Seven Minute Abs...

Do you remember the movie, ‘There’s Something About Mary?’ I’m sure you do. The Farrelly brothers “romantic” comedy certainly raised some eyebrows when it hit the big screen. One scene in particular, though, continues to stand out in my mind.

Ben Stiller’s character, Ted, picks up a hitchhiker to fight off boredom on his drive to Florida to visit Mary. Upon picking him up, the hitchhiker (played by Harland Williams) goes into detail about a great new video series that he has conceived.

Now, I laugh so hard I actually cry whenever I see this scene… Harland Williams plays “crazy” really, really well!

And the sheer lunacy of the dialogue between Ted and the hitchhiker about six-minute, seven-minute and eight-minute abs highlights what has been going on in real estate for a while.

It’s a Race Baby! A Race…to the Bottom

When competitors for your business simply compete on price alone, service suffers. Every single time. It’s a race to the bottom of the service barrel, and it’s a race that no one truly wins. As a consumer, you will be hounded by the thought that your agent gave up on their income way too quickly. And if the agent gave up that quickly when it affects them directly, how much faster will they give up on your interests in the middle of the transaction?

Even if you “win,” you lose.

But what if your real estate agent and their firm did business…

…uniquely…

…differently…

….successfully…

…and added value to their services, instead of simply charging less? Aren’t we all looking to extend the impact of our hard-earned dollars?

For too long, real estate brokerages and agents have over-promised and under-delivered. The only way to continue to draw new clients into the fold with this model has been to drop the cost of working with an agent.