The Future: Predicting, Possibility and Preparing for Changes in the New Year!

When I was a kid, one of my favorite cartoons on TV was the Jetsons.  I used to dream about the future and how our homes would have machines and robots.  We’d drive around in aero cars and live in Googie style homes.  (Googie style?  The Space Needle is a good example!)

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My parents designed our modern house in 1960.  It had new products including double pane windows, warming oven, built in color tv, a subzero frig…. even cold AND hot water in the outside faucets. But, it didn’t have the feel of the future like the Jetson’s cartoon.

On one Jetsons episode, George wanted to watch sports game… maybe soccer… and during the whole episode he is trying to get home … because they didn’t dream up  VCR’s or DVR’s or Cable or YouTube!

When I was young the future used to seem far away.  I was crawling and didn’t worry about “catching up.”

Today, The future seems like a train that I am running alongside trying to catch as it pulls out of the station. I think many of us feel that way.  We used to think we were pretty smart, but a teen walks in and starts spouting something about what they saw on Twitter and we just feel like maybe the train is leaving the station.

We need to be on top of the latest changes that affect the way we communicate and connect with our prospective clients and how we manage information and build our business. What is the future for marketing a listing?  Will we continue to put our money only in banks? Will we talk into our shoe like Maxwell Smart or into our watch like Dick Tracy did?  Will we plug in our cars or just show clients 3d videos on our tablets in our cars?  Who will have the listing information?

In the real estate industry, the average real estate agent is a baby boomer heading toward retirement.  Over 60% of the home buyers, though, are Generation X and Y.   In order to keep up and succeed we need to listen to predictions, be open to possibilities, and prepare for the changes on the horizon.

This is Natalie’s newest 3 clock hour class.  There will be many scheduled in the next quarter.. if you want to schedule one in your office just email Natalie!