My visible friend, Kris Berg, recently posted an interesting article about how strongly she feels about doing her own blogging, and not doing Walmart style real estate, serving clients directly, and other similar ideas.  I find that article a handy springboard for today’s I ain’t gonna publish MLS statistics no-more no-more (at least till tomorrow) rant:  Johnnie’s love-hate relationship with real estate.

I hope Kris will remain my visible friend once she reads the dastardly revelations in this post.  I’m pretty sure she will.  First of all, if blogging is indeed group therapy, as Kris claims, then I have to be honest, or it won’t work.  At least I think that’s how you’re supposed to do group therapy.

Anyway, with this in mind, I’d like to “share something” that’s been “on my chest”.  “Let go your pain, and gain strength from the sharing…”  “You’re Vulcan???”  Oh wait, that was a movie.
Anyway, here’s my big revelation.  I love doing Walmart style real estate.  Let’s face it, I’m a total mercenary.  I think that getting to be a rainmaker, out here on the Internets (as Monseiur Colbert calls them — I mean “it”) is the best thing you can do.  Then when a home buyer or seller comes in, let a friendly and competent colleague do the work and get 75% of the commission, with a nice tasty 25% referral to Johnnie for typing his fingers to the bone.  I love Walmart.  I want to have Walmart’s babies.

Ich bin ein interloper.

My ex-interloper boss, Dave Liniger, probably has a guy like me in mind when he talks about interlopers and interceptors.  And I do admire what Dave’s trying to do — passing along “free” leads to his agents.

Of course, let’s take this in context — REMAX is a broker like other brokers, and the free leads you get at REMAX cost you your split (or association fee, or what have you), so they’re not really free.  I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.  Dave is a fellow mercenary, and he’s clearly more successful at mercernarying than I am.  I am, after all, a soldier of misfortune.

Now where the heck was I?  Oh yes, I love Walmart.  I got a lead, you got a car, let’s make some money!  I want to grow up to be Walmart.  I want to have Walmart’s babies.

One problem with my Walmart business model is that it relies at least in part on a third party eight hundred pound gorilla, who for any given web venture may or may not decide I’m worthy of some banana.

But hey, no job is perfect.  But in what other job could you have as much fun as I’m having now, doing what I’m doing now, dressed as I am, with the commute I didn’t have?

I may have discovered my calling.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 24th, 2006 at 10:37 am and is filed under Odd Lots. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.