This is probably going to be the first of a series of articles (how many I do not know) that were inspired by the think tank known as the Clareity Summit. As I was sitting there,so many topics came to mind. Unfortunately, I wasn’t TransTwittering like Michael Wurzer was(update: I was told this probably should be called TransTweeting). On the other hand – I also want to expand on them. Maybe Twitter, for me, could be used as a thoughtpad for me to get to later, and if not, at least I put it out into the public realm more so than on my napkin-note. Anyway – I am diverging bigtime.
At the end of the first day of sessions, Bob Hale (Houston Association of REALTOR Fame) gave a mesmerizing presentation about their marketing strategies, and just why it makes sense to fish upstream. I knew I had to dissect this and regurgitate some of the numbers that he presented.
Lets start with the basics. Fishing upstream is always more lucrative then fishing somewhere that has become diluted. 1.3million websites trying to attract the new web consumer is a lot more dilluted than 900 MLSs consumer portals trying to compete. Even if we normalize to a region and assume that each of those MLSs have the same number of agents, that still leaves 1400 REALTORS trying to compete for a geographic area – versus 1 MLS. We all know that you are probably trying to compete with more than 1400 other REALTORS.
During his opening talk (at the summit), Gregg Larson mentioned that MLSs need to reinvent themselves as information companies. It was implied, to me, that he was specifically saying you have to think of yourselves as information technology companies. MLS should be the ones creating the tools and services that sit on top of their ‘upstream’ raw, consolidated, trusted and most importantly comprehensive data set.
Lets look at some numbers (Click the thumbnail for a screenshot of one of the reports). The following table demonstrates where the top destinations for Chicago, Charlotte, Houston and Dallas are for Real Estate. What do you notice? Not a single REALTOR site, and only one Broker site. The rest are Franchise level, larger portals (aggregators), etc. What does that demonstrate? The closer to being upstream you are, the more likely you become a destination. On top of that – most of the other sites that are destinations are also trying to ’sell’ you something – if it is leads, advertising placement or one of the many other services that these sites du jour offer.
* – Franchise
** – Broker
Now look closely at the Houston numbers. HAR.com pummels even the big guys (YAHOO/REALTOR.com). Why is that? They are the hatchery. They are where the source of all data originates from. Thus they are the most comprehensive and trusted data for that region. Compound that with how they have embraced their role as a information technology company, and you have a win-win formula for a Real Estate Destination. All of this, with no upsell proposition, or some $19.99/month promise.
In 2006, HAR.com gave 1.6 million FREE click thrus to Broker websites. 555,000 of those turned into leads (225,000 email and 330,000 phone). Now how is that for a member benefit? In addition to sending their members lead after lead – they also provide detailed analysis and reports of how you are performing on their site.
I’ve said it before – and I will keep saying it. Bob Hale and the Houston Association of REALTORS know how to effectively use their vast amount of data for the benefit and productivity of their members – meeting the consumer needs will ultimately service the REALTOR.
Hey, dont listen to me. See what their seller response was:
Most valuable site to sellers as surveyed by HAR.
So the moral of the story. Data originating from the source is always the best, and why not work more directly with a service that is about serving its members, versus a service that upsells your content back to you. Leverage those other services and watch your ROI, but data is the new gold, and you already belong to the Federal Reserve of Real Estate Data. Its time to let your customer in for the daily tour!
Extremely informative. I wanted to attend that conference just in case I missed something like this! Thanks for the info….
About that situation where brokers want to shut down the MLS public site because they think all that traffic will come to their site instead – statistics have shown it not true time and time again in many markets. The traffic mostly goes to the national sites, including those that charge large advertising or referral fees, and after paying the freight at those sites, it’s a net loss for the broker and agents. I like to use an analogy – when it comes to web traffic most brokers think they are fighting over the steak – but most are just fighting over the bones. A strong public portal offering coordinated through the MLS is an amazing subscriber benefit that needs to be recognized as such.
Chris, thanks for speaking at and otherwise participating in the MLS Workshop – your contributions made it a better event for everybody.
Great coverage of an important topic Chris.
The research cited regarding seller response to har.com is just the tip of the iceberg. WAV Group is releasing its white paper containing all of the survey results from our August study of har.com consumers and brokers.
Anyone can download a copy of the whitepaper at http://wavgroup.com/Home/Reports/Reports/MLSConsumerWebsiteEffectivenessStudy
Don’t see Trulia or Zillow or Google Base consistently or at all on these charts. But was surprised to see Yahoo. And to think Prudential was getting the benefit of all those consumers.
Very surprising to see how unimpressive Realtor.com is in these standings.