Why IDX is a Really Bad Idea
November 5, 2008
Sometimes, you just have to learn the hard way. That seems to be the real estate industry’s preferred method of implementing technology tools - at least for the last twenty years or so. A herald comes over the hill, the masses become excited, everyone just starts doing it: And that’s when the highest risk to sound business principles usually occurs. Which is exactly where we are today with IDX - the “sharing” of listing inventory between competing brokers’ websites. It sounds like a good idea, except for one small snag:
Your million dollar website now looks awful because the data from your friendly cooperating brokers sucks.
A Difference of Six Words
October 17, 2008
What separates the great agents from the rest of the pack? Is it fancy training, an incredible manager or the latest tech tools? Why does the top 25% of the business earn an average of $200,000 in commissions, while the next 25% segment only earn $46,000 each year? Never mind the bottom half: They’d do better as Starbucks Baristas. Ask agents and they’ll tell you it’s luck, being in the right place at the right time, or even the power of statues buried upside down in the corner of the yard.
We think, however, that it only takes six words to make a huge difference in agent productivity.
Growing Your Hispanic Market
September 28, 2008
Here’s an idea that should appeal to all REALTOR entrepreneurs: Rather than waiting for a pile of money to fall from the sky, why not grow your way out of these tough times? It’s decision time now - and I don’t mean the election: Are you going to just sit there and let your company go bust? You probably don’t have enough cash to keep waiting it out - so pull your head out of the sand, shake off the panic and go do what you do best: Sell homes. Help buyers. Grow your sales.
If you don’t know where all this growth is going to come from, maybe it’s time to look at the growing Hispanic market.
What if Listings were Irrelevant?
September 5, 2008
Here’s a question that’s certain to be avoided by the real estate industry: What are you planning to do on the day that “taking a listing” becomes totally irrelevant? It’s coming, of course, and it’s not just because of a “housing recession” or any such calamity. Real estate based upon consumer needs, not actual “listings” will be the focus of the Next Generation of Real Estate.
And clearly nobody is prepared.
Bang! Internet Marketing is Dead!
August 30, 2008
It’s official. Internet marketing as you know it died today. One of the internet’s largest social network sites finally killed one of the internet’s largest search engines as the “eyeball attractor” for display ad views. Although it got little news, this mighty accomplishment may be the herald of a major shakeup for online commerce.
Consider yourself forewarned: Everything you thought about internet marketing to-date is now old news.
More Meaningless Marketing
August 21, 2008
When I read this headline this morning, I immediately thought of that Britney Spears song, “Oops! I did it again!” Once again, another real estate company is reporting some “numbers” designed to get people - consumers, agents, Martians - to gasp. Seems like their website has generated some few millions of “leads” to their agents. You know, buyers who go on their website and ask for more information. It’s another orchestrated PR campaign to get the public to say, “Wow! That’s a lot! It must mean they are really good!”
Too bad, then, that it’s just another example of totally meaningless marketing. What’s worse: Generation X and Y know it.
The Future of Real Estate Prospecting
August 19, 2008
Here’s an idea to make any agent’s day: If you’re finally fed up with the poor results and high costs of postcard mailings, newspaper ads and cold calls, and you’ve come to the conclusion that blind mass-email marketing makes you more annoying than maybe it’s time to get LinkedIn.
Or MySpaced. Or RealTowned. Or Facebooked. Or a member of just about any of the hundred or so major social networking sites. No matter how you look at it, the opportunities just add up.
First, look at the research. No, not the online web blather: of course the social network sites are going to “claim” they are the next greatest thing to croutons (which recently replaced sliced bread as the next greatest thing). We mean the consumer research. It looks like this: Baby Boomers are quickly losing ground as the “largest” source of real estate business to the combined numbers of Gen X and Gen Y. With more than 100 million X and Y’ers still in the market - yes, they are, and going to be the driving force for the next 30-40 years - it’s time to start propsecting on their turf.
In the “olden days” prospecting for sellers and buyers meant going to the Boomers’ watering holes: television, radio, newspapers and mailboxes. Yet fully 40% of homes were sold to first-time buyers last year, and the majority fo those were Gen X and Y’ers. Who don’t read newspapers, watch television on their computers, listen to satellite radio or download commercial-free podcasts and don’t ever check their U.S. mailboxes (they receive and pay their bills online, not with stamps!).
Now, if you’re just getting around to social networking, you’re pretty late to the game - by about 3 years. That’s still par for the course for most REALTORS and technology, though, so if you do it after reading this blog post, you’ll likely be ahead of the curve for most of your competition anyway. If we really wanted to turn social networking into real estate’s next money-making frontier, however, we’d get managers to start mandating it for every agent. Yeah, pretty impossible; managers can’t even get them to show up at an office meeting.
No question about it: Social networking will be a key method for contacting future buyers and sellers. A large source of sellers in the next 5 years will be Gen X’ers who are about ready to move up. They only work within friends or vendors who are referred to them through their sphere of influence. They think all REALTOR marketing - and marketing in general - is baloney (and they are mostly right). So you’re only going to get their attention if you can leverage their sphere of influence. That means someone they know knows someone you know who can put in a good word for you. Like LinkedIn’s “Recommend Me” function. Maybe even just an email. But it’s certainly not going to be an air-brushed glam-shot on a postcard that catches their eye…
Making eye contact with Gen Y’ers is going to be even harder. That group of attention-deficit, multi-tasking, wireless networking socially shy first time buyers (and we do love them!) doesn’t pause long enough to read your e-newsletter (who gets email these days? send them an IM!) And since they’re co-dependent purchasers using Mommy and Daddy’s money (ie., Bank of Baby Boomers) you’re going to have a double-deficit to work from when creating relationships. So once again, they’ll want to get to know you - which doesn’t mean your ego-centric website of awards and typed testimonials. It means they’ll check out your “real-ness” on your social networking page, look at who’s connected to you (and do they trust them) and maybe throw a virtual martini at you. And then, maybe just then, they’ll write something on your virtual “wall” and accept a “friend connection” from you and bingo! You’re making friends in cyberspace.
Look, you don’t get to write the rules. So stop writing ads. No, you’re not going to need an avatar and some virtual dollars, or go walking through a 3-D fanstasy world to find future customers: That’s kids stuff and it’s going to remain that way as long as human beings don’t live in bubbles. But as long as the party stays online - and it’s only getting bigger - you’re going to need to work the room. No more going “to the club” to rub elbows with future customers. For the future - starting today - you’re going to have to social network online.
Now, get to it!
Poor REALTOR.COM!
August 4, 2008
I feel bad for REALTOR.COM. Let me start by saying that I like REALTOR.COM - I really do. They’re a hard working bunch that puts lots of time, energy and effort into promoting other people’s products. They aren’t always perfect - yet they keep trying, and trying, and trying. And they do have the number one real estate destination on the web - so they are doing something right. But for long?
This week they announced their their latest round of new features for the website. Too bad it’s still fairly clear that REALTOR.COM is destined to fail.
Why? Because one group of people hates the site most of all:
The REALTORS themselves.
Resistance is Futile
July 22, 2008
In the 19th century, the Luddites were a group of workers who refused to accept the introduction of machinery into the process of textiles. So threatened did they feel by the mechanical looms that they often resorted to violence and destruction. At worst, they burned entire factories; at best, they resisted every advance of the industrial revolution with marches, pamphlets and the passage of restrictive laws. Eventually, however, the Luddites came to learn an important lesson:
Resistance is futile.
Just Shoot Me
July 17, 2008
I know, I probably deserve it. I’m the one who’s constantly poking and pushing and prodding the REALTOR population to put more property video online. I should have learned my lesson, though, after I cajoled the industry into putting more photos online, only to have ended up with the creepy, scary stuff we’re seeing today.
I thought I’d seen it all. I could even get used to the bad photos. Now it has moved into video - and if this is what we’re going to get from REALTORS, I’m thinking I might do better herding cats.
One Degree of Effort
July 10, 2008
One of my most favorite motivational messages comes from a short piece by Simple Truth’s 212-degrees movie. The message is simple and powerful: At 212 degrees, water simply boils. At 212-degrees it becomes steam. And steam can power a locomotive. In other words: One small degree of effort more, and you’re moving from ‘hot water” into powerful productivity.
So, what would one degree more of effort look like for REALTORS when trying to sell a home in a competitive marketplace?
How Many Lightbulbs?
July 8, 2008
How many lightbulbs does it take to change a REALTOR? Apparently, a lot, considering we’ve been offering ideas to the industry for more than two decades. But that didn’t stop this silly conversation from occurring the other day in my class:
“Yeah, it’s been on the market for about seven months. The seller won’t lower the price and there are about a dozen properties like it - some much newer - that are being offered for less. I don’t know what to do.”
“Have you provided the seller with the comps?”
“I just did again, for the fourth time, yesterday. She just won’t see the issue - it’s the price. Buyers have a lot of choices nowadays. She keeps saying we’re not doing enough advertising.”
“Have any of the buyers provided you with that feedback, so you could show her what the buyers are saying?”
When Companies Listen to the Customers, it’s Magic
June 25, 2008
Well, I don’t know what took so long, but Microsoft finally seems to have read its emails, listened to its voice mail and talked to its customers. According to a headline over at Engadget, Microsoft is going to support Windows XP until 2013. It’s about time!
Customers worldwide are breathing a sigh of relief as the Redmond Behemoth seems to have remembered a fundamental premise of running a good business: Listen to your customers!
There’s no magic in that premise. Your customers will tell you everything you need to know to be successful. After Microsoft launched Vista, both customers and industry reviewers provided it feedback. As expected, some people hated it (usually those whose computers were manufactured by Henry Ford Senior) and some loved it (those of us who understood that an OS change means, well, some things are actually going to be different). But more and more, especially amongst corporate clients with large installations, lots of proprietary software and sometimes older hardware in the field, the message was simple: Please don’t take Windows XP away. We might get to Vista in the future, but right now, we’re happy (and in a recession, without extra finances) still using XP.
Unfortunately, Microsoft, whose engineers and sales people are rightly enamored with their own products, just wasn’t listening. They were so certain they were right, so sure they could push the change through, that they turned a deaf ear to their clients. Even after giving a little - pushing back the mandatory cut-over date for computer vendors to sell machines with Vista only - Microsoft continued on the path of most resistance. They said: Vista or Nothing!
REALTOR Marketing Challenged by Gas Pumps
June 19, 2008
According to the NAR Survey of Home Buyers and Sellers (2007), buyers who search online real estate want to see the following (In order of importance):
- Pictures
- Property Descriptions
- Virtual Tours
- Area info
- Maps
- Agent Info
Now, most real estate agents look at this list and immediately see #6 and get all upset. What? It’s not about me? They don’t want to see my high-school photo? Oh no!
Lights, Camera, Video on your Website
June 17, 2008
Part 1 of a 3 Part Series on Video and Real Estate by Amy Chorew.
You have less than 6 seconds to capture a visitor to your website. Can video be the key to engage the consumer? Could be, if your video is professional looking and polished. Creating good video is an art form - it gives a good first impression each and every time. If you ever need to be reminded of how bad real estate video can be, just visit YouTube and search for some real estate videos there…. Okay, real estate video is evolving…
What can we learn from industries who have already made video on their websites standard fare? First off, the types of videos we should have on our websites. Consider:
- Welcome message
- Testimonials from Top Clients saying
- Property Showcase of particular listings
- Town Profiles and other “informational” video
What We Do
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- Ten Take-Aways from the NAR Annual Convention
- Why IDX is a Really Bad Idea
- A Difference of Six Words
- An Alternate Theory of the Market Crash
- Do you have the Success you Deserve?
- More Evidence the Bailout is a Handout - and a Lie
- Matthew Ferrara & Company News
- Growing Your Hispanic Market
- The Bailout will Destroy the Housing Industry
- When Companies Should Fail
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