokers in RISMedia’s 30th Anniversary Power Broker Report & Survey confident in the market’s trajectory:
NEW! Get the digital, interactive ranking of RISMedia’s Top 500 Power Brokers.
- By confidence level, 52 percent of Power Brokers are “cautiously optimistic,” while 43 percent hold “high” optimism. Just 5 percent are “neutral.”
- Thirty-eight percent believe the market is “growing;” 30 percent say it is “stable.” Less believe it is “booming” (14 percent), “leveling off” (10 percent) and “challenged” (8 percent).
There are concerns, however. From the debate over the MLS and disruptors to teams and technology, Power Brokers are eyeing the future. When asked what industry issues or trends they’re watching:
We’re seeing a shift in the way real estate business is done. Artificial intelligence provides us with so much predictive data that has a high accuracy rate. – Tipper Williams, Operating Principal, Keller Williams Virginia Realty Alliance Group, Richmond, Va.
We’re interested in the broker portal and Upstream . Both are designed to support a brokerage and help agents provide a higher level of instant service to buyers and sellers. – Lennox Scott, Chairman & CEO, John L. Scott Real Estate, Seattle, Wash.
The increasing use of big data to help us target agent lead-generation activities is an interesting trend. A lot of companies are going into that space with their own “special sauce” for identifying the best targets for real estate professionals’ marketing dollars. – Joe Rand, Managing Partner, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Rand Realty, Nanuet, N.Y.
A technology tsunami is coming, and traditional brokerages are adapting to the changing times. – JP Piccinini, Founder & CEO, JP and Associates REALTORS®, Frisco, Texas
We’re shifting gears this year toward digital marketing more than in the past. It’s more effective than print marketing, and it drives more traffic to our website (and our agents). We’re training our agents to reinforce the idea of responding to leads immediately, usually by text. – Rei Mesa, President, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty, Sunrise, Fla.
I’m focused 100 percent on consumer behavior. Despite all of the disruption in our industry, very little has changed about the consumer experience or transactional costs. The consumer isn’t moving from valuing astute advice from a professional to a discount or abbreviated-service model. – Mark McLaughlin, CEO, Pacific Union International, San Francisco, Calif.
I’m keeping a close eye on some of the disruptors in the marketplace, such as cloud brokerages that are luring agents away with the promise of profit-sharing and ownership interest without tangible deliverables to help agents in their businesses. – Felicia Hengle, Director of Ohio Operations, Coldwell Banker Schmidt Family of Companies, Strongsville, Ohio
the continuing evolution of teams. Top teams use marketing skills to reach more buyers for their listings, creating more opportunities to garner the best offers for their sellers. – Marti Hampton, Broker/Owner, RE/MAX One Realty, Raleigh, N.C.
RISMedia’s 2018 Power Broker Report & Survey is sponsored by American Home Shield, Homes.com, HSA Home Warranty, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® and Pillar To Post Home Inspectors. The Power Broker Survey ranks brokerages by residential sales volume and transactions in 2017. The complete ranking of the Top 1,000 will be released shortly.
Suzanne De Vita is RISMedia’s online news editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at sdevita@rismedia.com. For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.
