Transparent RE
Canaries in the Labyrinth
March 19, 2007 by REALonomics · Leave a Comment
The real estate, title and mortgage industries have a woven a complex catacomb of subterranian mine shafts. The shafts, although invisible from the surface, run deep and the relationships are complex. As the evidence begins to mount regarding alleged impropriety surrounding some of the real estate transaction practices of 2000-2005, REALonomics believes the problems will escalate.
For centuries, the coal mining industry has used a “low-tech” method for detecting deadly gas…canaries. Yes, it’s true. As mine shafts became deeper and more complex in their design, problems with ventilation resulted. The solution was to use canaries; birds highly sensitive to methane and carbon monoxide gas, to signal the miners that the danger in the labyrinth had reached terminal levels. The canaries are signaling danger and the miners are bailing out by the dozens, hundreds and even thousands.
Welcome to our Radically Transparent World
March 18, 2007 by pkitano · 2 Comments
Here’s my favorite quote from an article about how the bond trader has disappeared because the whole system of trading became transparent:
“You have a market that was completely dark for 200 years and instead of letting a little bit of transparency in there, they just opened the windows completely and all the shades and everything, and it was complete sunshine,” said Jeff Stambovski, a senior high-yield bond salesman.
Yes, real estate is finally beginning to see the light… in the ideal world, the consumer will finally see the process of their real estate transaction clearly without the machinations among the processors – the broker, the agent, the settlement services, etc. That’s just one part of my message – transparency is not limited to transactional transparency…
At Transparent Real Estate, I don’t expressly write only about real estate because finding transparency is a creative process that transcends industry. For example, there is a social sea change taking place in the form of personal transparency and “radical transparency“. Personal transparency is nothing more than the fact that the public now perceives it is acceptable to “expose” themselves, their personal data and their lives on MySpace and YouTube. Going further, “radical transparency” implies that personal transparency is inevitable and will in the future compel your children to upload their life details, academic work and resume in order to go to college or get a job. Radical transparency is evident in the new fad of Twitter, a mobile application that tracks people’s whereabouts and what they are doing, each minute if necessary.
Transparent Real Estate
March 16, 2007 by REALonomics · Leave a Comment
transparent
Merriam Webster defines it as (1) having the property of transmitting light without appreciable scattering so that bodies lying beyond are seen clearly; (2) free from pretense or deceit : frank; (3) easily detected or seen through : obvious; (4) readily understood; (5) characterized by visibility or accessibility of information especially concerning business practices.
REALonomics advocates transparency in all things Real Estate. Transparency is more than ethical, it’s paramount in the Consumer-Centric ERA.
What are the primary points of transparency that will help the industry improve its business models so that it is more “readily understood, easily detected and free of pretense…?” How does transparency impact our operating models? Can a transparent industry sustain meaningful ROI? Can we identify and accept the impediments to transparency and eliminate them?