by G. Sax, Head of Communications, RESO
Welcome to “Three Questions,” an interview series that introduces you to real estate industry professionals, their businesses and how they interact with real estate standards. The goal of the series is to humanize the tech side of the industry, fun included.
This week’s interview is with Marc Dickow, a REALTOR® and Broker/Partner at Core7 Real Estate, a San Francisco-based boutique real estate company.
Marc has also been highly involved with the San Francisco Association of REALTORS®, serving on their Board of Directors and as their 2020 President. In addition, he has been the Region 8 Chair while serving on the board of the California Association of REALTORS®.
Busy guy. We talked about what brokers get out of RESO, what more RESO can do for the brokerage community and, in a far left turn, owning a record label. Enjoy!
Q1: What is the greatest thing that a broker has to gain from RESO?
Marc: Well, I think that being involved in data standardization is super important.
For me, one of the main things is something like the RESO Unique License Identifier (ULI). When it is built, I would really like to see it be cross-platform for different systems.
Our NORCAL MLS Alliance in the San Francisco Bay Area is seven different systems, each with their own sets of office IDs and agent IDs.
Tracking activity in such a way that agents are getting attribution in their main system is important, but I think we can do better than other systems saying something like “out of area” instead of the name of the listing the agent. That’s a lost opportunity that could be filled by the promise of the ULI.
Obviously, having standards in general is fantastic for the industry, but that’s one of the main things that would absolutely make my work life easier.
Q2: The Broker Advisory Workgroup is RESO’s best connection to the brokerage community, but our broker membership could use a boost. What more can RESO be doing for brokers to bolster trust and ultimately membership from this side of the industry?
Marc: I think just reaching out. Use people that are currently active in the workgroup as champions. Most of them are already huge fans of RESO, as am I.
Get larger associations to share RESO updates at their meetings. You have to ask for their involvement, and you have to get in front of brokers where they gather in larger groups.
You have done well with the MLS crowd and with the tech vendors who attend MLS-related events. But brokers don’t go to those meetings in large numbers, and they don’t often go to MLS meetings at National Association of REALTORS® events unless they serve on the MLS board.
Many of them would be fans of RESO if they knew more about what you did and how it affects their businesses.
Q3: You owned an independent record label in the San Francisco Bay Area, OpenEye Records, for 27 years, deciding to close shop in 2022. How gratifying was that experience, how did you manage it alongside your real estate career and why did you decide to close? Is there a lesson in there for independent brokers and agents?
Marc: Music has always been a passion for me. I was in different bands when I was younger, and I went on tour with my own band.
The record label was always a secondary thing to my real estate work.
As I got on in my career, I saw these younger bands coming up, and I would throw big all-ages parties. I signed three or four of the bands over time.
Some of these musicians became wonderful professional session players or producers of music for television. Good careers. I’m still in touch with most of them.
Closing the label came down to time and money. I got involved with other things, and I got deeper into my real estate career with volunteering and leadership roles that were equally gratifying.
Music will always be there, and I’m proud to have been a part of the industry for so long.
The lesson for brokers and agents is to have multiple passions. It will serve you well and make you more well-rounded and approachable in your sales role.
