I don’t have a better word to represent what this is, but I feel that “blog” just might be the most over-used word of the year.The Tomato folks query whether one should focus on national or local real estate blogging…. This was my comment:To be clear on my intentions – I started my blog with not as a reason to draw in business, but as a vehicle to fill what I perceived to be a void in the local real estate market commentary…. Those who read blogs appreciate candor; they know it when they see it and will keep coming back if they find it.I have two real estate search sites – but they do not get nearly the traffic my blog gets, nor do they serve to establish anything other than “hey, another Realtor with a website.” Putting myself out there – my personality, my skills, my opinions does differentiate me from the others – sometimes that differentiation is good, sometimes probably not so good.
Browsing Category Marketing
NAR’s campaign and the Minnesota Association of Realtors
This new letter from the Minnesota Association of Realtors and the new advertising campaign from the National Association of Realtors have one thing in common – credibility.The MNAR’s first letter asking some Realtors whether they would be better served in other careers generated quality discussion, on both sides…. I disagreed with the campaign.Sandy Mattingly states at the Matrix:NAR is a national organization, so almost anything that it says nationally runs against the all-real-estate-is-local axiom…. However, they are doing more harm than good to our reputations as trusted professionals.Yesterday morning on CNBC, NAR’s president Tom Stevens and Roubini Global Economics’ Nouriel Roubini faced off. One said the market’s great the other said recession was upon us. Guess which one said which?This morning, Toll Brothers (huge national builder not yet in the Charlottesville market) announced lower-than-expected earnings.”We expect the cancellation rate to remain elevated while home prices decline and the time [needed] to sell a home lengthens,” he added.People appreciate and respect candor.
How would you design Realtor.com?
I have been thinking a lot about this recently, for a variety of reasons. Given the opportunity, how would you re-design Realtor.com? sellsius°’ post last week – “Top 10 Complaints with Realtor.com” got me thinking….
What is the future of the MLS?
I do not intend to bore readers, but this has been a very hot topic of late, and I am fascinated by the direction of the MLS for a variety of reasons:1) How will this affect my clients?2) Emerging technology and the implementation of said technology fascinates me.3) How will this affect my business?4) What do I need to do to adapt, overcome and out-innovate my competition?… We are in a time of massive transition, from one where the Realtor controlled all the information and consumers were forced to go through a Realtor to buy or sell property to a world where information is free-flowing…. I would argue that most of this is happening in a way that consumers are not paying close attention to the changes, but they are in fact experiencing and taking advantage of the changes.But – referencing free information, such as that provided by Zillow, Johnathan Miller states:Free infers less precision, so as long as the product is marked accordingly, thats ok. I think the turmoil created has been the assumption that the result was gospel, and people will rely on the results, which may or may not be accurate.Most consumers do not use the MLS every day, but I would argue that somewhere near a majority checks the local MLS public search page at least once a month, if not once a week – just to satiate their own curiosity.For more information and insight, read Russ’ review from this past May and this article describing the future path(s) of the MLS concept. Disclaimer: I am a member of the NAR Future of the MLS PAG (how’s that for acronym overload).This, from Saul Klein’s blog (actually a cut-and-paste of an Inman article) – from Tom Stevens, CEO of the National Association of Realtors:What makes MLSs unique in the business world is that they exist first to facilitate cooperation between brokers, and that includes interbroker compensation…. (I am not advocating this position, just asking the question)Now that two large brokerages are going to send their listings to Google Base (subscription only), how long before an MLS decides to do the same? Or a large regional MLS?”The content partnership with Google will grant home sellers increased visibility for their property listings, as the partnership allows home buyers greater access to search for properties with specific attributes including details on bedrooms, baths, lot size and address,” according to Prudential California’s announcement..How long before they stop adding properties to their local MLS’? How will this impact consumers?Each day that I learn more and think more about the future of the MLS, the future of marketing property, a couple of things become clear:1) I get more confused2) I get more unsure as to what the future will look like3) What we know today is far different than what we will know tomorrow4) Property data (or content) is becoming far more fragmented than ever before.
Friday roundup
And Realtor.com’s CEO goes SpringerThe Difference between good Realtors and bad agentsBuying a new construction home? Bring your own tape!Housing Starts rebound (national) … but building permits are down (PDF)Zillow uses their prominence to discuss eminent domain. Good for them, and thank you.A Super Wal-Mart in Greene?… they expect people to consistently show up for work…. If they would just open a Super-Walmart in Greene and close down the one in Charlottesville …More home loans go sour – yet some lenders continue to loosen lending standardsYou think Google’s not benefiting from Trulia’s growth?… Pete Flint, CEO of Trulia … showing me his referer logs, and they definitely show that Google sends more traffic his way than any other search engine.
Cracks in the foundation
The Northwest Multiple Listing Service will no longer send their data to Realtor.com…. Realtor.com depends on MLS’ sending them their data. Without the data, what is Realtor.com?What if … more MLS’ pulled their data?My question is this – will the NWMLS still allow, via IDX, their data to go to their broker sites, and in turn, google, trulia, etc? This could signal the beginning of the end for Realtor.com.How will out-of-the-area buyers find the individual brokers’ sites, in light of Realtor.com’s no longer being an option?The same way I just did. The search engines. These are fascinating times to be a part of an industry that is changing more rapidly than ever beforeLocally, see what happens when one searches for “Charlottesville homes”? (note: my website comes up #2 – Wow again!)This I know – soon, the search engines will refine their real estate search even further.
More pictures, please
One would think that the slowing market would make There are 2021 active residential properties in Charlottesville, Albemarle, Greene, Fluvanna and Nelson Counties.52 have no photos at all (but many new construction properties, although finished, still have “artists’ renderings” as the “photos.”)381 have only one photo1588 are marked as having more than one photo.Remarkably, only 167 properties have a Virtual Tour of some sort. Granted, not all properties warrant Visual Tours, but certainly more than 8% of the properties out there should have more exposure. Pictures may not sell the property, but they will certainly generate interest in a property. Many clients have told me that they do not even look at properties online if they do not have photos. To the contrary, I love these properties (from a Buyer’s Agent point of view) as they typically have less traffic. Less traffic frequently = more motivated Sellers.