I’m in San Francisco for the third ReBarCamp. As a result I got to hang out this weekend with my friend and partner  Ginger Wilcox, and spend time with her children and my friends Todd Carpenter and Andy Kaufman.

While we were having breakfast this morning Ginger asked me to read the latest post on her awesome “Blog by the Bay“. The title was “Is It wrong to Walk Away from an Underwater Mortgage”, written by George Crowe. The topic of the post was strategic default. The topic is interesting enough and struck a strong enough chord within me to require a response here ( for me, even if not for you )

If you don’t know what a strategic default is, it is a term used by people to apologize for their failure to live up to an obligation they created contractually. In other words, it describes people who are walking away from mortgage loans that they are capable of repaying.The key here is that the borrower has the ability to make the payments required by the loan, but they choose not to.

I am not a fan of strategic defaults. I can understand that people are stressed financially, but the mortgage documents don’t say that you can don’t have to pay if you get upset. I understand that the banks are being seen as the bad guys in the current economic climate, but the documents don’t say you don’t have to pay if you don’t like the actions of the lender. You borrowed the money, you bought something with it, and you’re supposed to pay back the loan.  George quotes a New York Times article:

Back in January Roger Lowenstein argued the case for strategic default in The New York Times Magazine, and he made some pretty good points:

“Mortgage holders do sign a promissory note, which is a promise to pay. But the contract explicitly details the penalty for nonpayment — surrender of the property. The borrower isn’t escaping the consequences; he is suffering them.”

I am not as familiar with mortgage lending in California or New York as I am in Pennsylvania where we sign a mortgage and a note. The mortgage document is the pledge of real property for the repayment of  debt, and the note is our personal pledge to repay the loan. Under the terms of those documents, the borrower might be liable for a deficiency judgment to return to the bank the funds that they do not recover through the foreclosure process.  But in any case, that is not a discussion of what is right or wrong, only what might be financially expedient.

Then there is the idea that “its only business” which seems to me to be another excuse. When people tell me something is business, not personal, it’s always because they are about to do something unpleasant, and they want to distance themselves from the moral responsibility for their actions. In this case, the term is being used to indicate that the decision here is a financial one, not a moral or legal one. And that’s just not the case. You can’t be moral only when its easy, or you have no real sense of right or wrong.

I don’t pretend to be able to stand in judgement of others or their actions. And I can understand the temptation to walk away from a loan because of the pressures of the economy, but your reaction to that temptation is what determines who you are.
When my late wife’s father passed away, her mom was left with debts from his business. She didn’t own a house, and was not responsible for his debts, but she worked for years to pay off each debtor. Tillie Rosen is an stand up human being. As a widow with limited resources, having only recently returned to the work force in a low paying clerical job, she made good on the obligations of her late husband (only one of e reasons I love and respect her). She could have chosen strategic default to benefit her family but she chose to scrimp and save to pay off the obligations of her late husband because she knew that was the right thing to do .

In a market like that in Marin County where Ginger works and lives, people are struggling to pay mortgages that are currently in excess of the value of their property. That’s a really tough problem, but the property was worth more when they bought it, and will probably be worth more again some time in the future.  Obviously, there is a financial benefit to the borrower if they walk away from the property and then buy another property back at the new lower value and wait for the recovery of the marketplace. But that is a financial decision, not a moral decision.  I wouldn’t blame a homeowner who was underwater and unable to make the payments for defaulting, or for “giving the keys” back to the bank through a deed in lieu of foreclosure. Those are cases of bowing to the inevitable. But for a member of the privileged class, who has a loan that they don’t want to pay, because the thing they bought went down in value? That’s just not right, at least in my opinion. Its not fun, but living up to the promises you make in life is always the right thing to do .

In closing his post George says:

If you buy into the argument that it was the irresponsible and greedy behavior of the banks that brought about the housing bubble and corresponding bust, then maybe it’s fair that they’re left holding the bag. It’s a tough question with no easy answer. What do you think?

Since the banks were not  partners in profit when  properties went up in value during the boom they should not be expected to be partners in the loss of value today. They are lenders, and they lent money to willing borrowers, who in these cases were and are able to make the payments under the terms they agreed to – even if it isn’t the most expedient thing to do, it is the right thing to do.

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Allow me to start by acknowledging that the goals of Franchise organizations are not necessarily the goals of their individual franchisees.

The primary job of the Franchisor is to sell franchises, though supplying tools and systems to their franchisees is also an important goal. The primary goals of the franchisees  differ since they are all centered around their own  specific operations and the things that provide the greatest benefits to their businesses and their owners.

I saw a tweet by Chris Kieff that the Social Media Manager at Coldwell banker had responded to his Post “Oops!You Wanted a Full Answer to That Question?”, and being the Realogy franchisee that I am (in my role as CEO of CENTURY 21 Advantage Gold), my curiosity was piqued, so I headed over to check out the post and the response.

It seems that Chris Brogan had tweeted something about the new Coldwell Banker website, and Chris (Kieff)  had visited it , only to find that CB corporate’s national website only includes listings from Coldwell Banker franchisees. Kieff makes the point that this might disappoint consumers who visit the site, making them less than well disposed to the franchise. There is a whole argument here about the whether the Franchisor should be competing with their local franchisees for the limited number of eyes looking for real property, but that’s another post, so I will digress no further.

The post speaks for itself – Chris Kieff is an articulate guy who can (and does) make his own argument. And in response to the argument, something entirely new popped up for me.

The Social Media Manager for Coldwell banker, a guy named David Marine, responded to the post  in part, by saying;

We do allow consumers to see all the IDX listings in the area they search by promoting an IDX link on our results page, but this takes them to a local site of one of our Coldwell Banker affiliates and abides by the MLS display rules for that area. You’ll notice that these sites don’t have a number of the features that our site offers like video, social sharing, ability to save properties using our Home File product, etc.

Excuse me? Did he really just say :

You’ll notice that these sites don’t have a number of the features that our site offers like video, social sharing, ability to save properties using our Home File product, etc

Sort of like saying -

You’ll notice that our broker’s sites are really second rate propositions that don’t have the features  our corporate site has so we think consumers will be OK with our limited property data set etc.

I understand the need to respond to the post which placed the Coldwell Banker Corporate site in a critical light. And I think  the point they made about the various IDX feeds around the country was  important in helping people to understand their strategy, though other national franchises felt differently and have met the challenge of providing more information to  the consumer.

But where the David makes a huge faux pass is when he denigrates the sites of the brokers that make up the Coldwell Banker system. In its core, the value proposition of any franchise must include a commitment to the reputations of the participants in their system – and that is the big #Fail in this interaction. In fact, the question to me becomes “If Coldwell Banker thinks such features are valuable to their consumers (and therefore their franchisees), why have they not equipped their brokers with those systems?”

I don’t know David Marine, and I have no feelings about him pro or con, nor do I have any negative feelings towards the Coldwell Banker Brand. You probably know that I am the CEO of CENTURY 21 Advantage Gold, and therefore have my own franchisor/franchisee stories. In fact, Mr. Marine  and Coldwell Banker get points in my humble opinion for reputation monitoring, and attempting reputation management by engaging with a blogger who wrote about their brand. However I think there may be a cautionary tale here for all franchises in responding to mentions in the web 2.0 world. You can’t be sure who is reading your response and how it may affect the reader. Therefore  greater thought needs to be given to the content of the response,  and additional emphasis on protecting the reputation of the franchisee and the value of the franchise tools provided to them while defending the corporate decision.

In other words guys – Don’t throw your brokers under the bus to make the brand strategy look better – in fact, don’t even look like you might be throwing them under the bus – its not going to be good for franchise sales.

In a recent post in RealTown, Mike Bowler wrote a post about change in the real estate industry that ended up being more about his preference of educational choices then it was about real change in the industry.

Mike asks the question “Are we at the crossroads where, all companies should just expect agents to go to where the education is being provided versus trying to be all things to all people? ” – and then goes on to say “I think the day of independent contractors depending on the brokerage for any education is nearly gone. Most business models cannot provide all that is needed and should not pretend to say they do.”

He points at the 4000 registrants at the Virtual ReBarCamp saying “it’s obvious that we can learn more from our peers around the country than we can within the 4 walls of an office”. Unfortunately that statement is really a “non-sequitur” – a Latin phrase meaning “it does not follow”. 4000 registrants for a free online experience doesn’t indicate anything more than “if its free its for me” is a philosophy of the masses. And any educator can tell you that the number of people that register has never had anything to do with the quality of the presentations or what the participants actually learned from the process. In fact, since people all learn differently, it would be almost a sure bet that there were as many people that learned nothing from the experience as there were that gained anything from a single channel experience like that.

I think Mike’s perspective may be a little skewed by his passion for some of the new collegial educational opportunities, and I can’t blame him for that. Like him, I’m a big fan of ReBarCamps (not so much on the virtual ones) because they (the real ReBarCamps) are conversations when they are done best – and those conversations are great learning experiences because we never know where they can go , or what we can get from them. The virtual ReBarCamp presentations were, by nature, planned presentations with limited participation from the community, and were in some cases sales pitches for the presenters rather than real educational experiences or collegial education.

As a forward thinking real estate person in a troubled market, change is desired, but is often not what we anticipate. I think some things will stay the same -

• I believe companies that are large enough will provide training to new agents, and opportunities for experienced agents to increase their skill sets.
  • As in the past, smaller companies will rely on third party tools and educational products to help them bridge the gap for their agents.
• REALTORAssociations  will continue to provide educational opportunities for their members through webinars, educational opportunities at conferences and business metings and through 3rd party providers like SMMI , the REALTORS Institute, REBAC, etc.
• National Franchises will provide training for the agents in the offices of their franchisees through a variety of distance learning programs as they are today,
• The best agents will still seek additional education wherever they can find it , and remember that they should always be seeking new educational opportunities.

Unlike Mike, I believe that independent contractors will continue to rely on their brokerages (among others) to provide them with educational opportunities, and that the brokerages will step up to meet those challenges. Though the additional opportunities for agents will continue to morph and change and take advantage of the newest ways to communicate, brokerages, franchise organizations, REALTOR Associations, and other educational providers will continue to provide educational opportunities for our industry. And that is more about commerce than it is about change.-

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In January I returned from the Inman Connect Conference and the ReBarCamp in New York City and had the opportunity to talk to people from all over the country about the real estate industry.

As is the case in a lot of conferences, there was substantial social interaction as well as business networking, but since its January and we’re all creatures of habit – the first question on everyone’s lips was “How did you do last year?”. My answer was always the same, “We’re doing better, but its still not where I want it to be”.

I had to leave the Inman Conference and return to Philadelphia because I had a meeting today with our company’s Sales Managers. In preparation I did a little research so we could talk about how to improve our company’s productivity for the coming year. And I received quite a shock. I found out that I had unwittingly told a little white lie – and because being truthful is really important to me  I want to take the opportunity to apologize right here and right now to my team at CENTURY 21 Adantage Gold.

When I checked the Century 21 corporate web site to see how our company had performed in the comparison to other Century 21 firms in the country, I found that what I thought was actually wrong – we were doing pretty well in a challenging market.;

1. We were in the Top 5 companies in Pennsylvania based upon the amount of Gross Commission earned,
2. We were in the Top 3 companies in Pennsylvania based upon the number of properties we sold.
3. We were in the Top 100 Century 21 companies in the entire country based upon the amount of Gross Commission earned, and
4. We were in the top 67 Century 21 companies in the entire country based upon the amount of properties sold (out of a system with thousands of companies across the United States)

I wasn’t really displeased with the reality, I am just upset that I spoke without having the facts at my disposal. I am really big about writing what you know, not what you think when it comes to blogging , and the same rule should apply to all of our communication. When we speak from impressions rather than facts, we create false impressions – not the least of which take root in our own thoughts impacting our actions and decisions.

As we approach the end of the Tax Credit (About 34 days are left for people to buy), I wonder what we will learn on May 1, 2010. Will we learn that the tax credit was supporting our current activity? Will we learn that the market has recovered enough for the spring to have a reasonable aactivity level of its own? Will we learn that there are enough investors buying homes again that the REO inventory will diminish? What is reality telling you in your market?

I wrote a post recently at AgentGenius about the need to write, even when you are afraid that you are not writing “War & Peace”. Today, in checking my recent posting history I recognized how much I’ve ignored this poor little blog.

Its actually pretty ironic since this is the place I wanted to write about the real estate industry and trends that affect it. Social media is obviously one of those trends. I thought perhaps, it might be time to write a little about what I’ve learned about social media and what social media has done to and for me.

And today I’m teaching a group of people at a CSM class in Cincinnati that they can fit blogging into their lives as easily as I finish this little post. Hope they actually try to do that when they’re ready.

In a recent search, I noticed a post by another brokerage firm about a relationship with RealtyTrac that was promulgated by their national franchise. .

It reminded me why I hate salespeople sometimes.

This post would indicate to a real estate consumer that the agent and firm had some benefit through the publication of their third party information, and that this would make them some kind of foreclosure experts. And while the writer is a pleasant enough person, and just trying to create a business advantage for themselves, its just nonsense, and its frankly misleading – though I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that it is unintentionally misleading.

I have been selling foreclosures for 21 years in Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester Counties, and for the past year or two also in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties in New Jersey. I have also been an active real estate investor for even longer than that, so I think that I would be considered an expert in the marketing, purchase and sale of foreclosure properties. From my experience I know that , for the most part third party relationships like the one touted by this broker don’t work. And I know that for the past 21 years, most of the calls from services like these that I received were from people that were calling on outdated properties that were published long after they were sold and settled.

Third party listings of foreclosures have a number of problems. As I mentioned, their information is often outdated.They often provide too much information seeming to provide value but muddying the waters for most consumers – for example “pre-foreclosure” data which is useless to most of their subscribers. The source of the information is not disclosed in many instances, and is therefore questionable. For real estate professionals, the third party information is less accurate than the Multiple Listing Service .

I understand the need for the third party company to sell subscriptions, and their right to advertise and boast about their services to do so. And I understand the need for the national franchise to create affiliate relationships to obtain income opportunities and to position themselves as providing value to their franchisees, I even understand the writer pimping this out as a benefit to the public – but it is indicative of their lack of understanding about the product and the foreclosure product that they even do so. It just burns me up that they are so busy posting something to appear at the front of the pack, that they don’t take the time to actually determine if it accomplishes that before they publish.

As salespeople I think we have an obligation to balance our need to market with the need to be genuine and transparent. Its too easy to lay claim to expertise when you’re writing alone in your home or office. Don’t just claim a position, have the position. Be the expert you claim to be – or claim to be the expert you are.

Tomorrow morning I fly out to Atlanta for ReTechSouth.

The conference has grown into a pretty substantial it event describing itself as;

A place where agents, brokers, lenders, builders and many other real estate industry practitioners could join together to collaborate on how technology can improve business

Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? And I’m very impressed by the people that will be speaking at the conference, Jeff Turner, Ginger Wilcox, Teresa Boardman, Kelley Koehler, Ines Hegedus-Garcia, Todd Carpenter, Joe Ferraro, Rob Hahn, a ton of other great speakers, and (less impressively) me.And, for people that really know their stuff, there is an opportunity to meet the real BoomerJack Boardman. Obviously, the level of information to be passed here is only surpassed by the multitude of awesome social networking rock stars (your author not included).

I’m very excited because I’m moderating the Cage Match of the Century – a ginormous stupendous spectacle of a debate between those two Web 2.0 giants, Joe Ferraro of Sellsius.com fame, and Rob Hahn A.K.A. The Notorious R.O.B. And you dear reader are going to hear about it first right here!

On Friday at ReTechsouth, Joe will be the Pasha of Positivity, arguing the Pro stand on every question while Rob (a usually bright pleasant and positive gentleman) will become the raging Ninja of Negativity! Based upon their thorough and exhaustive academic and practical backgrounds, they will enlarge the mind through their exploration of four important questions:

1. Should Agents Blog?
2. Is there a Place in Social Networking for Shameless Self-Promotion and Advertising?
3. Does Size Matter? AKA Your Importance in Social Media is determined by the size of your…. followers
4. Nobody needs a broker!

From the conference calls to set this up and choose our topics, to the emails we have exchanged, colored by my own opinion of these two smart guys, I anticipate a ton of fun and even more information. So if the idea of two attorneys fighting while moderated by a seasoned real estate broker (someone spilled pepper on me this morning) is at all intriguing to you , I hope you’ll be there when we kick it off Friday at 11 AM on the main stage.

Image via Wikipedia

I found this fascinating quote today:

There are basically two types of bloggers in the world – reporters and experts – and some people perform both roles (usually the experts, it’s hard for reporters to become experts, but it’s easy for experts to report).John Chow, Reporter vs Expert – Why Most Bloggers Are Stuck Reporting, Jan 2009

Most bloggers report facts or quote others because its easier to do that than it is to provide important expert information. That requires  expertise that is gained from education and experience, hopefully combined with the wisdom to apply both properly.

In the real estate business, we have tremendous expertise to share, and our business shows us that building relationships is the most important piece of building a succesful career.

The article goes on to say;

Experts enjoy the perks of preeminence, higher conversion rates because of perceived value, it’s easier to get publicity, people are more likely to seek you out rather than you having to seek others out, joint ventures come easier, etc… experts in most cases simply make more money and attract more attention.John Chow, Reporter vs Expert – Why Most Bloggers Are Stuck Reporting, Jan 2009

  So when you choose to blog, or twitter, or interact on Facebook, weigh the different paths you might choose. Do you want to be a commercial effort in the middle of a social enviroment? Or will you build more business opportunities by demonstrating to the world what an expert you are, so that they will be pre-disposed to do business with you?

I’ve made my choice – Good Luck with yours!

Twitter PR Strategy, originally uploaded by ogilvyprworldwide.

With the limited budgets of many real estate brokers and agents, Social Media is bcoming a place where you need to be if you want to increase your sphere of influence and obtain new business opportunities.

This chart, has a social media life of its own. Created to explain a strategy for use on Twitter, then posted to Flickr, it was given additional exposure on Facebook by Teresa Boardman of St. Paul. It then came to my attention (I am interested in almost everything that Teresa does or posts) and I am sharing it here with you on my blog.

So aside from clearly defining the great opportunity that Twitter presents to businesses and individuals, its own life and the path of its travel to your attention is pretty neat as well. Imagine if this were a piece of information with your name on it…

Image via Wikipedia

If you follow me in the world of social media, you know that I am a Twitter person. I listen, I comment, and I enjoy watching the stream This morning someone wrote “If Realtors are really successful, why are so many homes on the market. Either you can sell or you can’t. ”

I don’t understand what he is talking about, or the correlation of inventory with the impact of using a REALTOR. The purpose of selling a home through a real estate professional was never about just selling the home. It was about selling the home for the best price with the best terms possible, in a smooth and secure manner minimizing the risk of potential litigation.

In a market where demand outpaces supply (commonly referred to as a seller’s market) the need for a real estate professional is often less obvious because consumers confuse getting it sold with getting it sold properly (as I defined it above). And because of that confusion, the value that the professional adds to the transaction seems to be obfuscated by the market activity. (I know its a big word – I usually eschew obfuscation, but Google the word if you need to)

In a market where the supply outpaces the demand (commonly referred to as a buyer’s market) the seller’s need for the services of a real estate professional becomes more obvious because it is more difficult to find the qualified buyer to purchase the home for any price, let alone the best price for the seller. But that same price pressure often leads the seller to the mistaken impression that the best strategy is to sell the property without professional assistance to allow them more room to negotiate. But that doesn’t make the need for a REALTOR any less urgent, or the impact on the transaction of the professional’s services any less crucial.

In fact, I would suggest that the absorption rate of even the slower market would be negatively impacted by the removal of the REALTOR’s services. Perhaps the best analogy is that of a room that is dimly lit by a few candles. The argument made by my twitter bud seems to be that the poor lighting in the room is due to the presence of the candles, when without their illumination, the room would have been in deeper if not total darkness.

I don’t know why REALTOR bashing is so popular, except that it is always easy to bash a class of people. Professional goups are faceless and do not respond to small slights like these, and these unsupported statements, fallacious as they are, create untrue impressions in those who read them. And when the market is tough, and people seek to blame someone, faceless groups become an easy target.

So if you are a REALTOR, and struggle against a slow market in your area, be proud of the positive impact you have on the ability of your buyers and sellers to make the moves they need to make in their lives. And if you are a consumer, struggling against that same market, hold your agent accountable to do what they can, and to (perhaps as importantly) explain to you what they are doing and why, but don;t blame them for the vagaries of the marketplace, anymore than you should give them credit for the better marketplaces we have experienced.