There is so little confidence in realtor.com that the major players are creating their own real estate search portals. These portals could require the consumer to at least register your name and email address, and then the solicitations will commence. The article asks agents, “Would you pay 35% referral fees for scrubbed leads?” – and 71% of them answered No.
The nation’s largest real estate brokerage, NRT LLC, is preparing to launch two new search portals that are aimed at reducing the company’s reliance on leads from Zillow, Trulia and realtor.com, attracting homebuyers by offering access to a complete set of MLS listings in markets where NRT operates, plus bells and whistles like automated valuations.
NRT is hoping to not only boost the number of leads it generates in-house, but to more than double the number of high-quality “scrubbed” leads that it can collect a 35 percent referral fee on from select agents.
One of the new search portals, code-named “Project Flanker,” will feature automated valuations like Zillow’s “Zestimates,” and Internet Data Exchange (IDX) listings sourced from the multiple listing services in the more than 40 large U.S. metros where NRT has offices. The other website will consolidate most of NRT’s local operating company websites under one URL. Both websites are expected to launch by the end of the year.
Last year, NRT handled 1.5 million Internet leads for its agents, NRT CEO Bruce Zipf told analysts attending an investor day hosted by Realogy this spring. Only 30 percent of those leads came from NRT’s local operating company websites, Zipf said. The remainder came from more than 700 real estate-related websites that the company uses to generate leads — the top sources being realtor.com, Zillow and Trulia.
Read full article here:
Maybe they think Zillow is just a website? Or building a website is easy?
So pathetic.
So, another realtor site looking to dole out / control information, spam the consumer, and skim commish.
The industry already thought it was a good idea to sluff off the website responsibility to the individual agents through the IDX plan, where we can devise our own site and they fed us the MLS listings.
Eventually some vendors seized the opportunity and sold us on their basic cheap plan to provide us websites, and then agents had a basic cheap website to promote.
We can also promote the public site of our local Sandicor MLS, but what a mess it is. It only carries active listings, not pendings or solds – and when searching Carlsbad I found one of my own listings that appeared like an active listing, though it has been marked pending in the MLS since June 26th.
I have taken some flak in the last few days from agents harping on the accuracy thing, but Zillow looks like the most accurate public website to me.
So, another realtor site looking to dole out / control information, spam the consumer, and skim commish.
Yes, with emphasis on the last two.
I will say it as clearly as I can:
If you want to beat Zillow, then you have to build a website that is better than Zillow – otherwise the consumers are happy to stay where they have been the last few years. Plus you then have to advertise it more than Zillow does just to make up lost ground.
Am I crazy or is this article describing a business model for websites 15 years ago? Consumers will go to whatever portal is providing a clean interface with no registration requirements to use. As soon as you have to log in to see stuff, they will move on. Zillow gets you to register sooner or later, but its not required. Redfin has the most complete and accurate content, by far. They get listings a day before Zillow, sometimes more
Only 30 percent of those leads came from NRT’s local operating company websites, Zipf said. The remainder came from more than 700 real estate-related websites that the company uses to generate leads — the top sources being realtor.com, Zillow and Trulia.
It just occured to them that consolidating their efforts to a few company websites might be better than being spread out over 700 websites they don’t own.
They get listings a day before Zillow, sometimes more.
Embarrassing when listing agents can upload their listing manually to Zillow for free, and they appear immediately. But you still see no or lousy photos too, so no surprise.
So here’s their 2013 Internet lead sales funnel:
1,500,000 Internet Leads (30%/70% Own/National Portal)
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130,000 Leads (91% “scrubbed – out”)
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4,500 closings by 4,000 “e-agents” (96% “wipe – out”)
Overall, 4,500 closings from 1,500,000 leads has about a 0.3% conversion rate. Is that a typical resales rate?
Well now you’re asking for it. A 10% conversion rate would be good because the lead-in is weak. For example, the Trulia seller questionnaire (that I pay to get leads from) has had every lead except one respond with the choice “Just Looking”. What kind of answer is that for a seller?
The Trulia lead that came in today got my response within minutes that included intimate details of my personal sales/experience in the same neighborhood.
Her response to my question?
“I’m not thinking of selling my house.”
The leads are half-baked at best because of the lead-in. People are promised free evaluations and they think ‘what the heck’ and give a bogus phone number and a real email address and they get a sap like me to give them a free opinion.
I already cancelled my realtor.com package, and Trulia is next.
And I know what you are thinking. In Glen Garry Glen Ross the lousy agents said the leads were weak too. But they are weak, honest!
Why? You can’t talk people out of the house they live in. Where are they going to go? If you are a realtor with a conscience you will stop once it becomes clear they have no place to go. Get a reverse mortgage if you need the money.
If that is considered weak, so be it.
It cracks me up to hear Realtors complain about 3rd party websites stealing their listing info and then selling the leads back to them while they are are oblivious to the fact that many of the associations to which they belong are already working behind their their backs to monetize and sell it already. Realtor associations are some of the most corrupt organizations around and they get away with it because of the ignorance inherent to 90% of the membership. Wake up you guys!
Who are you talking to? Are you talking to me?