Paranoia, the feeling that people are after you and out to get you, is rampant in Real Estate today. In mental health they say, "There's a little truth in all paranoia" and "Just 'cause you're paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't out to get you." Paranoids are out of touch with reality and in Real Estate paranoids are out of touch with Realty too. And if you don't believe me just check out Robert Butters article, "Avoid Paranoia, Embrace Innovation" in Inman News, 7/24/06.
Realtors; by our nature, training and experience; are paranoid. Everyone wants what we've got; everyone is out to get us; and these intruders don't even want to pass a state test with a 70. We're under attack by FSBO's and G-men and banks, Oh my! (G-men aren't Google Guys, but Department of Justice employees.) But does this justify all our flat-feers?
It's bad enough Realtors are compared to used car and Life Insurance salesmen, but Steve Levitt in Freakonomics, compares us to the Ku Klux Klan. Since Freakonomics has done so well, In Freakonomics II will Levitt compare us to Nazis?
What cabal? What cartel? My broker's office can't get our agents to come to our sales meetings, let alone an OPEC meeting. Where's Sheik, Sheik, Sheik; Sheik Yamani when we really need him? Don't we need to keep the FSBO's, the discounters and the money changers out of our temple?
We didn't like learning the computer, we still hate the Internet and now the Search Engines want to steal our data. Oh for the glory days, the days of the Realty Giants, when we had all the books with the big "CONFIDENTIAL" written on the cover.
We now have a name for our illness, Zillonoia. The fear that Search Engines, particularly Zillow, are after us and out to get us. Zillow already has data for all the street addresses in the US, why do they need our listings too? Will we be forced to advertise on Zillow? What if Zillow buys NRT, Home Services or RE/MAX? What if Zillow puts the "Z" back in "Zip Realty"? What if Zillow dumps the MLS and comes up with its own MLZ? Who would want to sell advertising on all the street addresses in the United States when you can sell 4 houses a year like the average Realtor?
Zillow uses other people's money and other people's data to steal other people's business. That must be illegal. Why does the Department of Justice look into that? Why can't Zillow go after the banks and make Zillions making Zilloans?
What is this Zillow Monster any way? Is it Zasquatch, the big hairy creature who comes out of the forests of the Great Northwest to eat our lunch? Are they Zombies, undead FSBO's returning from their graves to steal our commissions? Or is it GodZillow, the giant sea monster rising out of Puget Sound to have us for breakfast? Where are our Mike Ferry's, Tony Robbins and twin midgets telling us the top 10 ways to beat Zillow? That's one infomercial I'd pay for. But wait, there's more.
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