What’s Your Movement About? This past weekend, I attended a 3-day coaching program, which after 3 years of participating in the event, continues to stimulate me to action and to truly live my life. Bill Baren’s Big Shift Experience is the real deal. I am grateful to Bill and his team. Bill reminds us (me) that we all have responsibilities. Each one of us is responsible for doing our part to change the world. He asked, “so, what is your movement about?”. And I am reminded of mine this morning as I prepare to serve. To make it easier for my clients in... [Read more]
Predicting the Future is Easy! I will be speaking on this topic Sunday morning, March 17 at the Association Executives Institute (AEI) in San Diego. How the MLS of Tomorrow Affects Your Association Today Sunday, March 17, 10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. Art Carter, CEO, California Regional MLS, San Dimas, CA; Kevin McQueen, President, Focus Forward, Denver, CO and David Charron, President & CEO, MRIS, Rockville, MD The current threat to the future of MLS can affect the relevance of your association. Discover how MLS existence (or... [Read more]
Richard Haggerty and his team have been on the move since they merged three associations over the past 18 months. They are leading the way and showing all of us how to do it right. There is a logical and business-like “flow” to these type of opportunities for REALTOR(r) associations and MLSs. They chose to focus on the associations first. This resulted in one Board of Directors to make a series of good business decisions about how to best serve the members through MLS and other association services. In January 2012, the Members of the Westchester... [Read more]
Last week, Steve Murray of RealTrends and I spoke to a group of Brokers and others leaders in Indiana. We shared our views and many current trends, which Steve and I will continue to write about. I talked about what’s happening right now in Missouri and Washington State and it’s all pretty exciting. MLS leaders are moving to action. More to come. Here are some of Steve’s take-aways. Read More →
Leaders of REALTOR associations and MLSs have 3 options and it’s time to pick one. Over the holidays, I read “Flash Foresight” by Daniel Burrus, which I highly recommend. Burrus says, “predicting the future is easy … but predicting it accurately is hard”. Can you relate? He goes on to say that we are generally too focused on our current challenges (the housing market, difficult transactions, challenges in lending, etc.). Instead, he recommends that you think about the challenges and problems you are ABOUT to have next. If that is difficult,... [Read more]
Like so many of you, I have been thinking about how to make a bigger difference in 2012 by giving back to the real estate community. You have been so amazing and good to me for nearly 30 years and I want to do more. There has never been a better time to listen and understand the challenges so many leaders are facing right now, due to the big shifts taking place in organized real estate. My wife Sue and I give graciously to our church and other organizations throughout the year. In 2012, I will commit 10% of my time to giving back to the community by sharing my talents... [Read more]
30 leading REALTOR associations in South Carolina and Indiana are working together to identify new ways for reducing operating costs, balancing budgets and becoming indispensable to their members. This group represents a “cooperative” of 28,000 REALTORs (95%) across two entire states. REALTOR association execs and board members are well aware of the “value crisis” that is brewing. Membership is declining and so is income. Technology is moving faster than most association decision-making and the data, which used to be exclusive to the local MLS, is... [Read more]
Here are four questions that matter to most leaders in the real estate industry right now. Thanks to everyone for your interest and positive feedback about EMMS or Effective MLS Market Solutions. The program is designed to help Association and MLS Execs and leadership answer 4 questions that matter: 1. How can we reduce our operating expenses by working together? 2. How well do our current services meet our customers’ business needs? 3. How do our services compare with others in our market and across the country? 4. What should we do to help our brokers... [Read more]
Brian Larson and Kevin McQueen are very excited to introduce a new program. We call it Effective MLS Market Solutions or EMMS for short. EMMS The Effective MLS Market Solutions program will help MLS organizations by providing them with objective market analysis and identifying options for them to deliver more effective services to their brokers. At the conclusion of the EMMS program, you’ll meet with our independent consultants and receive an MLS Market Report laying out the results. This is a fresh new approach to addressing the challenges that many MLSs and their... [Read more]
