Real Estate Marketing Report Card Keeps Agents, Brokers on their Toes
International Listings, an search portal for global luxury properties, has put together a very clever marketing device they’re calling their Real Estate Marketing Report Card.
The idea is pretty simple; a seller can punch in their address and listing price and the system will quickly check a handful of real estate search destinations to make sure the home is displayed and the price is accurate.
(It’s missing Realtor.com oddly enough – but this is probably due to the FSBO element of the IL site)
It’s a great promotional tool - one that’s clearly designed to encourage people towards listing their home on the site (a $299 one-time fee).
The proliferation of consumer search portals has given rise to all kinds of syndication tools like International Listings as well as Listhub, Postlets, vFlyer, Point2 and others, that do the heavy lifting for agents and brokers to get their listings out across the web.
Savvy sellers, who in this market are going to want to see that their agent is doing all they can to move their home, are likely going to be checking the various search sites to make sure that they find their house. A tool like this one, while clearly a gimmick, helps make that possible.
What I’d really love to see is a big brokerage implement something similar on their site — it would be a fantastic way to build engagement with consumers by letting them come to your corporate site and see how their listing is doing. Keller Williams, who has their own internal listing syndication tool (KWLS), would be a natural fit for this kind of application.
Even better, find a way to white label the technology and brand it for every single one of your agents to deliver monthly to their clients; a full report of where the home is listed and activity on each of the sites.
In this market, consumers are starting to demand accountability. Best get ahead of the curve and figure out ways to support them.
h/t @GundyGroup
St. Louis Commercial Buildings | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
I just dont want to see the whole thing.
Galen | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
It’s definitely good marketing for International Listings, but it’s silly. No one uses Lycos to search for homes for instance. Agents who spend a little more energy on timing the listing, getting the photos just right, and putting it on a) the MLS and b) Craigslist are doing their sellers a far greater service than getting their house on all of these sites combined.
These sites are a side dish – I would wager that 99+% of consumers search the MLS, Craigslist, or Realtor.com and use those sites for most of their “real” search.
Boney | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
Galen,
That may be the case that Lycos doesn’t get used too much, but in the case of Trulia and Zillow vs. Realtor.com, just check a Compete or Quantcast graph: these web 2.0 property portals are gaining a lot of eyeballs and will probably continue to do so.
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/realtor.com+trulia.com+zillow.com/?metric=uv
If you look at that graph, I don’t think you’d feel so safe that “real” consumers use only the three services you mention.
Kevin Schmidtchen | Feb 4, 2009 | Reply
I agree…once you really look at this I don’t believe it is too useful. I do not know of really anyone who would search for homes on Oodle for example or some of the others. I think the report card would stop at zillow and trulia and google base as far as this list goes.
http://www.SantaBarbaraRealEstateVoice.com
Realtor | Feb 4, 2009 | Reply
I think the best thing we can do right now is make sure that lenders and brokers are held accountable. To ensure that we don’t experience a crisis like the one we are just coming out of, we need to keep a close eye on everyone involved in these transactions.
Shamus | Feb 4, 2009 | Reply
eh.. i would agree that people over 50 use realtor.com and mls , trulia and zillow are huge for people that know how to use the internet though.
hiltonheadrealestate | Feb 4, 2009 | Reply
Good article, and I agree wholeheartedly with your premise. However, I own an ERA franchise in Hilton Head Island, SC, and when you type in an applicable address, the marketing report card is inaccurate most of the time. It will often say a listing is not on a site when it actually is. Great idea, but the execution seems designed to get sellers to either harass their agent and make them prove they syndicated their listing to these sites, or sell syndication services.
Heather | Feb 6, 2009 | Reply
It is apparent no matter how much Realtors fight it, Realtor.com will be number 1, and no matter how hard Realtor.com fights it, agents will keep only spending 1% of thier advertising budget on Realtor.com. All these sites will come and go, and come up with quick ways to make a buck. Everyone wants someone to take out REALTOR.com and will never give it, it’s due. Realtor.com is not on the list, cause it does not allow non Realtors to advertise on the site, so this company can not get it’s money for it.
Mike Hale | Feb 7, 2009 | Reply
I like the concept (mostly to prove to my clients how I use online marketing where other agents don’t), but the results aren’t accurate. It’s possibly due to the fact that addresses in my area are like “1s234″ which screws up alot of address searches. It’d be nice if they added a “Search by MLS#” too.
Matt Dollinger | Feb 11, 2009 | Reply
Joel,
Good looking out for things like this. Although… I think we miss the point.
For this to have value, it has to work. I put in 4 of our listings here in Chicago that I am 100% certain on featured on Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow, Oodle, and others. The results?
Realtor.com only.
I think it’s a great idea, but if it doesn’t work… it’s nothing.
Also, when I wrote an email to the company, their response was read the fine print.
MAtt Dollinger
The You Factor
Luke Gunderson | Sep 6, 2009 | Reply
Hey Joel,
@GundyGroup is now just @LukeGundy.
Thanks!