- Frog Pond, a leading industry eNewsletter recently interviewed CEO Glade Jones.  The original link can be found  here.  We have reprinted the interview below.  -

Interviewed by FrogPond Glade Jones, CEO and president of Obeo Inc., has been actively working and leading out in the real estate industry for the last 15 years. He has served as president of Calute Homes, a homebuilding and land development company in Salt Lake City, Utah, as well as the vice president of Blackburn Jones Real Estate and Development. A lifelong entrepreneur, Glade started what is now Obeo Inc. in 2000 to make the process of finding and personalizing a home more effective and rewarding. Obeo does this by bringing state-of-the-art dream-expanding tools to a potential buyers online home search experience. Glade has an undergraduate degree and an MBA from Brigham Young University where he graduated magna cum laude with distinction.

As an “industry visionary”, what do you see as the major changes occurring in the real estate industry?

More information. Players will come on to the scene from other industries to provide the consumer much more information about foreclosures, market statistics, neighborhood profiles including community, school and relocation information; and crime statistics. All of this data will be at the consumers fingertips without necessarily having to use a REALTOR.

More virtual reality in the new-home search. Think Google Earth but down to the actual property; only the future, with Obeos help, will not only allow you to view the property but also virtually remodel the property. The consumer will not only see the home the way it is but also the way they would redecorate and personalize it. Consumers will be able to repaint, add new floor coverings, remodel the kitchen etc. Coupled with these tools is the capability to calculate how much return on investment certain changes or combinations of changes will bring about.

Virtual neighborhood tours. It will be entirely possible for a buyer to visit schools, neighborhood parks and to walk the neighborhood, looking at every storefront.

Paperless transactions. As buyers experience more virtual reality and narrow their options, the transaction itself will be done completely online. According to the California Association of REALTORS, the average Internet buyer is moving 250 miles from their existing location. The world is getting smaller and the real estate industry is seeing the same thing.

These changes are all centered on what makes buying or selling real estate profitable, convenient and easy. Information is no longer king; the consumer is. No matter how you stack it, if youre not consumer-centric working where the consumers mindset is youre going to lose. The last 10 years have taught us that the consumer is going to gravitate toward the most efficient process. Real estate is no different, and we have seen that already.

The MLS is not nearly as powerful as it once was. One group doesnt monopolize all of the information. Its now widely available from many different sources. The real estate community needs to become more relevant with more offerings to make the experience more valuable. Consumers identify with products and services that will help them achieve a more fulfilling experience from the time they start researching real estate, to listing, selling and/or buying a home, through the personalization stage and the home sweet home stage until the cycle starts all over again it is a cycle, not a transaction. The more that an agent or broker can be relevant in making that cycle an experience, the more valuable they will become.

What can you add to that to make sure you stay in the center of that transaction and dont become disintermediated? The industry needs to provide more virtual experience instead of having another, competing company come in and do it, which just makes the value of a traditional agent decrease even further. Obeo has positioned itself to help keep that broker and agent valuable throughout the whole home ownership cycle.

What major “corporate players” are driving change and what may be their impact?

One of the forces Obeo and other companies are tapping into is the enormous amount of consumer purchasing energy generated around the home ownership transaction: putting consumers in touch with financial services and other consumer product brands further upstream of where they are typically introduced to these products and services. Corporate players driving change have found a niche in this space.

Though obvious, it bears repeating: Google and Google Earth are huge here. They have taken search technology and interactive mapping and presented information to the consumer in a more intuitive way. They have really leveled the playing field between gatekeeper and consumer.

With so many emerging markets and the huge transfer of wealth that will continue to occur as baby boomers retire, who will best address these opportunities? RE/MAX has begun to by hosting a national IDX site, which disintermediates REALTOR.COM. Zip Realty is another. Zips Web site beats everyone elses in certain markets because consumers can do anything they want: rate houses, pull comps, save favorites and use any number of interactive tools at the expense of those companies who are still providing one or two pictures and a few details on their Web sites.

Fidelity National has had a huge impact by helping regionalize the MLS through its data and services. Additionally, the Houston Association of REALTORS is at the forefront with its public MLS search sites. Other leaders in transactional management include Stewart Title and First American Bank.

Finally, big-box retailers such as Lowes, Wal-Mart and The Home Depot will have an even bigger impact when they open their first brokerage, which is a question of when, not if. All of these companies and their innovations beg the question: How relevant is the National Association of REALTORS going to be in 10 years?

Who are the “individual trendsetters” that are shaping the future real estate industry?

Ed Krafchow, president of the tri-state consortium of Prudential California Realty (PCR), Prudential Nevada Realty (PNR) and Prudential Texas Properties, comes to mind. Ed has instigated a Spanish language real estate portal, Palacio.com, to meet the need of the growing Hispanic population through a Spanish-language listing service and magazine.

Justin McCarthy, Googles strategic partner development manager for real estate, is another. He has shown agents how to market smarter and get a better return on their online marketing dollar. He realizes that the Internet is the fastest-growing source from where buyers first learn about the home they eventually purchase and the far-reaching marketing implications of that insight.

Rich Barton, CEO of Zillow.com; Dave Liniger, co-founder and chairman of RE/MAX International; Bob Hale of HAR.com; and Harley Rouda, CEO of Real Living, are all pioneers who recognized opportunities within the inevitable changes occurring in the industry and then set trends that have shaped the direction in which the real estate industry will move in the coming years.

What are the expectations of the emerging real estate consumer?

Simply put, they want complete access to all information. They expect their agent to provide value that is quantifiable and meaningful to the transaction. Consumers have both expectations and untapped motivations. They are aware that things are changing and expect that great things are coming.

The consumer is expecting that he will get information about a property in a timely, relevant manner; in a way that lets him envision and project himself into that home. He wants to be touched on many different sensory levels both emotionally and logically in other words, he wants to take psychological ownership.

Using this insight as a springboard, we can create some really fun, a-ha! moments with consumers. Thats the exciting part about creating new technology: finding a way to combine value with motivations. Doing so will always prove an agents worth.

How should the Brokerage and Realtor Association / MLS respond to these real estate consumer expectations?

Remove the barriers to access. Or, replicate what the Houston Association of REALTORS has done and host a public MLS search site that still keeps the agent at the center of the transaction. So many MLSs out there are desperately hanging onto the Agent 1.0 mindset of high-pressure sales techniques and information gatekeeping. They will better adjust and find more success if they start to work on offense instead of defense and create new tools and services that provide value instead of protect turf.

What changes should a Brokerage implement to ensure profitability in the future?

So many things play into the homeownership cycle. The industry needs to look for ways to provide more information; to craft a better marketing message that has a consistent theme and look; to provide an opportunity for consumers to take psychological ownership prior to buying their home. Brokerages must make themselves relevant throughout the entire home ownership cycle.

Think co-branding. Its the same way top marketers like Apple, Nike, Lowes, UPS, Exxon and Taco Bell operate. Its also the way consumers think. These companies are looking for ways to cross-pollinate the field of consumers. The real estate industry today needs to think how industries 10 years ahead of the real estate industry like the ones above are thinking. There is a tremendous opportunity for brokerages to borrow the brand equity of incredibly powerful consumer brands throughout the home ownership cycle.

What role do you see the Realtor Association / MLS playing to ensure Broker profitability?

Frankly, in most markets, they are not playing any role whatsoever. Currently, associations other than Houston and a handful of others arent providing lead-generation services or driving valuable leads to their membership. REALTOR associations are just that: associations. They should work at the whim of the brokers and agents, the people who in name are leading them. These groups shouldnt be a fiefdom for a few people to control. Instead, they should be a liberating source to provide information.

Based upon your vision of the future of the real estate industry, what are you doing to help influence positive change?

We are in a strong position to help unite the varying competitive forces that are going after the same consumer eyeballs. Obeo is helping to bring these forces together in a scenario that helps brokerages, retailers and financial institutions borrow brand equity from each other and give consumers a similar experience to one they would have on BMW.com, Apple.com or Nike.com.

We can look at what the experience has been for consumers in other industries cars, technology, shoes, whatever and apply those principles and ideas to real estate. The key, and I believe Obeo is doing this, is to bring the real estate industry into the same world in which Generation X and Y are living in a way that baby boomers can appreciate and from which they can profit. Verl Workman said it best: Look at what we know, and then ask how that is misaligned with what we do”.

What books would you recommend as a “must read” that have influenced your vision?

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas Friedman; 1776 and John Adams by David McCullough; and The 5,000 Year Leap: The 28 Great Ideas That Changed the World by W. Cleon Skousen. Although not directly related to real estate, these four books are more than relevant in that they discuss the process of putting the freedoms in place that created an explosion of innovation and progress. In addition, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell, deconstructs why we make the choices we make. Additionally Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands by Kevin Roberts and A.G. Lafley is very applicable to the real estate industry.

What advice would you give Brokerages and Realtor Associations / MLSs to assure they stay relevant and successful in the future?

Be open to change. Embrace the consumer as your end customer. Survey your membership instead of listening to one, two or three controlling members. Reinvent yourself. Ask hard questions: What is your core business? Are you a membership organization? A trade organization? Something else?

Cornelius Vanderbilt was in the transportation business, not the railroad business big difference. Are you in the real estate information business? If so, provide that information, and make sure you work with best-in-class companies that help you do that. Innovation doesnt happen in a vacuum. Have an open platform that allows the consumer the best in class on everything.

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Since its evolution from 360 House to Obeo in 2005, the Salt Lake City, Utah-based company has become the largest supplier of full-service residential real estate online marketing products in the United States and Canada. The Latin word for to go to or to encompass, Obeo provides Realtors, homebuilders, land developers and property managers with customized online marketing solutions and offline sales tools. To find out more, go to www.obeo.com

Glade Jones CEO, Obeo