Look beyond real estate for new ideas

An Air Force colonel's strategy for dealing with rapidly changing environments

BY GAHLORD DEWALD, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 Inman News®

Col. John Boyd image via Wikimedia Commons

Those of you who have seen me speak more than once have probably heard me make reference to the OODA Loop. OODA is an acronym of observe, orient, decide and act. As the name implies, the process is a loop. Once you have done something (act), you see what the results are (observe) and continue on through the loop again. Practiced well, it's a self-correcting system.

OODA helps us deal with rapidly changing environments, and everyone who is in business today is working in a rapidly changing environment.

The OODA Loop was developed by John Boyd, an Air Force colonel whose ideas were adopted by the Marines. OODA was made to help overcome the challenges of a constantly changing environment in which errors are far more costly than the errors any of us make in digital marketing.

This past week I was honored to have the opportunity to present at the Boyd and Beyond Conference at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va. This was two straight days of theory related to Boyd's work, sharing of stories from his life (given that he was an Air Force guy working most closely with the Marines, I'm sure you can appreciate that there were some very interesting stories) and examples in a variety of fields.

By all accounts, Boyd had an expansive appetite for ideas beyond his immediate discipline. This was confirmed by a review of his papers and books at the Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections during the conference.

Agents: Just say no to overpriced listings

Sellers often have unrealistic expectations about value of upgrades

BY BERNICE ROSS, THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012.

Inman News®

House of dollars image via Shutterstock.

Overpriced listings have always been the bane of the real estate business. Given the tough lending environment, there is no longer any wiggle room when it comes to pricing. If your sellers aren't willing to be realistic, even if they do get into contract, there's a high probability they will never close.

It used to be that placing a property under contract was the toughest part of the transaction. Tight credit and major changes in the appraisal process have made it exceedingly difficult for agents to close transactions. In fact, when it comes to the appraisal process, many agents are finding themselves in an entirely new world.

For example, in the past, if a property had high-quality upgrades such as granite countertops, custom wood cabinets, hardwood or marble floors, appraisers would normally upgrade the value of the property. Today, that is almost never the case.

Did Penguin eat your Google ranking? | Search algorithm changes could impact real estate listing syndication

BY BERNICE ROSS,  Inman News®

Search key image via Shutterstock.

Google recently made search ranking algorithm changes that will influence how easily potential buyers and sellers can find you online. Whether you are a brokerage or an agent who markets your real estate business online, staying on top these changes may require that you adjust your Web marketing strategy.

For the last two years I have been reluctant to touch our home page content, since RealEstateCoach.com was normally coming up in the No. 1 or No. 2 position on the three major search engines (Google, Bing and Yahoo) for our primary search term: "real estate coaching."