Doug Harwood
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been two years since we lost Doug. My favorite video:
The video of him playing the cello:
Link to Doug and his CelloClick here for his obit:
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been two years since we lost Doug. My favorite video:
The video of him playing the cello:
Link to Doug and his CelloClick here for his obit:
This video probably played here back in the day, but I don’t have a record of it. Doug’s most important point that day: The number of oceanfront properties doesn’t change, yet how many millionaires are we making every day? (1,700)
I’d like to think that Kayla has had the best upbringing of any realtor because she got to hear the sage advice from Doug Harwood – here we are in July, 2014 but his thoughts might be even more relevant today:
The Village Church in Rancho Santa Fe was packed today – over 500 people by my count – to pay our respects to Doug Harwood. Five people spoke from the pulpit, but it seemed like everyone there could tell a story or two about Doug.
I’ll tell my favorite here.
A few years back, I had tracked down the owner of a house that was in default, and told him I had a buyer. Because the loan balance exceeded the value, and the owner didn’t live in the house, he had nothing to gain really. He was an upstanding citizen who was beset by medical issues that prevented him from working, and had gotten behind.
He said he’d be willing to work out a deal, but he wanted his agent to help. Great, who’s your agent? “Doug Harwood”, he said.
Though we had done business before, I didn’t know Doug that well. We arrange a meeting at the owner’s residence, and I came wearing my usual tie and driving the luxury sedan.
Doug pulls up in his older Suburban, and jumps out wearing the big hat he made famous. He then introduces me to his passenger.
“Jim, I want you to meet me Dad. We’re on our way to our weekly lunch.” I had just lost my Dad, and I remember how envious I was for them – and recognized that this wasn’t going to be the usual business meeting.
Selling houses was the byproduct of Doug’s relationship-building. Sure, we would need to get to some paperwork details later, but first – and more importantly – Doug engaged in a jovial conversation between all of us. Most agents would never think of letting you speak with their client, but Doug insisted. We even joked that if the short-sale went bad and the bank screwed us out of the commission, we’d just swap weekends driving the seller’s old Ferrari around!
It was obvious today that this was how Doug treated everyone. Shannon told the great story of how Doug would approach a homeless person. He wouldn’t ask if they were homeless; instead he’d ask if they were ‘living outside’ – and then reel off a hundred-dollar bill to make their day.
David Miller said that Doug loved the ‘Word of the Day’, and recently the word was nexus, which perfectly described Doug. He was the center of the community, judging by the 500 people who attended today, and there will never be another one like him – which makes our memory of Doug even more special.
I cut my favorite passage of our talks here:
Doug’ s self-portrait
Our favorite realtor has left us – another cancer victim. Doug and I go back to 1994 on Shore Drive in Carlsbad, and there hasn’t been a more gregarious guy in the business since. I have the utmost respect.
I appreciate his willingness to go on camera and share his thoughts. His talks are the best real estate video you will ever see.
Here’s one of our first together from July 14, 2015, plus a link to others:
https://www.bubbleinfo.com/category/doug-harwood/
Doug’s final words to me:
“After the many years, it’s the good friends I have made in real estate that brings me the most joy.”
His Facebook page today:
How many people have a half-acre oceanfront lot and can walk to both Moonlight Beach and downtown Encinitas? This should sell right away.
I appreciate Doug and his willingness to share on the blog – thank you!
I stopped by to see Doug Harwood’s new listing on Neptune on Wednesday. Doug had his Fuji Instax camera, which is like the old Polaroid cameras that produce the photo right there so you can hand it off.
It made us ponder how the real estate selling game has changed over the years.
Much of the selling process is the same, and realtors like it like that.
Things that haven’t changed much:
The Differences:
It’s not as personal as it used to be, but much more efficient!
The Z team was in town today.
Here is a video of their presentation of the SD stats, plus Doug Harwood and myself discussing the future. My comments were based on this piece:
Donna thought my words were a little strong, but they need to be to emphasize the point. Zillow intends to change the whole game – they have from the beginning, and they demonstrate the killer instinct regularly. But they are so nice about it that they are sneaking up on most agents who don’t see it coming.
The lower-producing agents will be the first casualties, and they will just retire and watch from the sidelines as Zillow starts advertising that they have the best agents. They don’t mind spending $100 million per year on those ads, and no other real estate company comes close.
There are 11,000 agents in SD County, and around 3,000 sales per month. Agents who sell 2-4 houses per year won’t be able to keep up with superior agents teams that will be outfitted by Zillow to dominate the market.
More from the zenmaster of real estate: