Realtor.com to dominate in 2008
According to FOREM readers anyway…
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Realtor.com looks like it won’t be giving up the title anytime soon, as it nearly doubled the number of votes received by second place finisher Zillow.
Yahoo Real Estate is still hanging in there, but surprisingly, Trulia scored pretty low - perhaps reflecting a lack of satisfaction with the overall experience on the search site. Frontdoor, the new kid on the block, is understandably low on the totem pole for now.
With the New Year right around the corner, I’m looking for some more prognostications. Namely, what’s in store for the 800lb Real Estate 2.0 gorilla, Zillow (see Put Pen to Paper - Zillow Predictions Anyone?)?
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RSS readers, click through to vote. In this poll you can select multiple options.
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Josh P | Jan 1, 2008 | Reply
Why did you not include Homescape/Homefinder in the mix? They are just going national and already have a stangle hold on markets where they have newspapers.
Andrew | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply
Any thoughts on why Realtor.com will dominate? Their Company Showcase product has been going through some changes. We migrated to the Office Standard product, to ensure we stick to our ROI goal on $ per lead.
retrove.com | Jan 2, 2008 | Reply
I think it’s interesting to see the results. I would tend to agree that 2008 will still be R but by 2009 things maybe different. I think most feel R can hold onto the position… especially if they focus a little more on the SEO aspects of the site, like T is doing.
Sara B | Jan 3, 2008 | Reply
You poll was positioned on your blog, which I assume is dominantly read by agents? I wonder how the results would differ positioned to a consumer audience, the people who are actually buying and selling the homes? My opinion is that Realtor.com wouldn’t be as dominant.
I hope voters are wrong about layoffs at Zillow! I don’t want to be looking for a new job next year!
Joe Ballarino | Jan 3, 2008 | Reply
Realtor.com is number 1 because most Realtors search on it to view their listings, check client listings, etc.
Jack A | Jan 3, 2008 | Reply
Hits are one measure but stickyness and conversion to it’s clients (all of us) is another. I have purchased the REALTOR.com Marketing System membership and have bought as many as 2 featured home spots for several years and have received zero results. In a world of hyper-local real estate information, I will be focusing my dollars on my own site, creating the hyper-local scene and get some business! They can have the most hits record.
Dirk Knudsen | Jan 3, 2008 | Reply
I resisted realtor.com for years. As the #1 rated Re\Max agent in the State of Oregon I have tried it all. I finally joined them as a showcase agent this past year but was not surprised when we received ZERO leads and ZERO benefit. You need a better strategy. This is a for Profit Company that for years has stepped on the agents that they purport to represent. These are our listings. Zillow and Trulia etc. would not be dominating the landscape looking forward if NAR would have had some leadership years ago and taken control of Realtor.com.
We need a National MLS that displays address, agent info and web address, rich property content, sold comps, and more. Until we get that we are going to see a continued erosion of our business…particularly the online sector.
We Have cancelled our online committment to Realtor.com and are using that same $$ to build nitch web siites and for top search placement.
Re\Max.com is currently ranked #2 by the way Joel. I am not a huge fan of this site either as I feel E-Neighborhoods does a horrible job of providing our technology but the fact os the site gets a a lot of uniques.
best wishes in 2008.
Regards;
Dirk
Portland, Oregon
Joel Burslem | Jan 3, 2008 | Reply
@Sara - According to my recent reader survey, the bulk of FOREM readers are either involved in real estate (agents, brokers or individuals employed at brokerages) or are technologists (people who work at companies like Zillow); with a smattering of VCs and media thrown in the mix too.
For sure, it’s not consumers. Weigh the results accordingly.
I hope you won’t have to look for a job either (and I doubt you will)!
Clete Pfannenstein | Jan 3, 2008 | Reply
I have used Realtor.com for years now, I would agree that it is the #1 real estate site. But the truth is, that I can only attribute one transaction directly to a hit from Realtor.com. I agree with Dirk that what we really need is a national mls with agent/company contact information etc. The $$$$’s I & my associates have spent at Realtor.com has not been worth it, in my opinion. The sellers like it! And that may be why we continue to spend money with Realtor.com.
Sol Sek | Jan 3, 2008 | Reply
I think we ought to distinguish between Realtors and Realtor freindly sites.
Realtor.com
Zillow.com
Trulia.com
Yahoo! Real Estate
Frontdoor.com
I have yet to see a “standard” of service established by realtor freindly
sites that can motivate the typical consumer
to lend loyalty to that site.
This leads me to believe that regardless of the tools or technology developed by them
individual Realtors can create one just as good or better, in time.
The market demands faster better service with
commission scalability. None of the Realtor friendly sites today offers this. In fact, most of the services make agents slower and add cost to the process.
Condo Domain | Jan 4, 2008 | Reply
Hmmm….what about CondoDomain? j/k. Still in Dubai…look for our new site launch next week (well just for Boston, for now…)!
Aleksandra | Jan 4, 2008 | Reply
I am agreed with Joe Ballarino but these are the results this year but it may be different next year. I think Rank can hold onto the position… especially if they focus a little more on the SEO aspects of the site.
Don Johnson | Jan 5, 2008 | Reply
I don’t know about a “stranglehold”…considering the markets your owner has papers in, Homescape would have a much higher comscore ranking than they do if you did have a strangle hold. But in general you make a good point and one I’ve made on here before. FOREM selectively leaves out sites that have as much if not more traffic than many of the sites they put up here. What about REMAX.com? What about Homes.com? When I look at comscore, both of those have significantly more traffic than Trulia, as much as Zillow and FrontDoor isnt even on the map and Yahoo just isnt an apples to apples comparison. In 2008, you will see Coldwell and C21 emerge (just like REMAX did last year) with heavy promotion with their new national IDX search. Realtor will continue to lose market share even though they may still lead with most traffic. Zillow traffic will continue to slip and Homes.com will continue to grow.
Pam | Jan 11, 2008 | Reply
Do you have any print statistics on Homes.com?
marti garaughty, The Art Of Marketing You | Jan 12, 2008 | Reply
The thing is that from the consumer’s point of view, Realtor.com is a brand name they know and usually find first in search engine results when they’re researching buyng/selling homes so… the results aren’t really surprising.
Mike Parker | Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
Realtor.com dominate?
When is everyone going to see that this Emperor is wearing no clothes? The site ‘reports’ 7 million visits a month, it says; yet if more than one pictures is on a page, the number of pictures is also the “number of visits.” There are over 2 million real estate pros and if they all go to Realtor .com to check their listings three times a month, that’s their traffic.
By far, the number one place for internet buyers is the Search Engines, and the idividual rea estate agents website is the best investment they can make. Our few hundred clients get almost 3 million visitors a month and climbing–up 300% from last year. We aren’t claiming all the credit–it’s because people want to go straight to what they want to view without navigating arcane and counter-intuitive websites.
“Don’t make me think” is an IT mantra. “I want to look at Baltimore Real Estate. Show me Baltimore Real Estate in one click.”
That’s what the consumer wants.
Russ D | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Realtor.com, zillow, homegain etc, are all leading the real estate industry and real estate associates to a dead end. The achilles heel will arrive for the above compaines soon. Change will be arriving in March 08