scaling and consolidation

In biology scaling is a major topic--whole books have been devoted the the effects of scale at levels from cellular to planetary. As I was driving into the office today a recurring idea popped into my brain and I realized it had extreme relevance in considering the current path of the state association with regard to statewide MLS, standard forms and educational offerings.

The state association, conveniently enough, sees California from spy satellite altitude--the towns and even the houses appear pretty similar from far above the earth's surface. Lots of similarities--town centers, suburbs, freeways, rural roads--patterns repeating, over and over, regardless of what part of the state is considered.

The process of buying and selling the land and structures seen in this distant view also has strong similarities. Buyers, Seller, agents, escrows, loans. Pretty similar across the vast landscape viewed from space.

From that high altitude vantage point it might seem reasonable that a "one size fits all" solution would have benefits across the board. Same forms, same MLS database, same agent business practices, same educational presentations etc., etc. Admittedly, that perspective certainly works well for the state association--it's simple, efficient and consistent. No worries about being responsive to smaller scale heterogeneity--because the other components are necessarily responsive to the sweeping statewide "one size fits all" solutions. Easier for those in the smaller scale world to adapt rather than to create alternatives!

Here's the rub. Buyers and Sellers and agents and land and structures vary widely across the state when considered at smaller scales. Seen up close, the state isn't a corn field, it's a richly diverse tropical paradise of variation. The state exhibits incredible diversity. More importantly, the Buyers and Seller living in this wonderland of detail measure the quality of their experience ONE HOUSE AT A TIME IN ONE PLACE AT A TIME. Furthermore, they don't buy or sell houses very often and when they do, it's often in the same area of the state. Their sense of scale and "grain" is totally different than that of the state association. In the final analysis, BUYERS AND SELLERS PAY FOR THE WHOLE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY, including the state association.

Considering the way Buyers and Sellers encounter the real estate "habitat", one house at a time, at human scale, do they tend to receive the best possible service when that service is defined or constrained by "one size fits all" statewide solutions? NOPE!