Foreclosures and global and domestic consequences attached to the housing crisis are the focus of attention among industry thought leaders in Manhattan this week. The Inman Connect Conference in New York City is an annual assembly of 1,000 of the brightest minds in the real estate industry. Leadership in brokerage, trade association execs, vendors, and Wall Street investors meet this week at the industry’s leading confab and chart a course for the coming year.
Last year’s event concluded with an industry-wide challenge from Connect founder Brad Inman: “How can you use Web 2.0 to help distressed homeowners?”
The Great Real Estate Disconnect
Organized real estate outreach to distressed homeowners in 2007 was mostly self serving. Real estate trainers and schools jumped on the short-sale bandwagon with Webinars and seminars, pigeonholing distressed homeowners as “sellers” predicated on the assumption that circumstances leading to payment arrears preclude qualification for loan modification relief. I attended a Webinar early in the year with trainer Roger Butcher, who announced that he was a “certified loan modification” expert and told attendees that a mere 2% of distressed homeowners qualify for loan modification relief.
Butcher commenced a weekly training schedule with a stated goal to enlist 30,000 real estate agents in his own for-profit short sale corps. At the same time, nonprofits reported 65 – 75% success rates with loan modifications in hard hit cities like Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. In their training, the loans were the qualifying factors for modification, not the borrowers.
Answering The Call To Service
Inman’s challenge for the industry received attention online and offline in the course of the year in various ways:
The most stunning and dramatic event of the year occurred in October when Alex Perriello, chairman and CEO of the Reology Franchise Group, issued a clarion call for help in a letter to all of Realogy’s affiliated brokers and sales associates to announce a “Save the Dream initiative “to help our neighbors and local communities by trying to prevent as many foreclosures from occurring as possible.” Perriello followed with an announcement on the blog at newly launched Better Homes and Gardens.- RealtyTrac, the nation’s leading foreclosure search engine, provided data feeds to nonprofits and local government authorities to facilitate outreach programs to homeowners in default on their mortgages.
- Trulia launched Surviving the Housing Crisis microsite featuring blogs and questions and answers from the Trulia Voices community.
- Manhattan attorney and leading real estate blogger Joseph Ferrara proposed that the National Assn. of REALTORS add a pro bono provision to the REALTOR Code of Ethics. Joe and I presented this concept, coupled with foreclosure outreach, at the first Real Estate Barcamp in San Francisco in July.Voluntary Pro Bono Public ServiceEvery Realtor who is able has a professional responsibility to provide real estate related services, without compensation, to those unable to pay or of limited means. Every Realtor should aspire to render pro bono service on at least one (1) real estate transaction per year.
Petition To Help SAVE THE DREAM
I invite you to fill out the form PETITION: The Million REALTOR March To Save The Dream.
I hereby pledge to help at least one distressed homeowner KEEP his/her home in 2009 in the spirit of service. NOTE: REALTORS and non-REALTOR licensees are invited to participate in the march, as well as lenders, vendors, and others.
We have a choice in 2009. We can surrender to a troubled market or we can be agents of change.Change may have good traction this year. Let’s give it a shot!
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