Jay Thompson is the Designated Broker and a co-owner of Thompson’s Realty in Phoenix, AZ. We recently caught up with Jay to ask him how he got started in real estate, where the market is headed and the future of technology in real estate:

How did you get started in real estate?

I got started in real estate because I was in corporate America working in manufacturing, which is a brutal industry, and all I did for the last three years was lay people off and shut down factories. I knew my number was going to come up, and that’s exactly what happened.  I was tired of corporate America and I wanted to run my own business.  So we, we being my wife and I, thought we’d give it a shot and that was seven years ago.

What’s kept your business fresh?

I’d have to say real estate changes constantly, so if you can’t keep up with the changes then you’re not going to be successful.  During the Phoenix boom we just exploded, and what goes up has to come down.  We went up high and we came down hard. Staying on top of that and learning to deal with the real estate market that we’ve been handed, you either learn to deal with it or you don’t survive. That’s what keeps it fresh, it always changes.

What makes Phoenix a great place to live and then also to sell homes in?

One thing is the weather. The summers are absolutely brutal, there’s no sugar coating it, but for eight months out of the year you’ve got perfect weather.  It’s a booming city. It’s growing fast. It’s always up at the top of the list of fastest growing cities in the country. There’s a lot of that are retired come down here, some to live permanently some just to have second homes here. Jobs are getting better.  Our prices have come down so far, there are some smokin’ deals out here and a lot of investors are buying houses.

So you recently redesigned your website, what changes did you make to address the growing role of technology in real estate? And then the second part is technology, is it changing the way you do business?

The change to the blog was significant. It’s a full blown, full scale real estate site. My biggest job is for my agents, to help them get more business and generate prospects. So, I wanted a more prominent call to action. The design was a little faded, a little tired, a little old fashioned maybe, and the opportunity presented itself to work with some of the best designers on the planet. How could I turn it down? So that’s what we did. It’s a lot cleaner, a lot newer look, and more professional looking, but, most importantly, it’s got some very strong calls to action on it.

Is technology also changing the way you do business?

Technology is really just a tool. Much of real estate is the same as it’s ever been.  Fundamentally, real estate is a people business. It’s safe to say, you’ve got to get out in the trenches and you have to work. What technology does enable a brokerage or an agent to do is reach more people. Canadian buyers are a great example. Without technology, I don’t know how I could reach as many people in Canada as I do. I guess I could blanket all of western Canada with post cards that say, “Come to Phoenix.” But that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and I don’t know if it’s even possible. The internet is out there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; and it’s called the World Wide Web for a reason.

Briefly you mentioned growth and how well your operations are structured right now… Do you want to talk about that a little?

We’re up to 36 agents, 33 more than we ever planned on having. When my wife and I opened our brokerage, the original plan was for it to be me, my wife and a friend of ours. That was it. All three of us worked at a Century 21 office for a great broker, but even before I got my real estate license my ultimate goal was to open my own brokerage. I told that to my original broker the very first time I spoke with him. I said, “In three years I’m going to get my brokerage license and I’m going to open my shop.” “Yeah, that’s what everybody says and nobody does it,” was his response. But we did it and Thompson’s realty was opened in February of 2008.

The plan was for just the three of us, but within 30 minutes of posting on the blog that our brokerage was open, I started getting e-mails and phone calls from other agents that wanted to talk about working with us. My wife and I looked at each other and said, “Now what do we to do?” We had no idea.

Basically, the internet presence is what drew agents to us. I’ve never done any formal recruiting. Most agents already knew me or introduced by the blog, but a good number were introduced by word of mouth.  We’ve never done any formal recruiting, but we’ve grown to 36 agents in almost three years.

What do you think clients want most today?

Access to information. I haven’t been in real estate for too long – in business for seven years and the brokerage has only been around for three-and-a-half years – but people are clamoring for information. And the information they want is not limited to just listings. They want more information about the listings, information about the neighborhoods and more and more pictures in the listings. I know when I bought my first house, 20-something years ago, I didn’t really give a flip about the process. If I walked in the house and I liked it, I’d buy it. Our clients today are asking for more details and information on how the mortgage process works. We live in the information age and it’s a factor.

You often refer to yourself as a man with a blogging problem, so how do you keep your blog engaging for your readers, or your audience?

I am probably different than most real estate bloggers in that it’s not all about real estate. I have somewhere around 1800 posts on the blog and there are probably less than 50 about real estate statistics. Market stats are something I personally struggle with writing about because I find them boring and I don’t like to write about boring stuff. It works for me and that’s about all I can say. It’s ok to interject some personality, some non-real estate stuff into a blog. I’m fully convinced that the primary state reason that someone, a potential home buyer or seller, chooses a real estate agent because they like that person. When I did actively sell, I can’t tell you how many times I would be with a brand new client and they’d look at me and go you are exactly what we expected you to be. And that’s because they already knew me through the blog. I don’t sugar coat anything. I’ll tell people exactly what I think. If the real estate market sucks and it’s not time to buy a house, I’ll say it’s not a good time to buy. That’s important to me, that my blog be brutally honest, open, candid, whatever you want to call it.

What advice do you give to other realtors that are looking to blog or engage in social media?

The most important thing you need to understand is it’s not for everybody. Some well-regarded trainers and consultants that are real estate-based will say things like, “If you don’t have a blog, you can’t be successful.” That’s not true.  Blogging is not for everybody.  It’s hard work and I think it’s a lot harder than most people realize.  Not everybody is cut out to be a blogger. Dave Thompson is not good on the telephone, so I would make a miserable cold caller. I don’t go door-to-door because I’m not good at walking up to complete strangers and engaging in a conversation.  You don’t have to be a great writer to blog, but you have to be able to tolerate it otherwise you can’t blog. At least not consistently, and it takes a long time to establish a readership.

What’s been your proudest moment as a realtor in your seven plus years?

I was pretty proud the day we opened our brokerage. It’s not as a realtor, but I can tell you my proudest moment as a brokerage is the the fact that we’ve never had to see one of our agents leave for another brokerage in the 3 1/2 years we’ve been open. We’ve lost a few agents, but not one of our agents have ever left Thompson’s Reality voluntarily and gone to a different brokerage. That’s something I’m extremely proud of.

On your site you mention your dream of playing in and winning the world series of poker. Do you think poker players make better realtors?

It’s about reading other people. Anybody can learn to play poker, but to really separate yourself; you have to be able to look at people’s eyes and figure out what their cards are. I’m not saying it’s a direct comparison to what you do in real estate, but both boil down to reading and understanding people. And a good poker player can do that and a good agent should be able to do that too.

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