Real Estate Agents : why do you pay to labor on the Lead Farm?

by Don Stewart on September 8, 2012

On the Lead Farms (the major real estate search sites), the agents bring the value, pay all the bills, and have no control. Does this seem fair to anyone?

Inman News reports that Trulia will net 66 million in their new stock offering.

Let’s review what is going on with Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, etc – the Lead Farms.

Agents gather the listing data from a client that wants to sell his or her home. The listing is posted on MLS hoping to attract buyers – that is what we do – that is the real estate business.

Then the Lead Farms (ZTR etc) aggregate the listings hoping to attract consumers so they can sell access to those they attract to the agents and brokers that make their business possible in the first place. Make sense so far?

Then the agents pass on that cost in the fees they charge the next client that wants to sell their home. It is a cost of doing business.

So, the parties that bring the value, the agents (and their clients) pay, while the Lead Farms get paid.

Brian Boero (in his 1000watt Blog) reports his excitement with all of the investment in Trulia, Zillow, Move (operator of Realtor.com) and others.

Brian is an advisor to companies in the real estate space so activity like this would be exciting – it is change and growth and that is good – for some.

In my opinion it is not good for the agents or their clients – only for the Lead Farms.

All of these companies rely on the agents to bring all of the value and to pay all of the bills – while the Lead Farmers get rich.

Agents  – wake up -  the internet is the future and you have no seat at the table. You just bring the value and pay the bills…

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The value is in the Realtor, not the data : TREB vs Competition Bureau

by Don Stewart on August 29, 2012

The Toronto Real Estate Board and the Competition Bureau are still in court. When will we give in to the fact that the sale price data and all other relevant information will be available to consumers? It is inevitable, and is not the end of the world. There is no dog-eared MLS book anymore – it is all on the internet and it will be freely available. Get over it.

Our value is not our collective ability to hoard data. Our value is in the individual realtor, the practitioner, the person using the data – not in the data itself. I can buy a hammer, but cannot build a bird house (not a proud statement, but true). See the story here.

http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1247876–toronto-real-estate-board-launches-11th-hour-constitutional-challenge-in-competition-case

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Quebec realtors might leave CREA – fees too high

by Don Stewart on August 28, 2012

Realtors in Quebec will vote to see if they want to stay in the Canadian Real Estate Association. The annual fees are about $300 per realtor per year to support Realtor.ca (National MLS) and other CREA activities. The Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards might leave CREA as their members question the value they get for the fees they are paying. A vote will take place in September.

http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1240195–quebec-realtors-on-verge-of-separating-from-canadian-real-estate-association

 

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Make the most of your membership!

by Don Stewart on June 25, 2012

Checklist…

1. Complete your Agent Profile – include a current photo and as much information as you can. It seems pretty simple, but not everyone spends the few seconds it takes to put their best foot forward.

2. Use as many of the 20 community keywords in your profile as needed so people looking for an agent in your area will find you. You can use a city, town, subdivision, neighbourhood slang name, condo building name – all the area names a potential client could use when they search for an agent.

3. Build your STAR rating – the members with the highest client satisfaction STAR rating display first on an agent search. Let the good work you have done in the past attract new clients for you.

4. Contribute Neighbourhood Focus pages. That’s how our buyers and sellers research communities and find the agents that “know the neighbourhood”. They could be moving across town, or across the country. Post a few articles to start and try to add a couple of new items each week – please be sure to include proper links and accreditation!

5. If you get an email saying that an Agent Invitation is waiting for you then smile, login and reply quickly. It will only take a few minutes and will set you apart from the others.

6. When you propose a commission fee to a client please remember that they are reaching out to you, and that Agent Invitation will not ask for any of your commission. Buyers and sellers hope to pay a little less – any commission shortfall should be more than offset by your reduced cost to find this new client.

We’re glad you’re here. Tell your colleagues.

Best,

Don

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