Thank you for the insights, Pam. I think something that’s motivating me quite a bit is how even in the Internet Age, the so-called Age of the Consumer, brand loyalty is stronger than ever. If anything, as offerings proliferate thanks to the power of the Web, I feel that consumers are desperate to find a trusted brand for various aspects of their lives.

Just look at how consumers look at Apple.

The counter-intuitive thought I have is that as information simply explodes, and access to info becomes commonplace, consumers will turn more and more to trusted brands to help them make sense of all that info.

Great independents like Kris can’t ever be eliminated, in any business. Even in CPG’s, you’re going to find the niche companies offering unique, specialty products to certain segments. But neither do independents drive wholesale industry change — at least, not without becoming one of the Big Boys in the process.

I think some of the current generation, and certainly many of the next generation, of leaders in Big Real Estate will drive the sort of change that the industry needs. Like Sherry says, go big or go boutique.

But boutiques don’t change the world. Big does.

-rsh

PS: Now, if you get a large number of boutiques together, then you’ve got The Swarm, and they can change the world….

Thank you for the insights, Pam. I think something that’s motivating me quite a bit is how even in the Internet Age, the so-called Age of the Consumer, brand loyalty is stronger than ever. If anything, as offerings proliferate thanks to the power of the Web, I feel that consumers are desperate to find a trusted brand for various aspects of their lives.

Just look at how consumers look at Apple.

The counter-intuitive thought I have is that as information simply explodes, and access to info becomes commonplace, consumers will turn more and more to trusted brands to help them make sense of all that info.

Great independents like Kris can’t ever be eliminated, in any business. Even in CPG’s, you’re going to find the niche companies offering unique, specialty products to certain segments. But neither do independents drive wholesale industry change — at least, not without becoming one of the Big Boys in the process.

I think some of the current generation, and certainly many of the next generation, of leaders in Big Real Estate will drive the sort of change that the industry needs. Like Sherry says, go big or go boutique.

But boutiques don’t change the world. Big does.

-rsh

PS: Now, if you get a large number of boutiques together, then you’ve got The Swarm, and they can change the world….

What BHG brings for agents is an understanding of real estate, customer service, agent behavior in a new consumer centric model. BHG is far more likely to succeed as a brokerage than companies who are skilled at driving visitors to their web sites and try to make the transition to a brokerage.

In some respects getting visitors is a commodity. The brokerage brand is built on far more than just raw visitors.

What BHG brings for agents is an understanding of real estate, customer service, agent behavior in a new consumer centric model. BHG is far more likely to succeed as a brokerage than companies who are skilled at driving visitors to their web sites and try to make the transition to a brokerage.

In some respects getting visitors is a commodity. The brokerage brand is built on far more than just raw visitors.

Great points, all of them, Louis — I wouldn’t have expected any less from you.

Having said that, here’s what I wonder: Did the folks at Benchmark Capital really think that Zillow was going to make scads of cash doing just advertising? The only way that works out is if you end up taking the lead-dog position in the vertical search space.

And for what it’s worth, I’m suggesting that the IAC and Trulia and Zillow and all these guys — including HomeGain, incidentally — are not yet setup to do virtual brokerage. But to get setup that way doesn’t take millions of VC dollars; it takes fairly minor additions and bizdev deals. The big dollar capital expenditures have already been made.

Getting brokerage licenses is certainly no barrier. Recruiting agents is a big deal, but not rocket science and very much in-line with how various companies try to recruit agents to be advertisers.

I suppose one way to look at it is, if you’re a VC and you’ve sunk $50m into some real estate website, do you just write it off? Or do you maybe strongly suggest that said real estate website look at virtual brokerage as a monetization model given the weakness of brokers and major brands to compete effectively?

Who knows… since as I said, I do renounce the whole approach. But I think it’s going a step too far to suggest the model can never happen.

-rsh

Great points, all of them, Louis — I wouldn’t have expected any less from you.

Having said that, here’s what I wonder: Did the folks at Benchmark Capital really think that Zillow was going to make scads of cash doing just advertising? The only way that works out is if you end up taking the lead-dog position in the vertical search space.

And for what it’s worth, I’m suggesting that the IAC and Trulia and Zillow and all these guys — including HomeGain, incidentally — are not yet setup to do virtual brokerage. But to get setup that way doesn’t take millions of VC dollars; it takes fairly minor additions and bizdev deals. The big dollar capital expenditures have already been made.

Getting brokerage licenses is certainly no barrier. Recruiting agents is a big deal, but not rocket science and very much in-line with how various companies try to recruit agents to be advertisers.

I suppose one way to look at it is, if you’re a VC and you’ve sunk $50m into some real estate website, do you just write it off? Or do you maybe strongly suggest that said real estate website look at virtual brokerage as a monetization model given the weakness of brokers and major brands to compete effectively?

Who knows… since as I said, I do renounce the whole approach. But I think it’s going a step too far to suggest the model can never happen.

-rsh