Disqus - Latest Comments for retrove

Re: Defining the Customer

retrove — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:07:30 -0000

If I remember correctly you instigated a lot of the inspired conversation with the introduction of your friend named Jack D

Re: Blog Your War Stories

retrove — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:15:06 -0000

I agree about the stories but there should be a focus. The stories told should be about the problems people faced in the RE transaction and what the final solution was. If one client has had an issue an agent solved, it's probably a concern for other prospective clients also. Telling these stories with the solutions shows how the agent is a proactive problem solver which is a quality most seek in their agent. To solve the issue mentioned above, it does not directly have to be about a problem one of your clients had but one in general

Re: What Makes A Realtor Good?

retrove — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:20:27 -0000

The issues that Marc points out above is also supported by NAR home buyer reports. Good in eyes of customer is one who is responsive and follows up. Something like 60% of clients selected their agent simply because they were the first one to return a call.

Fact is, alot of consumers are spending 4-9 months researching areas looking at real estate porn... many know a specific market more than the agents themselves and they know it. Also alot of them now want to speak specifically to listing agents as they want detailed information about properties they are interested in, they don't feel need to have agent to filter property details from listing agent.

Service is also the #1 reason why a customer selected a particular agent per NAR reports.

Good agents for customers & other agents = responsive & detailed?
Good agents for brokers = independent & profitable?

Re: What Makes A Realtor Good?

retrove — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:27:27 -0000

Hello Rob,

Nice post but isn't the real question "What makes an agent good or bad to whom?"

Peers, their broker, clients, industry as a whole? The benchmarks for good or bad qualities depends on your the point of interaction with the agent in question, hence the reason the question is so difficult to answer. I think this falls in line with what Vance's comment above.

Certain performance benchmarks are known:

- # of sides annually
- $ volume

but these stats would not define a good agent to a customer but it's the most common benchmark used from agents to consumers as displayed by the number of business cards that proclaim, "Million Dollar Producer".

Also if you read the NAR reports it would seem that most buyers are truly happy with their agents but yet that is not supported by stats of repeat transactions.

Like you, I look forward to hearing some feedback...

Re: Here, There Be Monsters

retrove — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:35:10 -0000

Hello Rob,

Interesting comments and maybe the financials of some of the sites like ziprealty and realestate of IAC may provide the some insight into the models you are discussing.

If I remember in Q1 & 2 of both companies had continued increases in # of transactions & closing while the rest of the traditional RE bombed. They were not profitable due to expansion but it does show that they have the potential.

Re: More Numbers That Make Me Go Hmmm…

retrove — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:35:28 -0000

I think the correct answer is (1) with a sprinkle of (2). I also think you are seeing the amount because many investors where buying the homes as "owner occupied" properties so they would show up in these vacancy rates in "homeowner" properties.

Regarding... "“homeowner rescue”. I 100% agree with you. The main reason why it won't work is that fact that most people cannot actually afford the homes they purchased. This was due to the stated income loans that gave homebuyers the ability to get themselves into debt way above their means. It wasn't an issue when property values where increasing as the homeowner could sell (at a profit) before they were in trouble or any mortgage lates where reported. So even if you provide the ability to get a loan with these rescue plans, the average don't qualify due to debt to income ratios.

Due to permanent nature of blogs, a fun excercise is to sometimes look at old blog posts like this: http://www.mortgage-info.com/blog/2006/12/possi... to see if items discussed actually came true.

Another interesting point is during this same time one of the common arguments for continued increases in home prices was due to limited supply of housing... which this data would seem to refute.

The rear view mirror is always clearer than the windshield :)

Re: Sex Sells: An Amusing Idea, With a Point

retrove — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:40:01 -0000

Wasn't me... no nakedlistings.com in my domain portfolio...

interestingly, I think a woman named Michelle S. owns the name :)

Re: Observations on Onion Peeling: MLS 5.0, Single Point of Entry, and Revolutions

retrove — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:06:33 -0000

Hello Rob,

You are 100% correct that RE is a service business not a data business. RE companies / agents should be reading Gerbers E-myth as guide to creating a system of delivering exceptional service and the clients will flock. The RE commnunity only needs to purchase the NAR homebuyer reports to discover what can wow customers but unforetunately most don't.

Re: So… Anyone Going to Inman SF?

retrove — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:46:57 -0000

Will be there also... looking forward to meeting / seeing everyone.

Re: Wanted: A Life

retrove — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:32:15 -0000

Rob... we rather have your occasional quality posts than frequent filler posts :) anyway. As a father of two... I can so relate.

Re: Analyzing the Move, Inc. Earnings Call

retrove — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:20:43 -0000

Realtor.com is making some changes... some of which you can see on their upcoming site: http://beta.realtor.com/

You can see some of the items they are experimenting with there. I think there will be a focus on UGC from both agents and consumers.

I agree they could hit it out of the park but the this is still a wide open field since the leader only has a 9%- 10% market share.

The item none of them have been able to solve is to show the real ROI of their advertising to the agents - in my opinion this is the real opportunity. Once they can do that, then agents will go with the source that provides them the best return even if it's the most expensive.

Re: Further Proof that NAR is Out of Touch

retrove — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:56:09 -0000

Talking about the NAR being out of touch. As you say...

"…understanding the consumer’s mindset in a far stronger, clearer way, to provide guidance to its members; "

The problem with the NAR.... it's not just out of touch with the consumer, is out of touch with itself.

If I remember the stats correctly according to the NAR 07 Home Buyers Survey, something like 53% of people surveyed the primary reason for buying a home was because they wanted a "home", a place to put down their roots for their family, stability etc.

Yet, in this time when the national median sale price has declined 4.5% and everyone who looked at real estate as a great investment and tried to flip houses are getting their clocks cleaned... the NAR spends millions on a national advertising campaign talks about real estate is more than a "home", it's a great investment that usually doubles every 10 years - http://www.realtor.org/pac.nsf/pages/HomeValues ?

Maybe the message got reversed between the NAR and the advertising agency and they really meant… Real estate is more than an investment… it’s a place you call home?

One thing is for sure.. they didn't read their own surveys. If half of your target consumers are telling you they are buying homes because they want to plant roots and provide stability for their family...

I would suspect that you would want to do a national advertising campaign that would reinforce what they are already telling you. I'm I missing something?

P.s. Just want to say you are putting out some great posts that everyone needs to read.

Re: Further Proof that NAR is Out of Touch

retrove — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:22:30 -0000

I agree that many of the agents are no longer drinking NAR kool aid as evidenced by Jay Thompson and his NAR wisdom blog. I 100% agree the industry is not going away and it is evolving and adapting quickly and the current markets and consumers seeking transparent communication will only accelerate that change.

As for Dustin, yes, he has an excellent grasp of what consumers are looking for and what agents are attempting to do. I think he has one of the most balanced point of views in the re.net.

Re: SquidZipper, Trulia, and HomeDepot: Future Tense

retrove — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:38:05 -0000

Excellent post with great observations. One that I'm sure the likes of Trulia, Zillow, etc. would not necessarily like too many brokerage owners reading.

Your observation seems supported by NAR surveys of repeat buyers, which indicate that although the user liked the initial experience with their agent, yet less than 50% used the same agent, a second time.

As you indicate, maybe they didn't remember them, especially since many don't keep in touch with their past clients. If they can't remember the agent they worked with during an emotional time over 30-60 days, how would they ever remember the agents office (brand)?

Re: The Seven Deadly Sins Method, Part 1

retrove — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:53:08 -0000

Rob - again another excellent post. The 7DS marketing idea is brilliant as the starting point for any marketer in developing a marketing campaign and for a business to develop their USP.

Re: New York Real Estate Listing Sites

retrove — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:34:46 -0000

Here is a Web 2.0 FSBO site which is free: http://www.forsalebyownercenter.com, Google maps mash-up, Google Earth KML file for each listing, automatic XML feed to Oodle, Backpage, Lycos Classifieds.

Re: 50-Year Mortgages

retrove — Thu, 11 May 2006 16:10:41 -0000

It's really not that bad. Consider that most people refinance every 3-8 years anyway, constantly recasting their loans for another 30 years. Either a 30 year, 40 year or 50 year does not make a difference because any equity built up via the amortization scheduled is spent in refinance costs anyway. The reality is, when people obtain a mortgage, they are looking the the maximum amount possible, for a fixed rate mortgage... longer amortization means bigger loan amount. Also keep in mind, lenders are rolling this out, to save all of those people on 2/28 interest only loans that are coming due.

Re: iGenHome aims to marry offline and online real estate worlds

retrove — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 11:21:10 -0000

Nice site. As the previous poster indicated, I like the charting... can work for or against creating sales. Altosresearch is doing lots of charting, interesting stuff but I think we need to wait and see with what RE/Max comes out as they have the listing inventory and following already built in to shake things up. Also, Coldwell Banker just did a revamp of their site with map search.

Re: What’s your home and those around you worth? Zillow.com tells you

retrove — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 17:45:41 -0000

It's a great site and will change real estate for the better. Some people
question accuracy of the results... here are the Zillow results tested and charted against real-world closings.

Re: Battle of the (Ad) Network Stars

retrove — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:19:35 -0000

The other item that I think is interesting about this real estate advertising vertical is that in traditional (print) real estate advertising the money was spent by agents / brokerages to brand themselves and listings. Now most RE sites allow the agents / brokers to advertise for free who will purchase the ad inventory?

Z's Ez ads don't seem to have really taken off... T already allows the brokers to post listings and now brand listings.

Sure all the ancillary services to real estate transactions (moving, painting, cable, etc) may advertise but that seems like a small percentage of traditional ad dollars that are migrating online.

Regarding who will last? At this point I have been underwhelmed with Cyberhomes but they have the most potentional due to the access to FNIS resources and data while Trulia already has many good relantionships in place and has a strong organic SE foothold but seems more vunerable due to dependance on agent community for listings.

Re: First Real Estate Apps for iPhone Start to Leak Out

retrove — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:10:21 -0000

Hello Joel,

I agree that by nature the real estate search process is a mobile activity but I'm not sure what the traction is from users. Iphone users are early adopters by nature, so it may happen quicker with this platform. I suspect users would search at home and map but then use mobile search only when they run across a listing that looks interesting to them while they are out in the streets.

I wonder what the big R's success has been with it's mobile search product - http://labs.realtor.com/mobile/mobile.html and when they may convert the existing product to work with the iphone?

Re: Advertise Your Listings at Wal Mart

retrove — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:29:00 -0000

I think it depends on the level of sophistication of the searcher. Certain sites will attract a different level of buyer... so with that said, a Walmart maybe a good source for first time buyer type listings.

Personally, I think Walmart purpose is not to get into real estate but to use the listings as a "life event" identifier for their clients. When buying or selling is typically the time when shoppers purchase alot of products and Walmart wants to be in front of them at that moment. They will probably run this beta test then start to incorporate some type of offer for users to shop back at walmart.

More importantly is this issue...

"Do people know that they aren’t seeing all the listings? "

As there are more and more sources of to advertise listings and this will become a bigger and bigger issue and consumers are becoming more more sophisticated in searches as evident by the long tail searches of 4 words or more now.

Re: New York Real Estate Listing Sites

retrove — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:34:46 -0000

Here is a Web 2.0 FSBO site which is free: http://www.forsalebyownercenter.com, Google maps mash-up, Google Earth KML file for each listing, automatic XML feed to Oodle, Backpage, Lycos Classifieds.

Re: Advertising Oversaturation: Is More Too Much?

retrove — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:56:23 -0000

Excellent points to which I agree. I think you can already see this devaluation of brand. Compare real estates top brand - REALTOR.com to Z & T by looking at an Alexa chart comparing traffic levels over 3 yrs. You can see a trend (no just the obvious slowing of the market as a whole) but Z & T market share increases it appears to take directly away from R (who also spends 20+ million in advertising w/ 1.2 mill advocates – how’s that for brand building?).

I would also say there already is no “brand loyalty” when it comes to selecting a buyers agent / RE company to find real estate. This is evidenced by CAR’s surveys, which indicate that 71% buyers selected their real estate agent based on who called back first. This is because most buyers initially call agents only to get in to see inside properties they have already identified. Again supported by NAR’s survey, which indicated that only 36% of the time did the buyer purchase a home found by the actual agent.

When it comes to sellers selecting a company to list with, I suspect there is more perceived brand “trust” not actual loyalty. Sellers often select an agent based on the referral of a friend to an individual agent not the company they are with.

Regarding… “It seems inevitable brokers and agents will be asked to upgrade to featured status,” or course this is exactly what will happen. But will it be effective in the long run?

The idea of advertising is to increasee awareness of something by making it stand out. But how much can a listing stand out when it’s on a page that is full of other listings? This solution is what I call the “yellow page syndrome” – just buy a bigger ad – instead of being more creative in your marketing. This is a “syndrome” because you see your competitor buying a bigger / featured ad so you get infected with the need to replicate vs. differentiate. Look at any of the supermarket RE books… all the ads look the same, right?

As I indicated in the referenced post, craigslist has loyal users because that’s the only place you can see those listings. Imagine what would happen if a major RE brand did the same? They automatically go onto all buyers “short list” of must visit sites. Obvisiously difficult to achieve is they are members of the MLS with the current DOJ issues.

If the brands continue as they are now doing, real estate agents will move from a profession to simply a service provider. Especially if as you say Zillow becomes that “monster” since they allow FSBO to appear next to traditional listings, which will enable consumers to have the same audience access without the traditional RE costs.

Re: Why Greg Swann Should Ban Himself from Bloodhound Blog

retrove — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:02:49 -0000

Joe, I agree. Based on his rebuttal to my comment, it appeared he was upset regarding the use of unchained…

“He doesn’t understand the ideas he’s trying to steal, and he’s so clueless that he swiped the defining metaphor without even realizing it.”

Ok… one made reference to music… the other, his dog? Both are the passions of each poster from which they draw inspiration to convey a message.

Like you, what bothers me is the lack of respect he displays towards just about anyone who seeks to contribute to the RE community at large, simply because he thinks they don’t understand his (a RE agents) world, the re.net or in this case, the perceived association of a word to the BHB.

As you allude to with the ad hominem reference, maybe he didn’t take the time to read the author’s bio?

Re: Real Estate Study Exposes Zillow and Trulia As MLS Lacking: A Call for Local Coverage Disclosure

retrove — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:40:08 -0000

Hello Joe.

Great post as always, few comments.

A) "Real estate search nirvana is still a dream." - which is why most buyers search multiple sites and why we are trying to make it easier and faster for them to do what we already know they are doing.

B) "they are not search engines in the consumer understood Google sense that they search everyone’s stuff" - Couldn't agree with your more. I think only dothomes and us are true search engines.

C) One comment that surprised me was Marty Frames' from Cyberhomes who said the FSBO argument is "red herring", I respect Marty alot but thought this was way off base. I do think that cyberhomes maybe in the best position for coverage due to their access to data and ownership in some MLS's via FNRES, so will be interesting how they evolve.

Re: Real Estate Study Exposes Zillow and Trulia As MLS Lacking: A Call for Local Coverage Disclosure

retrove — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:08:42 -0000

Totally agree with the filtering and your "fuzzy" search. The issue is always "GIGO". For most of the others RE.net sites they are access data via feeds and that data does not contain the details your are mentioning. Roost solution of having the feeds directly from the MLS does give them the ability to apply those types filters assuming the MLS provides access to the fields but then again a broker could provide the same functionality to their own buyers also with their own IDX powered solutions.

Re: 2007/09/14/real-estate/

retrove — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:24:40 -0000

Here is a few other real estate sites worth noting:

http://www.retrove.com - New BETA - the first vertical real estate search engine.

http://www.forsalebyownercenter.com - FSBO / Google Maps mash up with multiple tools and calculators.

Re: Social Media Does Not Replace Marketing Strategy

retrove — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:37:06 -0000

Online makes up such a big part of peoples life that the lines between online / offline are getting blurred quickly. Remember early on people hid behind the internet, now people are using it to project who they are and to find things that are close so they can connect offline. This move towards transparency reinforces traditional offline practices.

Re: Three Books to Check Out

retrove — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:03:15 -0000

Hello Chris,

Thanks for reviews will have to check those out. Recently been reading Distracted by Maggie Jackson which I'm finding very interesting and re-reading Five Myths of Consumer Behavior: Create Tech. Products Consumers will Love by Smethers / France, also recommended. Looks like Buyology maybe my next read based on your review.

Re: DotHomes, a real, real estate search engine

retrove — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:53:32 -0000

Hello Todd,

Excellent points and one very close to home for us. I agree that the the Trulia & Realtor don't provide a real search engine experience of being totally transparent, just based on their revenue models. These are really just real estate advertising platforms with a search engine function.

The goal of these is as you say to possibly delay and wow the user with sticky features so that they can sell advertising.

Although I also think dothomes may face some issues of what "fair use" is with the combination of photos, description, address and price.

In my early review of the site it seems that they are getting the listings from 3 main sources c21, era and coldwell with some sprinkles from other sources like Alain Pinel according to Kevin http://3oceansrealestate.com/blog/dothomes-is-y...

As they get more listings the task of managing all the listing data may get very difficult. Although this model is good for savy web pro's like you do you think that consumers are ready to be retrained on how to search real estate?

Re: Sponsor IM Spring Break Road Trip aka SEO’s Gone Wild!

retrove — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:29:28 -0000

Can I ride with you guys instead :)? Oh yeah, I have kids... please have a beer or two on my official donation!

Re: As Real Estate Cools, Realtors Manage their Online Reputations

retrove — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:48:42 -0000

I think it is important to understand that the demographics of people who will control the majority of real estate transactions in the future is changing rapidly. The Gen X & Y who are going to help their parents (the largest real estate owning group) with all of their future transactions WILL check online on behalf of their parents, when they decide to do something.

Think about it. How many of you reading this right now, get questions from your parents regarding various issues that you research for them online?

Sure, a 55 year may work on a referral because that was the best referral then but now when he / she seeks the opinion of from the son / daughter, they (son / daughter) will go online and do research on the person or subject parents are interested in. At the very least you better be ready to answer question about items posted about you online.

Keep in mind, this demographic is already communicating with friends and family online, they are communicating via text message and im more than in person or verbally over the phone. This change basic interaction has far reaching implications that must in real estate haven't really thought about.

Andy is a leader in this field and his suggestions should be studied and applied. Look at his suggestion #6... remember redfin recent tv appearance with scientific facts on selling your home?

Re: Pubcon 2007 Recap

retrove — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 02:53:40 -0000

Nice chatting with you. Agreed Vegas is a tough one to meet up with everyone with the strip and parties but was great... mornings not so much.