This week our culture hit a milestone with the 25th anniversary celebration of the Back to the Future Franchise. Since this is at the top of my favorite silly movie list, I had to think back., to speculate how things could have been.
What it Marty McFly never met Doc Brown? Would he have lived a quiet life, so eloquently designed by the Cleavers, Ward and June? Think about it, kids off to school, newspaper read and a second cup of coffee down, dressed in a tweed suit, the business man, would be off to work. After all, it is completely conceivable, that a teenager with such awkwardness and street smarts would be the perfect candidate to open MARTY MC FLY REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE. Right? I mean he would be the consummate entertainer for Realtor functions! With guitar in hand, he and The Pinheads would “rock the house!” Right?
Stay with me!
It was 1985, new coke was replacing the 99 year old recipe for COKE (check your history books, but it seems this did not work out). Back then a postage stamp cost 22 cents and The Cosbys was the Number 1 TV show. Selling real estate was not a career but an “event.” Back then, one man with a plan could dominate the real estate market. He needed a sign and a local newspaper, after all, newspaper readership was at an all time high. It was not until 1990‘s, that readership and circulation began to decline. Back in the 80’s the all-important DOM was foreign acronym. Houses “sold right away or stayed on market forever!” The mls was a teletype in the big cities, and a telephone in the smaller communities!
It was indeed, a simpler life. It was so simple in fact, that Marty McFly only needed to follow this 10 step buyer process:
- Marty washed his car, it is his most important tool!
- Marty shows buyers all the houses they want to see, after he “qualifies” them on his fancy calculator
- Buyer “picks”
- Marty writes contract, and I do mean “writes”. No problem, it is only one page long!
- Contract accepted!
- Buyer meets loan officer (probably Doc Brown)
- Loan officer gets buyer’s credit report approx 2 weeks after contract signed.
- Closing (approx 8 weeks later)
- Marty keeps it to himself that he worked for the seller, “cause the seller paid him!”
- PAYDAY-- usually the day after the closing approx 60% of the commission!
Analysis: A day in the life of Marty McFly (circa 1985 ish) is not for me! Ok, to be fair, maybe I just would not have aspired to work with buyers. Marty's plan for a seller appears a little more defined:
- Marty always puts a sign in the yard of all sellers (he wants the calls)
- Seller names price based on his “need.” Marty takes the listing anyway because it is a “known” fact that “he who controls the listings, controls the market.” The general consensus was “put up as many signs as possible.”
- Marty worked for the seller because “seller paid him.”
OK, I just gotta say it, because somebody has to . . . thank goodness for information and technology, and the ease it has brought “back to our future”; thank goodness for Edina Realty, for taking the punishment and bringing our industry “Into the Future”, and lastly; thanks to NAR for continuing to take our profession “forward for a better future.”
Just me, but I think Marty McFly would be proud!
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