As real estate transitions from old school print to new school internet technologies, many agents and brokers find themselves lost on how to market their properties. Which is best for their client? Which is best for their agents? Which reaches the most consumers? Which is easiest to use? Which is most likely to stick around over time?
I am constantly testing these new sites as marketing tools. Some I used yesterday, some I use today, but I am not sure what I will be using tomorrow? These are interesting times for agents and brokers and our clients and customers as real estate transitions from 1.0 to 2.0. With these thoughts in mind, there is an interesting debate going on over Rain City Guide about the value of these new online real estate portals and marketing sites. One commenter (afthree), makes some interesting points when he says,…
“At the Inman conference in NY there was a great session for Brokers only, ie no web 2.0 companies allowed. Fantastic criteria came out of the session as to what websites to send listing to and which to avoid:
1. Is the website trying to create a real estate brand? If they are trying to create a real estate brand, then they are a competitor.
2. Would the website exist without broker’s listings? If not, then they add no value to the real estate ecosystem.
You are are hurting yourself in the long run by sending your listings to a company trying to create a real estate brand, particularly if it would not exist without listings from brokers.
By this criteria: Trulia, Zillow and PropSmart are competitors to every broker and agent. Google, Craigslist, Oodle, Microsoft, are not competitors.
Trulia and PropSmart clearly would not exist without listings from brokers. Zillow is an interesting case of creating a real estate brand without broker’s listings, very innovative and much harder work.
I’m using this criteria and I’m sending my listings to Google, Craigslist, Oodle and Microsoft, but not to Trulia, and Propsmart.”
The responses have been equally thought-provoking, like this one…
“Search engine mega portals like Microsoft, Google, etc.
These companies are scary. Microsoft & Google have the resources, traffic, talent, and drive to do whatever they want. When these giants walk, the earth moves. However, their business interests are so large and diversified, that it’s unlikely they’d ever focus on the real estate industry to the point where they’d be effective competitors to Propsmart, Trulia, and Zillow.
But what happens if one of them decides to buy one of these companies someday, (perhaps to enhance GoogleBase or Live Expo to compete with Craiglist) then what? You can’t compete against Google (unless your Microsoft, and even they have their hands full).”
The whole post and discussion is worth a read if you are interested in how the future of real estate adapts to an internet marketing platform. Surf over to read Adventures in digital listing land.
