One of the many lessons that social media has taught us is that you need to go to where the conversations are happening, then skillfully listen and engage.

At the turn of the century, people would congregate down at the general store and swap stories around the pot belly stove. The corner drugstore followed where Biff and Peggy Sue made dove eyes at each other over malts, listening to Franki Valli and the Four Seasons. Later on, the water cooler down at the office became the meeting hot spot for catching all the latest gossip.successful-real-estate-must-actively-engage-consumers

And now, conversations are happening at lightning speed across platforms like Twitter and Facebook. The Information Highway has become a runaway Japanese Bullet Train on Crack racing to satisfy a seemingly insatiable consumer hunger for interactivity, connection, and relevant data.

So how has this massive connection/communication paradigm shift affected traditional real estate practices, and, more importantly, the way in which we’ll do business in the future?

Perhaps one of the most recent telling effects in our industry has been the slow demise of brick and mortar real estate offices. Like many of their costly retail cousins (Borders, Linens N’ Things, Blockbuster, Mervyns, CompUSA, Ann Taylor, Foot Locker, Pier 1, and Zales, just to name a few), real estate offices across the country are downsizing or disappearing all together. With the severe downturn in our economy, and its adverse affect on the housing market, brokerage owners are hard-pressed to remain profitable, while, at the same time, keeping their stand-alone, agent-centric office spaces open.

Marc Davison of 1000Watt Blog fame observed this pending dilemma a few years back with his post “End Times for Brick and Mortar?”

In his article, Marc correlates the 2008 announcement by Starbucks to close 600 stores and makes the doom-saying premonition:

“Starbucks can’t exist unless people physically shop in their stores. But what about your real estate business model? Can you thrive without locations?”

Marc then poses the following questions:

  • What is the fate of the retail real estate location?
  • What is the benefit of a high rent storefront in today’s marketplace?
  • Do those benefits outweigh the disadvantages?
  • In 25 years will real estate be completely virtual?
  • Will we see competitive virtual brokerages take market share and thrive or is that a pipe dream?

Just a year ago, at REBarCamp San Diego, Sherry Chris, President/CEO of Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate, facilitated a session entitled “What does the Future of Real Estate look like?”  Listen in particular to some of the comments made by Stefan Swanepoel and Dale Kreiser of Exp Realty in Part 2 as they share their thoughts about the failure of traditional brick & mortar real estate offices, and some ideas on where they believe the future of real estate is heading.

So what is to be the fate of our precious time-honored real estate offices? The impressive Slate Entry and High-back Leather Chairs? The plush conference rooms with huge flat screen monitors? Our cherished cubicles? The semi-private offices, the coveted corner suites, the Top Agent of the Month parking space!?

Let’s consider some of the current trends in our industry:

  • Walk-in traffic has decreased significantly.
  • Agent floor time has become increasingly unproductive.
  • More agents/brokers are working out of their homes.
  • Office meetings are poorly attended.
  • Mobile technology (like DocuSign) has empowered remote functionality

In order to remain solvent and succeed, businesses must venture out to where the consumers are, whether physically or digitally. We must be disciplined to listen intently, engage them creatively, and provide them with something of relevant meaning/value.

Allow me to pose some additional questions as food for thought/discussion:

  • Have our traditional brick & mortar locations outlived their useful purpose?
  • Is it realistic for real estate to become completely virtual?
  • What kind of physical locations can create increased traffic and engagement?
  • What basic services/benefits can agents/brokers receive from an office environment versus an at-home office?
  • What basic services/benefits do office locations offer consumers?

I published a teaser post over on ActiveRain that’s generating a nice engaging comment stream!