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The Power Of The Written Word In Real Estate
THOMSON PUBLISHING HELPS ROOKIE AGENTS
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ALISO VIEJO, CA., Oct. 5, 2005
- In a world of electronically published media why is it important
to have published and printed books as a component in the Real
Estate Apprentice Grant? According to Dave Shaut, Vice President,
Editor-in-Chief of Thomson South-Western a division of The Thomson
Corporation, "The written word and printed text books offer
a tremendous amount of value to students whether they are in
a classroom setting or doing independent study, self improvement
or professional development. They serve as ready reference material
to guide a new agent through the A B C's of real estate." These
comments were released today by The Real Estate Apprentice Foundation
from an exclusive interview with Mr. Shaut.
The vast majority of business in Thomson South-Western is in
higher education and the major part of that product mix is textbooks.
"We obviously have a huge belief in the usefulness of the written
word," said Shaut. Thomson South-Western believes their authors
are experts in their fields and that real estate agents, particularly
Rookies, can be confident what they are learning is tried and
proven. When it comes to supplying books to the Real Estate
Apprentice Grant Program finalists, Thomson believes "sharing
information with someone who is just starting out in the world
of real estate is a key to their success." Kendra Shearer, the
Grand Prize Winner from Season I of the Real Estate Apprentice,
made reference to Thomson's multimedia product, the Commercial
Real Estate Transaction, stating that because of the information
she learned she subsequently had a very successful business
meeting.
"We are very happy with our involvement with the Real Estate Apprentice Grant Program and the high quality of finalists and winners," said Shaut. "We believe that it gives Thomson a lot of exposure to the future key players in the real estate industry." One of the goals of the Real Estate Apprentice Grant is to illuminate the best practice Companies' products and services so that Rookies can get the "right-stuff" first. Since January 2005 Andy Bearden, who was the Season I Real Estate Apprentice runner up, has been working for Ebby Halliday in Texas and has already sold 41 homes. Andy created a business plan through his Apprentice experience using Thomson South-Western books, which resulted in a promotion to a major corporate position within his real estate firm. Andy said that had he not had Thomson South-Western books there would have been many steps and procedures that he would have known about.
According to Shaut, more and more younger people are entering real estate as a first career. Many new agents go through classes to get their license and then are thrown into an office environment and expected to start performing right away. The problem is the company's failure in a large percentage of cases to recognize that these new agents have various levels of training. Compounding that fact is the various level of education provided by the different companies. These factors force Rookies to go out and try to figure the whole process out on their own. "Our books provide a step-by-step procedure. You can read about someone's success but that wears pretty thin unless you have exact instructions," said Shaut. Thomson tries to be very specific even showing the reader exactly which forms to use and how to fill them in.
What does Thomson South-Western see as the future of real estate education? "For us the greatest growth for both pre-license and continuing education material seems to favor the online learning process," said Shaut. Therefore Thomson South-Western is building more and more courses and products for this medium. At the same time, their print side of the business, which mainly supports in-class learning, is very strong. "I don't see online education as diminishing classroom learning enrollments, but rather an expansion of the entire education market" Shaut added. "We keenly watch those trends, regulations and rules to determine what changes are occurring." Those changes seem to be happening a little more rapidly particularly concerning consumer protection. The required level of education, particularly among sales people and brokers, will continue to be higher. Mr. Shaut also thinks real estate professionals are going to have a tremendous need to increase their knowledge on an ongoing basis.
"Thomson's commitment to the real estate industry is very strong," he said. "This is validated through our acquisition of the Prentice Hall list of real estate titles, the online education company CompuTaught, our close relationship with RealtyU® real estate schools and our sponsorship of the Real Estate Apprentice Grant. We are further interested in continuing to grow these businesses and relationships both organically and potentially through additional acquisitions. Thomson is very committed to lifelong education, offering educational products, starting with kindergarten going all the way through a doctoral degree program in the academic world."
When Shaut was asked about what he would say to any company considering sponsoring the Real Estate Apprentice Grant Program he said: "It is a very good opportunity to first of all provide valuable products and services to individuals who are obviously going to be Superstars in the industry. Second, from a business perspective, it shows our support and commitment for the real estate brokers and agents who are striving every day to be successful." |
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About Thomson Financial
Thomson Financial is a US$1.73 billion provider of information
and technology solutions to the worldwide financial community.
Through the widest range of products and services in the industry,
Thomson Financial helps clients in more than 70 countries make
better decisions, be more productive and achieve superior results.
Thomson Financial is part of The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com),
a global leader in providing integrated information solutions
to more than 20 million business and professional customers
in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher
education, reference information, corporate e-learning and assessment,
scientific research and healthcare. With revenues of US$8.10
billion, The Thomson Corporation lists its common shares on
the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC.)
More about the Real Estate ApprenticeT Foundation
Formed in 2004, The Real Estate ApprenticeT Foundation is a
non-profit venture created to assist new licensed agents entering
the real estate industry, to overcome their fears and obstacles
and to facilitate them to become top producing sales people
by providing quality guidance, education, products and services
and to help guide them on a successful fast track to profitability.
20 bi-annual grants, totaling $250,000 are awarded with no strings
attached. Grants are sponsored by various leading real estate
companies, service providers and industry leaders. Visit www.RealEstateApprentice.com
for more information. |
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| Swanepoel Trends Newsletter |
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The real estate market has changed. Lenders have tightened their belts and now it’s much harder for people to get a loan to buy a home. Not to mention the fact that more and more people who bought in the last 5 years are now getting into financial hardship and need help. Are you empowered and knowledgeable about this large market and how to serve it?
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