Thanks for the complements. I checked out your blog too, good stuff. Would suggest not blogging so anonymously. ;)

I actually really enjoy doing these classes. I definitely learn more about REALTORS® and their specific culture. I don’t think there is anything wrong with real estate agents, they’re just people, no different from any other people. However, like any professional there are great ones, good ones and laggards.

What I do find fascinating is that more are focused on the dollar than the service. I’m not sure if this is from nature or nurture. I’m guessing a bit of both. I’m willing to bet that the top producers in real estate provide great service first and worry about the dollar second.

I’m also willing to bet that if more realtors treated their clients like how they would their grandma, the brand surrounding real estate agents would be more positive. That’s just a theory…

Secondly, about Zillow in Canada, I wouldn’t build it. I think you’ll be dead before you start. Data is too much in silos and getting it out is too expensive (time/money) for you to ever recover your cost. Something more radical than getting the listing data into a better UI is required for this country. A changing of minds rather than an improvement of technology.

I was reading a post you wrote in 2006 about zillow and the lack of a large real estate site in Canada besides the not so nice mls website. You write some great stuff.

When you said: “I don’t think most of the people in the room really care what Twitter or Facebook is, or why it is cool (or lame). What they really want to know is: How can I get more leads from the Internet?”, you couldn’t be more right. I think that is what’s wrong with some Realtors now. They just want leads, they don’t care how they get them and they don’t care about the great advantages of social networking. Do you ever get frustrated doing these classes?

Hey Benson, have you ever thought of creating a site like zillow for Canada? That would be an interesting article :) Keep up the great blog.

Yes I’m thinking of having a whole set of workshops from very basic to a lot more technical. I’m not too keen on talking about Internet 101, so maybe I’ll charge for those ones instead.

Not sure how many people will show up if the talks weren’t free. :)

The “secret words” is called a captcha. They make sure you are a real human being and not a robot. It prevents comment spam. I’ll mention this on Wednesday’s talk.

Thanks
Sylvia

Btw what’s this having to enter “secret words” below? I see it often