An idea we toss around in meetings is that we, as real estate agents, have to stand out. And that means doing something memorable. However, it has to stand out in a good way — potential clients should not be thinking “Now that was dumb!” And it doesn’t matter how much the thing you did stands out if nobody can remember who you are. I wrote this article (reprinted below) 3 years ago, and it’s still true. We talk about giving away “items of value” to our potential clients. Items have no value in the trash. Revisions in italics.

This week [in Mid-December 2004] I received marketing materials from two competitors. Realtors, in fact.

One was a plastic bag, left by my front door while I was away. As paranoid as people are about terrorism, he should consider it a victory that I brought this bag inside at all as opposed to calling the local bomb squad. It contained a “complimentary luminary kit” (that’s a candle and a paper bag), a phone list for local ski lodges, and contact information. I do not know this Realtor. I have never heard of him, and will likely never hear from him again. He has spent quite a bit of time and money putting these little bags out around the neighborhood. There is nothing in this bag that will remain in my home next week — except maybe the candle [which does not have his name on it].

In short, I will not be calling this man, and I certainly won’t be generating a commission for him.

The other item was mailed to me by the Realtor who helped me purchase the very house I sit in [I have since moved]. It is a desk calendar. It is neutral in decor, nice and heavy, and has a little pocket in the front cover with 2 of his business cards. Not only is this item likely to sit on my desk all year — incidentally keeping his contact information handy — I am likely to give one of the business cards away to someone who needs a Realtor. This might have cost more than a paper bag and a candle, but I think it’s better marketing.

Odds are very good that even if I don’t buy or sell a house in 2005, I will generate future revenue for this Realtor. [He helped me sell that house too. It was only on the market 8 days!]

It is almost impossible to run a successful business without some kind of marketing. When considering your marketing options, be sure to pay attention to the return on your investment.

Approval was granted today for the largest hotel tower in the world, 1,064 feet high, with 5,000 rooms and 800 condos. Oh, and a 250,000 square foot casino, and all the meeting space and retail establishments that people have come to expect from a grand, Las Vegas casino resort!

This project is so big that it required the approval of both the county and the FAA.

When all is said and done, there will be jobs building that tower. And then there will be jobs — Deutsche Bank figures 2.5 workers per room — working in that tower. And those people will need to buy groceries and get services in the community. An MIT study estimated that 5,000 new hotel rooms could generate 60,000 jobs!  And that does not account for jobs in the gaming industry, one of Las Vegas’s biggest economic sectors.

It’s a good time to relocate to Las Vegas. It’s a good time to open a business here too.

A new study released today lists the top metropolitan areas in terms of “walkability”. Las Vegas came in ranked at number 20. It is almost certain that the Strip and the sidewalks and trails within Master Planned Communities contributed to this ranking. As more pedestrian-friendly mixed-use developments are completed, moving to Vegas will mean even more opportunities for those who like to take a stroll, a brisk walk, an invigorating hike, or a multi-mile run!

When you come visit me to pick your new house or condo, be sure to bring walking shoes!

I have a love-hate relationship with the writings of Barbara Ehrenreich. She has a knack of starting with a good idea, some decent research, a clever insight.  And then, almost without fail, she goes off a rhetorical cliff.

Take for example, her essay called “What’s So Great About Gated Communities?” If you only have patience enough for one sentence, let it be this one:

But all these places suffer from the delusion that security lies behind physical barriers.

You will not catch a real estate professional — not even an apartment leasing agent — refer to a “security gate.” If she is particularly cynical, or just trying to make up for the fact that the property does not have one, she might call it a “False Sense of Security Gate,” because that is what it gives most people.  She will usually call it a gate, or an “access gate,” and that reveals its true purpose:  to grant access.

What?  Don’t you want the postman to have access to the mailbox?  Don’t you want the UPS and FedEx man to have access so they can deliver things you have ordered? Wouldn’t you want your invited guests to have access so they can make it to your front door?  And, if you had an emergency of some sort, wouldn’t you want police cars and ambulances and fire trucks to have access?

The truth is that there are many people that you want to have access.

Because there are many people that we do want to have access, it is almost impossible to reliably keep out those we wish to deny access. Who is to say whether the man in the white panel van is the “discreet handyman” hired by the lady two blocks over, or someone wishing to steal your television?  How about the man in the expensive SUV here to visit “The Smiths”?  Can you be sure no well-meaning contractor or gate monitor will let in someone who “looks like they belong”?  That a “bad guy” can’t possibly slip in behind a legitimate resident of the community before the gate closes?  And this completely discounts the ability of a sufficiently motivated young person to hop or climb over an inconveniently placed fence. Gates only keep out people who want to be kept out.

What a shame Ms. Ehrenreich had to ruin her perfectly good essay with a paragraph about the role of fences in war, oppressive regimes, and illegal immigration.