And the evolution taking place in real estate right now is quite violent as you wrote in your post. It may not be physically violent or even publicly violent, but it is very violent on many behind-the-scene levels nevertheless.

This post is an excellent segway (or vice versa) into “Barber Poles and Real Estate” by Marc Davison – http://www.1000wattblog.com/2009/01/barber-poles-and-real-estate.html. Being a mom or an “American Icon” does not guarantee you future success. In fact, it breeds ego, complacency…and eventually death.

New real estate brokerage and business models such as “White Label” brokerage are already here. The fact that big brokers have taken such notice and tried to squash them and put them out of business is the “violent” part of evolution in real estate.

Love the boiled frog analogy.

I liked Guns, Germs & Steel, although it really should have been named, “Importance of Wheat on Civilizations” or some such. His next book Collapsewas an atrocious piece of crap, though.

If you’re interested, I think Complexity is a great book about some of these topics.

-rsh

I feel that many of the larger brokerages are continuing to operate under the belief that their respective sizes and scales entitle them to success. This perceived entitlement puts them in the position of the Boiled Frog , and provides opportunity to those who are more nimble, innovative and open to change (frequently smaller brokerages with less overhead but less cash).

The competition is going to get more intense, but in the end the profession and consumer will benefit; the two keys are the willingness and ability to listen and then to adapt and implement new things.

Writing the best ad copy in three sentences or less was a highly marketable skill pre-internet (and it’s frustrating that most MLS’ tend to still have this limitation – presenting opportunity to the competitors).