Why ask Y

Interesting panel this afternoon. Three Gen Y guys, including one
recent homebuyer, and one Realtor -- a broker yet! Why ask "Y"?
Because Realtors are as self conscious about their age as any fat guy
with a radical comb-over deserves to be. They worry greatly about
losing touch with the upcoming group of young clients. There was a
lot of talk of all sorts of threatening Gen Y technology. Stuff like
blogs, Second Life, Web 2.0 (and how long do you think it would take
before someone started talking about Web 3.0?).

Question to the Gen Y homebuyer: Why did you choose to buy through a
real, live, flesh and blood Realtor? Uhhh... 'cuz, you know, like,
my sister's a Realtor. He described a process of searching for stuff
on the internet to get an idea of what was out there, then contacting
sis. Duh, what did people think? He met a sexy avatar at Second Life
who sold him a virtual three bedroom split-level? Question: Why did
you decide to buy a place? Uhhh... well, I figured it was better
than renting, that's what my sister said, and I wanted to move out of
my parents' place. There was an interesting QnA for young homebuyer:
Why would you choose a younger Realtor than an older one? Well, I'd
wanna help them out. I thought that was nice. Anyway, all
reasonable answers, but the surprise was that there was nothing very
surprising.

The really cool guy was Zak, who became a Realtor (then a broker)
rather than go to college. Question: So do you have a Second Life
site? Nope. Use instant messaging? Hate it! How important are
designations to you? What are designations?

Zak's most interesting suggestion was to DOUBLE association dues. He
figures that would half the membership and get rid of the guys that
weren't serious. He felt associations provided great value.
Education was a biggie. He wanted to learn more, and become more
professional, like doctors and lawyers. He also liked the political
work done by the association. But really practical stuff. He
wouldn't be able to post "for sale" signs without the association's
effort in getting the City of Ft. Lauderdale into allowing him to do so.

I liked Zak, and I think everyone did. How did he succeed at such a
young age? Hard work, integrity, and professionalism. That's an old
formula, and it works for pretty much everything. So no tech
shortcuts revealed at this session...