Where my husband, Steve, is concerned, the family house cat is not feeling the love. The resident dog ranks only slightly lower on her people-I-want-to-go-away scale. Whenever one or the other enters the room, she has this habit of turning to face the opposite wall. We assume that the thought process goes something like this – If I can’t see you, you don’t exist; if I don’t acknowledge you, you are dead to me (or, at least, you will eventually go away).
Fluffy, the short-haired domestic in denial, has a lot in common with our local newspaper, the San Diego Union Tribune.
In yet another example of their misguided notion that they can cling to what is fast becoming a flawed news and information delivery concept, the Union has again demonstrated their belief that ignoring that which they fear will make it go away.
The weekend homes section was as recently as a year ago still considered the place for agents and brokerages to advertise. As advertising rates went up and ad response plummeted (to zero), the smart money moved their resources to online venues. We made our listings available to any and every online portal we could find. For us, this was a no-brainer business decision. A $300 ad in the Union would generate virtually no calls, while a free Craigslist ad would result in a half-dozen buyer inquiries.
Good Luck With That
The larger brokerages still contribute to the ad-revenue coffers, but this, we know, is for the purpose of advertising the brand and not the homes. And, as a concession to those clients and to keep the dollars coming, the inside cover of the homes section is routinely devoted to “press releases” for the companies and their agents. Periodically, Steve and I submit a press release because a) it can’t hurt, and b) it’s free. Our most recent submission promoted our involvement as local community fair sponsors, with the final paragraph devoted to a little shameless self-promotion of our online presence:
Kris and Steve, both Broker Associates, are multiple award-winning agents for Prudential CA Realty in Scripps Ranch and can be found on the Internet at www.SanDiegoCastles.com. Their blog, www.SanDiegoHomeBlog.com, has been recognized nationally and was recently featured by Inman News as an example of innovation in the exchange of localized real estate information. Kris also serves as a contributor on www.BloodhoundBlog.com, which has become widely regarded as an authority on national industry issues.
Admittedly, this was a bit bold for the medium, and we fully expected the outcome; the final paragraph was nuked in its entirety at publication. Surprisingly, however, our company approved it, the same company who only seconds ago did everything they could to subvert any agent attempts at online autonomy and personal branding. Our company, at some point, wisely acknowledged that they could not stop progress and, perhaps (get this!), recognized that our success would contribute to their own.
Yet the Union muckity-mucks are undoubtedly sitting around the management table scratching their old world heads, wondering why their readership is down, their ad revenues are down, and their long-term viability is threatened. They have an online arm, SignOnSanDiego, this being their too-little-too-late attempt to assimilate into the modern world of information sharing, but they can’t compete. Their site is about as easy to navigate as the Holland Tunnel at rush hour, and the pop-ups are so numerous as to give one vertigo. This, and I think I had a birthday the last time I waited for the search feature to load.
No Longer “The Deciders”
The mainstream media has been in the enviable position for as long as we can remember of not only reporting the “news” but deciding for us what the news in fact is. That has changed. By the time something has been reported in print, it is yesterday’s newspaper to the vast majority of us. We get our information on television and online, and we discuss the information and challenge the meaning on blogs.
When I emailed The Deciders several months ago suggesting they cover the roll-out of Zillow’s new listing features, they told me that there was no story here (resulting in this post). In February, when the Redfin CEO met with both me and The Deciders on the same day to promote their entry into the San Diego Real Estate market, I aired a podcast, and they turned their backs to face the wall.
Being shunned by the arrogant mainstream media did not make Zillow go away, nor has Redfin pulled up stakes. Neither is my blog going anywhere.
Little Ol’ Me
The Union is not afraid of little ol’ me. They are afraid of the collective me’s and of what we represent: The potential demise of their industry, at least as we now know it. So, to the Union and all of those Unions out there, I offer my free advice. Try something crazy; acknowledge the movement and use it to your advantage. Do you want to sell some papers? Befriend rather than ostracize those that challenge you and your business model. Adapt. Do you think that some of us with business addresses ending in .com might be willing, even delighted to partner with you? Might we have insight, ideas, and even “news” that could help keep you contemporary? Is is possible that we would be delighted to willingly share our perspectives and our platform for a little sound-bite, name-dropping in your house in return?
My cat will continue to ignore the dog and “that guy”, thinking that by wishing them gone, she will make it so. To the Union, you may chose to look the other way. You may choose to continue to ignore progress and change in the off chance that we will go away. But my blog will still be here tomorrow. Will you?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kris Berg is Co-Owner and Designated Broker of San Diego Castles Realty. If not-so static web sites are your thing, go here at once where you will find loads of real estate information including homes for sale, market trends, floor plans and more. Kris's hobbies include fencing and spot welding. She likes kittens. 
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Oh, you rock! Utterly excellent!
Thanks, Greg – My one-man cheering section. I am assuming that your kind remark has nothing to do with the fact that the post contained about 87 links to the Bloodhound.
Kris – What you’ve so surgically executed is showing the Emperor has no clothes. In fact, you’ve undressed them by proving they’re in the buggy whip business, and can’t understand why sales are ‘down’.
Another superb effort.
Kris – It’s actually worse than that (if one can believe it). While the SD Union is wondering why their circulation/revenue is in decline, they still seem to go out of their way to generously, regularly and, yes, seemingly joyously issue article after article about the current market slowdown in a doomsday manner. Where is the objectivity? Where is the balance?
Understanding the market cycle we now find ourselves in is not just about spewing a bunch of superficial monthly statistics and reporting how bad things are. It’s a bit more complicated. We have discussed it here many times. Beyond the fact that the market was due (overdue) for a correction, there is so much more to the story.
In addition to the losses of the people who were poorly advised or even well advised and who made poor decisions, there is a significant impact to the real estate industry and its’ practitioners who happen to be citizens of our community, too. When the market was vibrant, the Union had many articles featuring the vast amounts of money agents were so “easily” making. Now, while the industry and the market suffers, the Union seems to exclude agents, escrow and title officers, mortgage brokers, property inspectors, contractors and all the many other people who make up the real estate industry in San Diego County the same way Fluffy, our cat likes to ignore me.
Not even counting the loss of home values, I would estimate conservatively that the added economic impact of the declining real estate industry in San Diego is well into the hundreds of million of $$, yet not one article in the Union about this. I guess we don’t count. Fluffy would be proud.
Someone needs to stick a fork in the newspaper industry and tell them they’e done!
No one ~ absolute NO ONE, looks in a newspaper for their next home to buy!
Even NAR sez that 77% (more like 80%+ now, I suspect) of home buyers use the internet.
The rest of the buyers know where they want to live and cruise those areas looking for new signs.
Then, they pull a flyer (if the agent comprehends the need to have a flyer box vs. having the flyers hidden inside the house in a futile attempt to force the buyer to call them).
That said, it amazes me that brokers continue to run print ads.
Don’t they know how to explain to their sellers that it doesn’t work?
Our Boise Statesman is chock full of real estate ads every Saturday, including multiple tabloids for several real estate companies.
Little bitty ads with little bitty heads and little bitty homes
I haven’t run a print ad in six years; I devote my marketing dollars to my blogs Boise Blog, Eagle Blog, and my new subdivision-specific blog.
The leads from them are higher quality because the people are more tech-savvy and more serious about buying.
And, potential sellers are impressed because they are typically tech-savvy and want a listing agent who is also tech-savvy.
Great post Kris. Newspapers as a medium are dying and the real estate section is really dead.
I always laugh at the agents trying to find their ads in the Saturday papers. Emphasis on “trying to find”. Dude, you know the ad is in there, and still you can’t find it…
What hope does a buyer have of finding it?
-Athol
Kris, you have hit the nail right on its bigfatuglystupiddookie head! We have also found that newspapers that should be courting those very people who are keeping them alive (paid advertisers), they have become defensive as if it is an us vs. them battle to duke out. How dumb can they be?
Locally, the Austin American Statesman (which IMO is no more than ultra liberal tripe anyhow) has a declining readership and should be reaching out to cultivate the potentially synergistic relationship with RE bloggers. Guess how many people on my street have the newspaper delivered to their door? ZERO. Seriously. By the time “news” makes it to readers’ doors in the smudgy print format, it has already oversaturated the blogosphere.
(Sidenote: many specialized publications such as Austin Business Journal have embraced the blogging medium and have always been friendly to Realtors. Our friends there have worked with us to uncover news and we have all benefited! Sounds like SDUT could take a page from the ABJ!)
Some poor 20ish year old kid came to our door the other day, pimping subscriptions to one of our local papers. “But it will be delivered to your driveway EVERY DAY!” he proclaimed.
“Do YOU subscribe?” I asked.
“No, I get my news online”, he said.
Yeah, me too. I felt bad for the guy. It was like 700 degrees outside and he hadn’t sold a single subscription. I gave him a bottle of water, mostly out of sympathy, partly because I didn’t want him falling out with heat stroke on my front porch.
We recently had the Arizona Republic be more stupid than usual (and that is quite the feat, trust me) when they ran an article, supposedly on local real estate bloggers. Somehow they managed to include more bloggers from out of state and out of the continent than local bloggers.
They just don’t get it. I seriously doubt they ever will.
By the way, we have a cat named Fluffy too! She’s a royal b**ch…
>bigfatuglystupiddookiehead
ARW (Lani) – I LOVE that word. May I use it? Maybe even Wiki it?
Jay – Fluffy (who looks like she was prepped for military duty and, therefore, is “not”) was named by our children. My youngest, when queried by a friend as to why she didn’t name the cat “Tiger”, responded, “I thought about it, but I didn’t want to give her such a common name”. As for her personality, Steve will suggest that you and we may be sharing custody of the same cat.
And now, I will come clean. We still subscribe to the “news” paper, but I consider it more like my People magazine – Mindless and portable. Plus, I really enjoy the New York Times crossword puzzle.
As usual you have a well written article that almost makes stupidity look beautiful.
But not to worry for newspaper owners/executives. I’ve heard they are investing in the vinyl record business.
Man, I feel like I’m really in the minority. Am I the only one who subscribes to the UT? I love reading it on Saturday and Sunday mornings while I eat my breakfast and relax. I only read it for local news stories and checking out housing prices. I use the web for national news and blog stories and the paper is a bit useless for that. But nothing beats a fresh paper, hot breakfast, and time to relax on a Sunday morning.
One thing that DOES concern me about decreasing subscription levels is that the newpaper provides a very useful service to the community: investigative reporting of local politicians. If the paper goes bust, what blogger has the resources to bust the next Abramhoff and get national attention? Who is going to look into why a developer got away with a building project that goes against the FAA restrictions? This is really important stuff for the community and the UT is the only one with the resources to do a solid investigation of bad politicians. Without UT, future Abramhoffs are going to get away with their scandals and laugh all the way to the bank.
And I want to keep my Sunday morning paper!!!!
Brian,
You really get no argument from me. Right now I am typing away on a blog, but my Union-Tribune (yes, I subscribe) is piled up next to me.
I think you will agree, however, that it is no longer a “news” paper as much as it is casual entertainment. I hit the headlines (which are not news at all by the time it hits my driveway), and I love the crossword. It is People Magazine with Britney.
The point is that, rather than burying their head in the sand where new technology is concerned, they should be embracing it and adaptiing. Where local issues are concerned, you have a point. (Although, Steve may want to challenge you about fault on the Sunroad height limit issue, suggesting you might want to take it up with the City and the Port District, who appear not to communicate so well with each other). Where real estate is concerned, it simply doesn’t hit the mark any longer except for the Open Homes listings. That, too, will eventually migrate online once someone comes up with a truly comprehensive list.
On the last subject, I have often wondered how long it will be before the MLS’s add an Open House field to the MLS input. Once that occurs, the field gets swept by Realtor.com, Trulia, etc. and presto – That section, too, will be relatively worthless.
Bottom line – The paper will not go bust, but it will go bust as we know it. Without ad revenue, there would be no paper. Our little subscriptions, as we all well know, do not pay the cost of publication. Continuing to drive the advertisers away is not the best business strategy I have seen this week.