Nobu Hata

By Nobu Hata

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that we’re living and working in a tenuously linked society right now.  Hyper-political-mumbo-jumbo is being thrown around to a jaded audience, and we are more polarized and fractured than ever before.

That same thing could be said for the real estate industry.

Data, IDX, syndication, broker-centric, agent-centric, consumer-centric, lead-generation, third parties, anti-property owner legislation, technological disruption, franchises versus indies versus MLSs versus associations… What does it all mean?

As an industry, we’re changing — we all know that.  What’s not so obvious is that these little industry revolutions differ from market to market; and the pace in which these revolutions are happening, the pace in which they’re setting in, is getting faster and faster every day.

But what has been a mainstay in all of this during my time on the YPN Subcommittee, and now as your chairperson, is that regardless of market, MLS, broker and association, we operate for the REALTOR® brand.  Y’all said it yourselves.  There is not a selfish bone in any of you, and for that I am so proud!

The results of a poll answered by your networks’ chairpersons are telling: Professional development is one of the top priorities in many networks, along with their sponsoring associations.

For those of you with the rousing association support, take it a step farther.  For those of you working in an environment of unease: embrace it and lend insight; and those working nationally, take your knowledge back to your local associations and tie local initiatives together with the “big picture.”  Take that YPN ideology of collaboration and cooperation, to your associations, to your MLSs.  Take your bootsontheground experiences and advise the folks who need your help in deciding the future of your industry at the local, state and national levels.  Take your expertise and passions outside of the industry, whether it’d be politics, technology, communications, marketing, instruction, broker insight, professional development, and make them count within it.

Your skill sets are needed at what is a very formative time in the evolution of our industry.  Let’s take advantage of it!  Let’s be inclusive.  Let’s be a part of the evolution of real estate.  There’s never been a better time jump in, let’s have fun doing it!

Nobu Hata is a sales associate for Edina Realty in Minneapolis, and a founding member of the Minneapolis YPN group, the YoPros. He is also the 2012 chair of the national YPN Advisory Subcommittee. Visit his Web site at www.nobuhata.com.