Bob Hale, President and CEO of the Houston Association of Realtors, was the featured speaker at the Houston Mortgage Bankers Association monthly meeting held at Maggiano’s Little Italy on September 9. Bill Dawley, President of HMBA and SVP Residential Lending Production, Amegy Mortgage, introduced Hale to the overflow crowd of mortgage and real estate professionals.
In a presentation entitled “Staying Relevant in a World of Disruptive Innovation,” Hale discussed the changes that consumers are demanding in traditional services, including the real estate transaction and mortgage loan processes. “It’s all about connecting consumers to what they want,” he said. “Uber and Airbnb are perfect examples. They have given consumers what they want by bypassing – and disrupting - traditional taxi and hotel services. And taxis and hotels, instead of trying to become better in order to compete, have tried to regulate them out of business – to no avail.”
“In the real estate industry, the internet-based companies are an example of innovative disrupters,” Hale continued. “They bypassed Realtors and went directly to the consumer. HAR saw early on that we needed to embrace the kind of services that they were providing such as lead generation and agent ratings, and we have done that. We are also working on giving every broker a virtual office website in order for consumers to access accurate Texas sales prices, allowing Realtors to be the source of information consumers are seeking.”
Referring to an internet company’s recent purchase of a transaction management company, Hale said, “I expect transaction management that allows consumers to view and manage every facet of their real estate sale or purchase transaction on-line in real time will be the norm very soon. Innovative disruption is changing the mortgage and real estate industries and mortgage bankers and Realtors will adapt and change with it.”