Lately I've spent a good deal of time talking to brokers across the country who are evaluating their current position and weighing the merits of becoming part of an organization that can deliver resources they do not currently have.

These are challenging times. Over the past five years, commission rates have fallen from 6% to 4.9% nationally, and productivity has declined 16% to an average of just 6.49 closed units per agent. While average agent income increased from 1999 to 2004, much of that increase came at the expense of the broker. Then, in 2005, the industry showed a decline in average agent income, and the projections for the year just ended, indicate an even steeper decline.

Of greater concern is that real estate professionals and the value of their services are clearly diminished in the eyes of consumers. The most recent Harris poll shows an embarrassing 5% of consumers holding real estate agents in "high esteem."

Since the Internet broke our monopoly on information and ushered in a host of new competitors, we have faced a new reality: consumers don't see the value in what our industry does. So we can choose between two courses of action-pursue a low-price, low-service model or add value to our customers' experiences by offering value-based, comprehensive services made stronger through the convenience of one-stop shopping.

Maximizing the value of a client's treasured asset through a complex transaction is a job for a trusted advisor, skilled negotiator and expert facilitator who is in command of every part of the transaction-and who merits a full professional commission. Creating the single-source service environment in which such people can thrive requires:

1Brand. A well-branded company has the presence to credibly position itself as a full-service company.

2 Resources. It takes money to create, acquire or establish relationships with proven providers of transaction-related services and to manage these providers in a way that ensures value delivery to agents and consumers.

3 Credibility. The greatest challenge to building the single-source company is transitioning from a business of independent agents to a profession of interdependent sales partners. Agents must believe in the company and that sort of faith is best based on experience.

4 Leadership. Agents want leadership at the branch and company levels. Transforming branch managers into branch leaders requires cultural change. GMAC Company-Owned Real Estate has executed an intensive leadership development program that has transformed our branch executives into business leaders who help their sales partners identify their income goals and create and execute written business plans that advance their careers.

Only the home-services model can satisfy the expectations of our three constituencies: customers who demand a more cost-efficient and organized transaction; agents who desire more productive and rewarding careers and relief from the administrative burdens of steering the transaction through unrelated vendors; and owners who have a right to a reasonable return earned through the value delivered to the customer and the agent. - Terry Morris

Terry Morris is president/CEO of GMAC Company-Owned Real Estate. Morris heads a team of 3,800 sales professionals and 546 employees who in 2005 recorded a volume of $16.7 billion. GMAC Home Services owns real estate companies coast-to-coast with 95 branch offices in San Francisco and the Bay Area, Chicago and suburbs, metro New York, and New England, including the greater Boston market, Cape Cod and southern New Hampshire.

RISMEDIA, May 18, 2007-(MarketWatch)-Are the effects of climate change — coastal erosion, rising sea levels and increased hurricanes — coming to a neighborhood near you and what could it mean for the value of your property?

Climate Appraisal Services, a new online service for home buyers and homeowners, claims it can tell whether a home will be submerged from climate change in the next century by using a property's address.

Entering the location of a home in the continental U.S. at the company's Web site, www.climateappraisal.com, pulls up an environmental lowdown: information on the coastal erosion, tornadoes, earthquakes, drought, floods, landslides and volcanoes in the area.

David Purcell started thinking about the impact of climate change on U.S. shorefront property when his family went shopping for a beach home on the East Coast about a year ago. Purcell, a former banker who now heads the company and is an investor, wanted information that would help him assess the environmental risks a beachfront home could face years down the road and whether it would retain its value.

"A one-meter sea-level rise has been projected for this century," Purcell said, adding that this change "absolutely has the potential to re-evaluate real estate values off the coastline."

The United States has over 12,000 miles of coastline and nearly 90,000 miles of shoreline, according to government measurements. These coasts are getting crowded and playing host to more residents each year.

The "coastal fringe" that makes up 17% of the nation's land area is home to more than half of the U.S. population, or 153 million people, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Coastline states such as Massachusetts, concerned about the future costs they may incur battling eroding beachfronts that arise from climate change, recently took their case to the Supreme Court and won.

Purcell's initial search for information turned up some historical data but nothing specifically about the location he was thinking of purchasing, leading him to contact some U.S.-based scientists working in the climate field. Those conversations laid the groundwork for Climate Appraisal Services. Today, Purcell's partners are professors from the University of Arizona who specialize in geosciences, geography and atmospheric sciences.

Environmental report card

Some information can be gleaned for free in a "standard report" that includes monthly average and extreme temperatures for an address over the past 30 years, the county air quality index, ultraviolet (UV) index and predictions of shoreline reduction. Every report contains commentary from the company's science advisors.

For customers looking for more detailed environmental information — such as the occurrence of Lyme and West Nile disease, rate of leukemia, location of coal-fired power plants, level of toxic pollutants in the air, proximity to hazardous and chemical cleanup sites in the neighborhood — a "premium report" can be ordered for $30.

While some, if not most, of the information provided in these reports can be found on the Internet or through government sources, pulling it together for a particular latitude and longitude and presenting the information clearly (often in charts and with graphics) is the real service the company is offering customers who want to know more about the place they may call home.

The company's reports rely on information from the U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service, Climate Prediction Center and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory among other agencies.

A premium report for a Massachusetts address not far inland quickly revealed "some potential shoreline reduction nearby" and several superfund sites, Purcell noted. The strongest hurricane within 50 miles of the location was a category 2 in 1991, the last tornado within 7 miles was in 1958, and a 5.6 magnitude earthquake within 100 miles occurred in 1940.

Vital information or information overload?

Purcell said his main interest from the beginning has been identifying the potential impacts of climate risk, which he calls the "issue of the century."

As Florida and Louisiana residents know from recent hurricane seasons, the size and frequency of hurricanes and the devastating property damage they bring are a concern for homeowners and insurers alike.

"You're getting information similar to what the insurance companies are getting," Purcell said. "Their No. 1 concern is maintaining their equity position."

Insurers are talking more about climate change. Last year, insurance giant AIG released a policy statement on climate change, saying its companies "continually factor in changes in climate and weather patterns as an integral part of its underwriting process."

The insurance industry tends to blend two views when assessing risk, both looking ahead five years and weighing 30-year historical patterns, said John DeMartini, who heads the catastrophe risk management practice for Towers Perrin, which helps clients assess their risk and insurance needs. The trend towards a five-year outlook is a result of the severity of the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons and damage claims, DeMartini said.

DeMartini noted that weather is a "key facet" in assessing risk and said "if you're involved in the real estate market you have to be particularly concerned." But he also points to what he sees as the "uncertainty associated with multiyear forecasting" that can come with trying to measure climate-change impacts.

Residential reality

How vital is this type of information when it comes to making a real estate purchase?
Housing statistics show that Americans move on average every seven years and climate predictions often span decades and centuries. It might be a stretch to think a four-degree temperature rise over the next 50 to 100 years or a three-foot rise in sea level that could submerge some areas off the Massachusetts coast in 2100 will be a factor in most residential real estate transactions today.

But Climate Appraisal thinks it can capitalize on a growing interest in information about climate change and concerns about regional weather patterns and insurance coverage. The company's Web site says it is targeting prospective home buyers, homeowners who "want to know what prospective buyers may know" and people in property-related industries.

Purcell envisions the information being useful in the "negotiating process" between buyers and sellers. Between six million and seven million sales of existing homes are recorded in the U.S. each year, making this a potentially fertile market.

Traditional home appraisals used by lending institutions in the U.S. are somewhat standardized and regulated by Congress and state authorities since the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s, said John Brenan, director of research for the Appraisal Foundation.

Whether environmental appraisals will ever become a mainstream part of the real estate process is unclear, he said.

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