Monday, September 26, 2005
Follow the Puck
The NAR lawsuit “fits into the broader effort that we and the FTC are undertaking,” -J. Bruce McDonald, deputy assistant attorney general for antitrust.
I believe that the U.S. D.O.J. intends to soften the blow to consumers that the pending housing recession will inflict. If more people keep more equity in their pockets by not paying 6% to a realtor, they will be able to spend more money on their next home, more money at the gas pump, more money at Wal-Mart, etc. If the bubble starts to pop this ‘broader effort’ will become known soon thereafter.
As for the currently documented investigation….
When the MLS is finally put completely into the hands of the consumer, listing agents will lose their value completely. When every listing, exclusive or non, is made available to the public, sellers will have no reason not to use a flat fee MLS service.
It will then be all about a REA’s ability to generate buyers. They will be the ones who provide value, thus earning the money.
The question must be asked, “How do you create value for a buyer?” Why would a buyer choose to use you or your company to buy their home?
Convenience? Larger selection?
Being able to truly provide EVERY listing, including FSBO’s would provide value.
RE/MAX realized this 3-4 weeks ago when they announced that they will putting the entire MLS on their site. Good effort… but I don’t see them providing FSBO services any time soon.
The only way for a company to provide every listing to the public is to engulf itself in a given market. Don’t try to conquer the world with your big, elaborate web site. Conquer a small market first. Dominate that market. Make the realtors in that market realize that their ‘cheese’ is now gone. When you’ve done it one market, do it in another.
OR, better yet, we unite. Working simultaneously on FOCUSED geographic locations to bring the consumers every listing. Perhaps a medium such as thehomenet.com could suffice.
I have the blueprint. I am more than happy to share it with those who are like minded. You are more than welcome to use our model… which is more complex than it appears on the consumer end of our website. The real power of our model lies in what you don’t see… our integrated Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) and our additional revenue streams.
The shift will happen.
It may come down to who can best integrate ‘technology and touch’… a founding cornerstone of my company. Proper integration of this cornerstone into both the back end of the business (CRM) and front end (user facing web site) could put us where we need to be. Certainly a great deal of touch is accomplished, too, through the afore mentioned focus on a contained nexus of operation.
Keep in mind, too much Touch and not enough Tech will slow you down. Vice versa, will keep you from ever moving.
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WHEN YOU AIN’T GOT NOTHING, YOU AIN’T GOT NOTHING TO LOSE. - Jimi Hendrix
The NAR has everything to lose. They will fight tooth and nail to hang on to their archaic methods. While they spend time, money and energy fighting, others can prepare.
While they are chasing the puck, we can skate to where the puck is going.
Rob Steiner
LISTFREE
September 27th, 2005 at 2:36 pm
Rob,
I checked out your site. There are some good things about it compared to some of the competition. You mention that you have a complex business model with a focus on CRM and other revenue streams. How does it work?
So, I went to the details of a particular house and clicked the “?” expecting to see something different than the listing info, maybe a place to see FAQs about that property, or at least more detailed info — neither happened. And I noticed that I have to “Apply Now” to get to a mysterious next step that is not explained in the FAQ. This seems like a deliberate business decision — funneling into your CRM?. But as a consumer, what if I don’t want to apply now? I just want information, and no other services. Frankly speaking, “Apply Now” scares me, especially when you want quite a bit of information from me. And, it doesn’t look like you provide address info with a general search. So, I can’t map out where the house actually is?! Why would you hide that from me? If it is a piece of info that requires me giving you my email address, that doesn’t seem fair either. If I simply didn’t see the street info, that’s a simple usability problem, not a business model decision. I’m a software developer not a real estate guy — that’s where many of these comments come from.
This book is good for anyone with a website(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0321344758/qid=1127852721/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-9059699-1326405?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)
These guys are the current kingpins of design. Here are some of “how they’d change it” examples:
http://37signals.com/better_fedex.php
So, I don’t have my own FSBO company and don’t know your model, but as a consumer, am I right? I don’t want to use your site and simply become a “lead” for companies that pay you. Is that unrealistic or misinterpreting your site?
Anyway, thanks for your candid post.
Ben
September 27th, 2005 at 3:12 pm
Ben,
Thank you for your input. I need different sets of eyes with different types of abilities to help us determine our weaknesses.
We have decided not to provide the street address of the listings to protect our sellers. Real estate agents are relentless in their pursuit of new listings. Also, we use this as a sales point with our sellers. We tell them that only buyers who have proven to us that they have the financial capability to purchase the home will be contacting them. The buyers are not required to use our affiliate lenders. As long as they assure us that they have the financial means, we will move them forward. FSBO sellers love this. One of the more frustrating part of sell by owner is the buyer screening. They get tired of people tracking mud through their home. We send them buyers with ‘cash in their pocket’. Our sellers appreciate this.
Keep in mind too, we are a local company. Our users are able to establish a pretty good idea of where the home is located without necessarily needing an address.
We are trying a more ‘liberal’ approach to this methodology in our Mid-Ohio market. Here you can simply click on the “CLICK HERE” button on the home page to receive a temporary U/P. But, yes, we do need an email address to send you a permanent U/P. We do not share your information. No spam will be sent. I make this clear on the form page. Honestly, we have not even used the email addresses ourselves. We do not even intend to. If we do, it will be done individually with a personal touch as a form of follow up… no bulk mailers.
Thanks for noticing the ‘?’ (Help) button malfunction. It is supposed to go to a page that explains how the afore mentioned address,email, U/P process works. We should definitely change the ‘Apply Now’ language, too. It is offensive to casual shoppers.
I appreciate your input!
Rob
LISTFREE
September 27th, 2005 at 8:08 pm
I’m sorry Ben. In my hurry to correct the problems you brought to my attention (they’ll be published shortly) I forgot to answer your first question… about how our CRM and additional revenue streams work.
The technology behind our CRM is not what separates it from most others. I’m sure you can see that by examining the source. It’s our persistence in it’s use that delivers results.
EVERY customer communication is documented. Every buyer, every seller, every investor, every realtor. This allows us to develop relationships… which leads to the additional revenue streams. When you develop enough relationships with enough sellers, enough buyers, enough investors, and enough realtors; revenue happens.
The CRM also allows users (associates) of all IT awareness levels to create and manage listings.
All listing traffic is closely monitored. (We like to know what signs and which advertising methods draw in more traffic.) Weekly traffic statistics are then emailed to sellers…. another opportunity to communicate with our customers. It also tracks which users look at which properties. It helps us gauge the interest of our buyers. They may be saying ‘3 bedroom’, but shopping for a 4 bedroom… sorry, bad example… you catch my drift. Essentially, it allows us to act instead of react. A buyer’s shopping cycle can take months or even years. When we see activity from a user who has been inactive for a while, we may make a call to see if they need anything. This level of proactive customer service makes us very different from other FSBO sites.
This is why it so vital that we collect information from our users. Not so we can distribute them as a “lead”; but so that we can develop a relationship. Our users are never “leads”. When our affiliates work with them we have already developed this relationship. They make the choice to use their services. They are not ’suckered’ into becoming a lead, as is the practice of many common online lead suppliers. Since our affiliates are using the same CRM, the transition is seamless. They do not feel as though they are being passed around.
We may use the collected email addresses to initiate contact, but always in a personal manner. Never bulk. Never auto-generated. Always personal. Always directly from LISTFREE.
Hope this helps. Once again, thank you for your insight.
Rob Steiner
LISTFREE
September 28th, 2005 at 10:31 pm
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