Main-impacthubseattleWhy real estate companies have not gone down the path of operating co-working spaces is beyond me.

Impact Hub. WeWork. Galvanize. They all operate in Seattle. They are all communities of hundreds of people, and are the center of the local entrepreneurial community. Most of the startup events in the city happen at one of those co-working offices. Before every event, guess who greets everyone in the room?

Yup, someone who works for the co-working establishment. The “host”. That short welcome talk includes a short overview of what “they” do.

A golden opportunity for real estate companies to let everyone know where to turn for real estate advice.

Greg alluded to the local community gatherings opportunity in 2013, after listening to a Seth Godin podcast.

What I would be spending my time doing, is making sure that every community organization had its meetings in my offices – because I’d have a big enough meeting room that they could meet there as often as they wanted

Co-working spaces make too much sense, on so many levels.

WeWork is reportedly valued at $10 billion. That’s…more than Zillow, and certainly more than any real estate brokerage/franchise in the US. Obviously no franchise can afford to acquire WeWork, but if I were running a brokerage or franchise, I would seriously consider buying a smaller co-working establishment in my local market. If you’re in a city still without a co-working movement, be a leader and start one. Now.

Going down the co-working path is the long game. Are you playing to win? Or are you just on cruise control?