I stumbled upon a real estate business related job posting the other day. Here is a portion of the ad.
Are you passionate about building ground-breaking consumer businesses? Can you dream big while drilling down to execute on tactical details? Do you want to reinvent an old industry and delight millions of people shopping for a new home? Would nurturing mission-critical new ventures with a smart, dynamic team get you fired up?
Before I tell you what company has this ad posted, a few things stick out. The phrase “ground-breaking consumer businesses.” I think we loose sight what our business is all about, the consumer. Is there anything ground breaking about your business? The next thing that sticks out, "do you want to reinvent an OLD industry and delight millions of people shopping for a home?” Sometimes the truth hurts. Real Estate is an old business that has not changed and kept up with the times. Name another major industry that hasn’t changed and progressed in the last 50-60-70 plus years?
There is no doubt in my mind if we don’t embrace change in our industry and start innovating, someone else will. They already are. We have to provide a better experience for the consumer, bring more value to the table, and use our knowledge to position ourselves better.
While the real estate industry is fighting about IDX, who has rights to what, how we are going to protect ourselves, why we are worth what we charge, commission splits, and countless other things, people are giving consumers what they want.
Oh yah, the above ad was posted on the Zillow.com website. You can see the full posting here. http://zillow.hrmdirect.com/employment/view.php?req=60228&
One more parting thought. How long before Zillow or a similar website becomes the new National MLS? How important would IDX be then? What MLS rules would there left to fight about?