Educating the Consumer

For a long time I’ve been perplexed by the self-imposed silence the title industry practices when it comes to home buyers and sellers. In our business, virtually all of our outreach efforts have been aimed at intermediaries (attorney, lenders and brokers) rather than the people whose lives are actually affected by the real estate transactions we process for them.

We let others do our talking for us – typically we don’t talk to consumers until they are across the closing table from us – yet we offer products and services that are invaluable to those very consumers even if they don’t realize it. With TRID implementation around the corner, we have a great opportunity to change that dynamic.

To quote an article by author by Nancy Tarr posted on Housing Wire.com, "Consumers have always looked to real estate professionals for help understanding how to buy and sell a home. Traditionally, real estate agents and brokers have led consumer education efforts, and they will continue to play a leading role. But, it’s clear that lenders, as well as title insurance and settlement service providers, will need to play a larger role in helping home buyers and sellers understand the new residential real estate environment."

The American Land Title Association just released a revised, expanded and updated Closing 101 web site specifically created to offer consumers in-depth information about the home buying/selling process. And with electronic closings coming, it is even more imperative that we ramp up our efforts to educate consumers.

I’ve given a great deal of thought to this idea over time and I believe that now is the time to move toward a new communications model for the industry. We’ve been using web sites and social media to provide information directly to consumers with some success, but we need to couple our social media efforts with direct outreach to consumers through new and traditional media as well as other means of connecting.

What do you think?

Post a comment and let’s discuss the future of communications in the real estate industry.