Real Estate Portals. Do you need them?

This post is about “disintermediation". I have a whole bunch of stuff I could write about this topic but today I want to concentrate on Real Estate portals, specifically Trulia, Zillow and Cyberhomes.

First, in a nutshell, “disintermediation” is defined as “getting rid of the middleman". The idea is that Sellers and Buyers no longer need agents and can just log on to Trulia, Zillow, Cyberhomes or any of the other real estate portals and buy and sell real estate without the help of the middleman or REALTORS® specifically. Now folks I don’t want to debate the value of a REALTOR®. Been there done that.

I want to talk about this disintermediation thing. Here’s what I think.

The new real estate portals, that supposedly will make the MLS no longer necessary, are actually creating another level of middleman.

Trulia.com is:

We are a real estate search engine that helps you find homes for sale and provides real estate information at the local level to help you make better decisions in the process.(From trulia.com about us page)

The consumer can now log onto Trulia, find a house and THEN contact either their own REALTOR® or the listing broker. Better yet, maybe they will all have to go through Prudential, one of Trulia’s new partners. A FSBO cannot place a property on Trulia. Only agents can. So Trulia has NOTHING to do with disintermediation. So if the consumer wants to purchase one of my listings, by using Trulia, they will have to go through me. My listings are on Trulia.

What is Zillow.com?

Zillow.com is an online real estate service dedicated to helping you get an edge in real estate by providing you with valuable tools and information. (from zillow.com about us)

Now I concede that the consumer could very well go to Zillow.com and attempt to buy and sell real estate without the REALTOR® being involved. But if they want to purchase a property listed with me….they will have to go through me. Why? Because my listings are on Zillow.

Cyberhomes.com is the portal to watch:

Expert tools. First-hand knowledge. Cyberhomes^TM valuations give you access to most of the same information that real estate professionals use to evaluate homes. (from cyberhomes about us)

Cyberhomes is owned by Fidelity National Title. They have 100 million property records!! Keep an eye on Cyberhomes. They also have reliable sold information on these properties. The consumer CAN log on to Cyberhomes and get information. BUT if they want to purchase one of my listings…they will have to go through me. My listings are on Cyberhomes.

Now let me state that I use these portals quite a bit. Just yesterday, one of my Sellers contacted me wanting to do some research on her own, to see what her house is really worth. She wanted to know if she could do this by visiting the tax records online. I said she could. I also said her best bet is for me to update the CMA. BUT if she wanted to do some research on her own….here are the links to Zillow and Cyberhomes.

Also yesterday, I had a buyer contact me through my blog http://brokerbryant.com. He sent me an MLS# and wanted some info. It was not one of my listings and I had already logged out of the MLS so I just put the MLS# into the “search properties” feature on my site http://brokerbryant.com and pulled up the property.

I got the address and then located the property on Trulia and sent it over to him. I thought Trulia’s presentation was a little better than my IDX. No biggie. The buyer emailed me back and I will be showing him the property next week when he arrives from Bogota Columbia to buy in Poinciana FL.

My point is, the real estate portals are not disintermediating my business in the least. They are actually giving me some tools I can use in my business.

Being a listing Broker, as I am, I OWN the listings. No matter where the are syndicated you can’t buy one without going through me. I control the inventory and I control the commission. This is the advantage of being a listing Broker. Whether or not your Buyer decides to cut out the middleman, you, they aren’t able to cut me out. They have to go through me no matter where they find the information.

To take this a step further. If the MLS disappeared tomorrow, I would still OWN the listing. I don’t care where the Buyer comes from. They can’t purchase one of my listings without me getting paid. Think about that.

And for the consumer. Why waste your time going through the “middleman"? Why not go straight to the source? You don’t need Trulia, Zillow or Cyberhomes. In fact, you probably haven’t heard of these places anyway. So just do a Google (I bet you’ve heard of them) search for the area you want to live in. Want to buy or sell in Poinciana FL? Try Googling these.

Buy a house in Poinciana

Sell a property in Poinciana

Find a realtor in Poinciana

Find a broker in Poinciana

Buy a banked owned property in Poinciana

List a short sale in Poinciana

SEXY REALTOR IN POINCIANA

Then just contact the guy at the top……Broker Bryant. Google me….that’s all you get for free.

Poinciana Real Estate Blogsite. Welcome!!
A shout out to my Poinciana peeps!!!
Broker Bryant's counteroffer technique!

http://www.brokerbryant.com/00274B

Posted on March 21, 2008 17:58:45 by Broker Bryant

Posted in Broker Bryants opinion

Comment from: Louis Cammarosano from HomeGain [Visitor]

· http://blog.homegain.com

I'm with you. These companies are doing you a favor not a disservice.

There is no way an individual realtor, broker or brokerage franchise could reach all the potential buyers. What the disintermediaries like Trulia, Zillow and Cyberhomes provide (at least for now) is free marketing for your listings.

The argument against them happens when they attract their large volumes of visitors on the back of your listings and then try to charge you to display your listings.

Even that argument can be countered because if they can still draw a bigger crowd than you or your franchise can, then their services are worth paying for.

The argument that HomeGain is a disintermediator in respect of listings is even more ludicrous. HomeGain drives visitors DIRECTLY to your listings. We don't even display them! http://www.homegain.com./buyerlink/index_html?ht=landing_bl

Permalink March 22, 2008 11:21:20

Comment from: Bryant.Tutas [Member]

· http://buypoinciana.com

Hi Louis, Thanks for stopping by. The interesting thing about the RE portals is that most of the consumers I deal with have never even heard of them. The consumer uses Google, Yahoo or one of the other search engines to find properties. Of course these searched may lead them to trulia, zillow or Homegain. Actually you would know. Where does most of HGs traffic come from? Is it a direct hit or is it coming through an engine?

The point of my post was that we can certainly utilize these portals in our business but if we want to capture the consumer directly then concentrate on Google positioning. I OWN Google for Poinciana.

By the way, I have been a member of HG for about 7 or 8 years. I haven't solicited any of the sellers lately because I have so many sellers already. And I don't work with buyers. I like HG. Now just reduce that referral fee and I may be able to afford to use it:)

Permalink March 23, 2008 08:59:37

Comment from: Louis Cammarosano [Visitor]

· http://blog.homegain.com

Bryant

Our traffic is a mix of Direct, SEO, partner, referral (like Yahoo, USA Today) and paid (google, Yahoo MSN).

As to a reduction in the Agent Evaluator referral fee, scroll to the bottom of the link below and you will see that late last year we reduced the fee from 30% to 27% for regular members and to 22% for Gold and Platinum members. We will be creating (announcing it tomorrow) a new Silver club membership for which the fee will be reduced to 25%.

There is some good information on how to win more often with AE also in the link below.

http://blog.homegain.com/category/agentevaluator

BTW you can also post your listings on our HomeScout product.

http://www.homescout.com/addlistings.html

And in the coming months we will have a Seller product that will help you with your listings too.

Permalink March 24, 2008 11:00:14

Comment from: Andrew Cox [Visitor]

· http://www.coxinspections.com

Broker Bryant,

I think you are right on with this posting. After having gone the FSBO route, and not using a REALTOR when buying my home, I wouldn't do it again if you paid me! You might save a few bucks, but gain a lot of headaches.

It's great to see you and some of the other REALTORS put these tools to work, instead of trying to put them down. Not only are these sites now working for you, but it lends you the credibility and I would think open your doors to a much bigger market.

Andy

Permalink March 25, 2008 10:21:32

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