Thanks for your insight. I think that much of what you said is "common" sense, but I think there are some good nuggets in there for me to explore further. I think the difference between a Gen X / Y agent (or consumer) and an older agent is that the younger generations realize that real estate technology is constantly evolving. There is no off the shelf solution. You can't take a class, get the "certification" and call it good. Knowing that, I'm always game for tweaking the program so that I get a little closer all the time.

Sorry for the delay – been away in Boston all weekend.

To your questions:

Top 5 thinks I change about my
agent.

Well, I use a few different agents and since I aim high, I feel there is nothing I would change about my agents. Individually, they represent the epitome of professionalism.

The top 5 things an agent can do to knock my socks off.

1. Stop telling me this is a great time a to buy. I don't care if its true or not, it just seems cheesy and a bit callous considering all the folks currently losing their homes to foreclosure.

2. Provide me with monthly market reports (ala Altos Research) that are simple and easy to understand and offer me a full understanding of what's happening locally in a glance.

3. Contact me every time there is a major shift in real estate and inform me of what that shift is and how it can positively or negatively affect my holdings. The agent who sold me the home I live in has not contacted me once in the last 3 years.

4. Get rid of their old websites. The real estate online superhighway looks more like a Cuban back alley. Agents need new sites with a good UI and a killer search tool (Terabitz or Diverse Solutions) and include gobs of local data.

5. Shoot video for their entire area and post it to a blog in an effort to segue the real estate conversation beyond search and get down to the real nitty gritty and answer the bigger question – Is this the place I want to live?

The five things my agent can do to make my life easier.

I actually don't think it's the agent job to make my life easier. But there are things they can do to make the transaction easier. That list would include:

1. Respond to my emails and phone calls immediately

2. Stop marketing themselves and spend more time learning how to market the home. I'd like to see my future listing agent build a blog around my home and allow me access to the back end so I can post content to it as well as get involved in any conversation that takes please.

3. Become better briefed on where all the opportunities are to post my home for sale and build a strong case why spending marketing dollars in print makes no sense.

4. When marketing my home, take photos of my neighbors homes as well so viewers online don't have to wonder if my place is situated next to a pig farm or crack den.

5. Prepare a very clear and distinctive presentation and explain to me how they are different from all the other agents out there in ways that really make sense otherwise, be very willing to negotiate their commission.

Top 5 things tech companies have figured out that agents have not:

1. How to create a brand
2. How to think outside the herd mentality
3. How to address simple needs through technology
4. How to use data and content properly
5. How engage the consumer

How about the top 5 things a real estate agent can do differently to knock your socks off?

The top 5 things you would change about your current real estate agent?

The top 5 things your agent could do to make your life easier?

The top 5 things tech companies are doing that real estate agents haven't figured out yet?

For gen x , gen y consumers- What are your 5 hot button issues? This agent is listening.

Same ads on properties but also, same ads about themselves.

Open any weekend section of any paper and carbon copy advertising based on unsupported claims of bravado and ego.

Real estate is a service. The agent is not the service. They are facilitator of a service.

Readers – what do you think is easier to sell yourself or a list of ten amazing things your firm can do for me?

I don't stay at the W Hotel because their receptionists are pretty. Or kind.
I stay because the beds are amazing. Because the Bathroom supplies are Bliss products. Because W's feel like apartment buildings rather than high traffic hotels. Because when they say, they can get me whatever I want whenever I want…they can.

I stay because each time I do, I get points. Lot's of them. And as a result, my upcoming vacation in Hawaii will include a suite for 7 days paid for entirely by points.

Who offers points in real estate? Who delivers me Bliss products? Who caters to my needs wherever, whenever? Who has the tools, the technology, the goods to make my experience amazing?

These are the things that matter. They didn't teach this in the 50's. the 60's. The 70's. 80's. 90's or now. Most of your real estate gurus coaches are teaching the same simple things they did in the 80's.

My advice – Fire em. Done. They can do you no good.

Hire someone with a degree in the field. Who care if they never sold real estate. Trust me, you do not need to be an agent or broker to know how to market, advertise and brand. In fact, by my observation, the less you know about real estate, the better.

- Read books.
- Subscribe to Brand Autopsy.
- Read Ad Age.
- Work with people who have worked at Ad Agencies.
- Google. You can learn more in one night of reading.
- Click the branding section of 1000wattblog.

It's time to destroy what doesn't work and tap into what does.

Now for my rant!
As far as these findings relate to the Real Estate market -It is difficult if not impossible to have realtors understand the situations your write about, let alone change their business model. Many realtors are in a 1950's paradigm around how they understand their product and their audience. I am in Denver, I am an investor and I do design/build- The vast majority of realtors I deal with advertise virtually all of their product for sale over and over and over again as if it is the very same piece of property they have always sold. Also, they behave as if they are always selling the same property to the very same proto-typical couple or family they have always sold to. They are doing exactly the same with their audience that CBS did with their audience for Jericho- totally mis – reading them. (Perhaps this is one of many reasons that recent pols show the American public trusts Realtors about as much as they trust Lawyers. )

This outdated business model practiced by most realtors hurts the market and it shorts buyers and sellers. There are tremendous tools to use to change this outdated model and the Realtors who get this will be the leaders in tomorrow's market.

It's Gen Y that drives Prius. It's Gen Y that is spearheading Green and focused on our environment. It's Gen Y who wants us out of Iraq. It's Gen Y who is the next major consumer group.

Boomers need to stand up and take this very seriously.

Fantastic article as usual. I especially like this article because I -am- Gen Y, at 23, and have been in real estate since I turned 18. I've watched this business tumble, pick itself up and tumble again.

Now everyone is looking to Gen Y to figure out what we want and who we are. I almost feel like an insider by being apart of this generation.

Who we are explains what we want. We're social and mobile so every aspect of our life reflects that. I download tv shows & movies from iTunes (and other sources) to play on my iPhone while I'm at the gym.

Out in the field I use my phone to look up properties, share school reviews and reply to emails out of the office.

I text message (and receive text messages from) clients almost as often as emails.

But here's where you really hit the nail on the head:

My parents work, come home, eat, watch tv and go to bed.

I work from home, eat, follow up with clients, go out, come home and finish work later. There are no "work hours" for me.

To missing: We're not stealing, we're sharing. Generations before ours did it too. Surely we cannot forget recording tv shows and movies to VHS and songs from the radio on cassettes.

Open source software has never been more popular. You can thank Gen X/Y for that.

Generation Y doesn't want everything for free but we do have much higher expectations of the quality of products and services we spend money on.

The way the majority of agents conduct and market their business is tragic and real estate in its current form is as good as dead 10 years from now.

It's all about efficiency, reasonable cost and quality service. I'm not afraid of paying BMW prices to get BMW service but I'm absolutely not going to pay BMW prices for KIA quality and service.