The San Francisco Experiment, Part 2

This is Part 2 in our recap of the brokerage think tank session that took place last week at Real Estate Connect. Read Part 1 here.

Following are the top three suggestions from our final two groups, which covered the brick and mortar brokerage of the future and the consumer experience this “ideal” brokerage would present.

Brick and Mortar

1. Boutique space. 900-1,200 sq. ft. with hoteling features for agents, decked out conference room, and a multi-use area for public access and events
2. Technology. An internal and secure broadband network for the agents as well as a public utility by way of free neighborhood Wifi anyone can access through a simple, broker branded homepage (What a great idea!)
3. Environmental. Apple Store meets Starbucks. Multi-media enabled.

Consumer

1. Agent scorecard. Like the back of a baseball card, agent profiles on the brokerage website would include stats detailing every single, double triple, HR and RBI by that agent along with any error (complaint to DRE), placing each agent into a very real, truthful and transparent context for the consumer
2. Digital paperwork. Move it all online from open to close
3. Flexible commission structure. Consumers would be given a choice of services and levels of expertise to choose from along with a buffet of charges for both

Summation

In just over thirty minutes, 50+ agents, bloggers, brokers, journalists, vendors, CEO’s, attorneys and consultants sat around a room and and cooked up dozens of ideas for a new brokerage model.

As co-moderator, I was moved by this event beyond these findings. My takeaway had to do with the experience itself and the great things that can happen when:

? Competitors collaborate
? Strangers collaborate
? Members of an industry are forced to think differently
? A conference of Connect’s magnitude assembles diverse members of the industry and provides a facility for the partnering, thinking and creative expression.

A generous thank you to everyone who came to this session!

For more on this event go to CleanSlateBlog.

– Davison