Real Estate Association Consultant, specializing in leadership training, strategic planning and implementation, and in association structural audits. Background: 30 years as CEO of the Traverse Area Association of Realtors, winner of NAR awards for excellence and service.
There's a lot of difference between understanding the legal business environment and learning to use a computer system with which you are already familiar.
Bruce, your first two paragraphs are right on...disintermediation is a fact of life, in real estate and in other business sectors as well. But as for how the industry will deal with it, you assume that trade associations can somehow shape the future. They can't. Their target market is the paying customer, and services will be based on the largest segment of paying customers--a fact of economic life in the US. However, the answer isn't all that easy, either. The largest segment may be larger offices/franchises, but that also may not be the first allegiance of the target market either: it could be the younger practitioners, the technology skilled members, or a variety of other demographics. And it's pretty clear from a variety of studies that the younger generation does not have the employer loyalty that the older age groups have. They will make choices based on quality of life, family, time, and other primary needs. Brokers large and small will have to accommodate this characteristic in order to keep this age group happy and loyal. So brokerage size isn't, I think, the issue. Nor is the ability of the association to make directive choices in the industry future. And none of the outcomes will be much influenced by our wishful thinking.
