I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in San Francisco at two different gatherings of “the best and brightest” among internet-savvy Realtors, software developers and Brokers.

The first day at RE BarCamp was an informal network discussion that facilitated friendly interaction; instead of having “experts” presenting seminar talks to an audience, everyone who attended was assumed to be an expert and actively contributed to the discussion.

The Inman Real Estate Connect conference was more structured, but had some exceptional opening day including Bradley Inman, Founder and Publisher of Inman News; Brian Boero Partner, 1000 Watt Consulting; NYT tech writer Nick Bilton; and Craig Newmark founder of Craigslist.org.

Newmark is an agent for “change” helping tech people get things actually done in the Federal government and is a champion for veterans rights. From the peace symbol in their browser address line, one might get the idea that Newmark is also an advocate for peace.

Two great quotes from Newmark:

“As a species, we will either collaborate or die.” and

“If people have jobs they don’t want to fight.”

Ironically, the most controversial guest that Brad Inman interviewed Wednesday was PeterTongue, who also brought a message of “collaboration over competition.”

Tongue’s “heart-centered real estate” speaks to”the unethical principles of greed and glottony that have created chaos and mistrust in today”s world”.  Tongue has collaborated with Lake Tahoe broker Shari Chase in offering webinars, workshops, one-on-one sessions and retreats for Realtors and brokers who want to “shift their vision of success.”

The controversy was not so much about the notion of “collaboration”, which has become the latest buzz word among many, but the metaphysical underpinnings of Tongue’s  meditative coaching approach.

Particularly at RE BarCamp, I found a refreshing “open source” attitude and some wonderful, open-hearted sharing of ideas, experience and information.   We were also inspired by grass-roots giving organized by Alain Pinel Realtor Ginger Wilcox, who collected funds for helping the homeless.

My approach as a Realtor at Alain Pinel is also to collaborate with my clients, coworkers and others toward the common good – what I call the “art and heart of real estate”.

Rick Bonetti | 408-857-8800 | Alain Pinel Realtors | DRE #01237009