Is the real estate market starting to bounce back? That’s one of predictions floated by Bill Tancer of HitWise.com based on the popularity of the search term “Homes for Sale” over the past year when compared to actual home sales data from the National Association of Realtors:
However, I think the conclusion Tancer draws from the “Homes for Sale” search data is a bit suspect. He claims:
Intuitively, does that make any sense? People can’t make a decision about which iPod they want to buy in two weeks to a month, much less a home. And this doesn’t account for the time between an accepted offer and the actual closing. While there likely is a correlation between the two sets of data presented above, the time line must be considerably longer than Tancer suggests.
Is the real estate market starting to bounce back? That’s one of predictions floated by Bill Tancer of HitWise.com based on the popularity of the search term “Homes for Sale” over the past year when compared to actual home sales data from the National Association of Realtors:
However, I think the conclusion Tancer draws from the “Homes for Sale” search data is a bit suspect. He claims:
Intuitively, does that make any sense? People can’t make a decision about which iPod they want to buy in two weeks to a month, much less a home. And this doesn’t account for the time between an accepted offer and the actual closing. While there likely is a correlation between the two sets of data presented above, the time line must be considerably longer than Tancer suggests.
Is the real estate market starting to bounce back? That’s one of predictions floated by Bill Tancer of HitWise.com based on the popularity of the search term “Homes for Sale” over the past year when compared to actual home sales data from the National Association of Realtors:
However, I think the conclusion Tancer draws from the “Homes for Sale” search data is a bit suspect. He claims:
Intuitively, does that make any sense? People can’t make a decision about which iPod they want to buy in two weeks to a month, much less a home. And this doesn’t account for the time between an accepted offer and the actual closing. While there likely is a correlation between the two sets of data presented above, the time line must be considerably longer than Tancer suggests.
Have you every shopped for a new home online? If so, did pictures of homes influence your home shopping? If you’re like everyone I’ve ever met, you probably poured over photos of homes you were interested in buying. Photos help tell the story of a property, so the more photos you can see, the better, right?
Earlier today, I helped give two presentations to groups of real estate agents about their web sites where we covered topics such as how to market their web sites online and what they can do to generate more online leads. One topic covered in both presentations that was met with strange resistance by some in the audience regarded how many photos are acceptable for home listings.
Photos Tell a Story
Agents consistently agree that photos are one of the most important pieces of information found on real estate websites. Clearly, it’s easier to sell a home people can see than one they can’t, right? And more photos of a property should help even more than just one or two, right? Well, that’s where the argument starts to break down for some agents regarding low-end properties. The common comment: “I CAN’T take more than one or two photos of some properties.”
This is an interesting predicament. Can you make a marginal properties look great online? Do more photos of marginal properties actually make it harder to sell them?
Photos Save Time
As I think about this, I think the most important factor in this equation is time. Why would an agent who is paid on commission want to spend time driving clients out to look at marginal homes they should have been able to see online? In fact, why would an agent want to drive clients to ANY home to show them things they should have been able to see online?
For example, who do you think is a more qualified prospective home buyer?
Prospect A
Visits agent web site
Searches and finds an affordable home matching their interests at 1100 Oak St
No Pictures of Property
Prospect B
Visits agent web site
Searches and finds an affordable home matching their interests at 1100 Oak St
12 Pictures of Property
Prospect C
Visits agent web site
Searches and finds an affordable home matching their interests at 1100 Oak St
1 Pictures of Front of Property
As an agent, which prospective home buyer would you be most interested in showing this home to? A prospect who hasn’t seen even one photo of the home (A), only one photo (C), or twelve photos (B) covering the exterior and interior of the home and property? Clearly the answer is B. Does the price of the home make any difference in this equation? Why, as an agent, wouldn’t you take the time to take photos of the property you listed rather than driving prospects out to show them what they should be able to see online?
As a prospective home buyer, which homes do you spend the most time looking at online? Listings with no photos, one photo, or many? Why would you invest your valuable time visiting homes you haven’t seen? What would it take to get you to visit a property with no online photos? My guess is an exceptional price may help get you into the car, so the seller’s closing price (and agent’s commission) end up suffering due to the lack of listing photos. Or, does this mean screening for homes with no photos helps you discover underpriced homes?
I hope this helps explains how everyone benefits from additional photos: the seller, prospective buyers, and the agent. Let’s make the world of online real estate a better place by snapping more photos of every home listing.
Below is a list of websites mentioned during Roald Marth’s technology sessions at the 2006 Indiana GRI at the Indiana University Memorial Union:
Google - The popular search engine
Apple Macbook
Pro - New Apple Laptop
Google
Stock Price - Slight drop
CNET
Bandwidth Meter - Test your Internet connection’s speed
Speakeasy
Broadband Speed Test - Test your Internet connection’s speed
Panera
Bread WiFi Locations - Good food and WiFi
Belkin
Pre-N Router - Our favorite WiFi Router
Pricegrabber - A great comparison shopping site
Fujitsu
T4000D Tablet PC - Our favorite tabnote computer
Kodak
Easyshare V570 Dual-Lens Camera - Our favorite digital camera for real estate
Sprint PCS - Our favorite cell phone data cards
Slingbox - Watch your own television from anywhere you can find an Internet connection
Jabra
Bluetooth Speakerphone - A great speakerphone for laptops
Creative
Labs Webcam for Notebook Computers - A great camera for use with Skype
My.Yahoo - Personalized homepage
Skype.com - Talk for free over the Internet
Ebay.com - Owns Skype. Great auction site
Technology
Evangelist - This site
Apple iTunes - Syndicate Music and Videos
Bloglines - Syndicate News, Blog, and Images
David
Winer - Created RSS
Scrapbooking
Blog - A Scrapbooking Blog
Palm
Treo 800p Coming Soon? - The latest rumor about the next Treo phone
Technorati - A blog search engine
FON - Share WiFi connections. Received funding from Google
Google News - Great news site
Inman
Blog - Find out the latest in real estate
NW
Indiana Real Estate Blog - A team of bloggers in Indiana (Use blogger.com)
Rain City
Guide - A Seattle real estate blogging team
Curbed - New York City Real Estate Blog
Technology
Evangelist Feeds - Link to this site’s RSS feeds
Brownstoner - A real estate blog covering Brooklyn and brownstones
Blogger - A program used to create and write a blog
Galveston,
Indiana City Data - Information about Galveston, IN
Derek
Franklin - A Bloomington, IN, Flash Programmer and Founder of WhoNu.com
WhoNu.com - A Search Engine that searches search engines
SomeWhatFrank.com - A blogger Chicago covering emerging technology
Madeline Roz -
Ro’s Dog
Nashca - Ro’s Niece
MySpace - A popular social site
Ask.com - An alternative to Google Search
Yahoo
Video Search - Content other than web pages available through search engines
Enom.com - domain name registrar
HouseValues - Lead Generator
HomeGain - Lead Generator
Realtor.com - Lead Generator
RealEstate.com - Lead Generator
Snarky - A popular tone used in New York City real estate blogs
The Segal
Team - a site designed by WhereToLive.com
Technorati
Search for www.technologyevangelist.com - Shows the ranking of the site, and links to the site
Google
Search for [magellan 800 review] - Includes TechnologyEvangelist.com in results
Google
Search for [bloomington indiana homes for sale] - Note sites in organic and pay per click areas
Juan Sells - a local pay per click advertiser
Search
Indy Homes - A local pay per click advertiser
Google
Analytics - A free web statistics service
Edina Realty - A Minnesota Broker site
Coldwell Banker
Burnet - A Minnesota Broker site
RE/MAX
Results - A Minnesota Broker site
Barry Berg
Group - A Minnesota Agent site
C21man.com - A local agent’s site
RoaldMarth.com - Roald owns his domain name
Shoefiti - Ed’s “shoes hanging from powerlines” research blog
Please add questions in the comments field below. Thanks.
I’m currently in New York City at the Inman Connect Conference at the Marriott Marquis. For those of you not familiar Inman Connect, it is the premier real estate conference in the country, where real estate agents, brokers, lenders, and companies serving the real estate industry come together to learn from each other.
One particularly interesting session today was called “Blog-r-rama: Using Blogs to Market Real Estate” with Brad Inman moderating a panel consisting of Alexis Palmer of Curbed.com, Jake Dobkin of Gothamist.com, and “Anonymous” (explained below) of Brownstoner.com. The three panelists shared insights into what has made their blogs so successful in the real estate market.
A few takeaways:
Snarkiness Pays: Having an opinion and sharing it in your posts makes them interesting.
Credibility is Key: Each panelist shared information on how they got involved in blogging that only added to their credibility. “Anonymous” from Brownstoner is absolutely passionate about brownstones in Brooklyn, which led to his founding of a blog of the subject, and exponential growth in traffic from others sharing his passion for brownstones.
Allow Comments on your Blog: Comments build a community on your blog. People will return more often and take ownership in your blog if you allow them to publish comments.
Blogging Isn’t Easy: Yes, it’s easy to create a blog. Very Easy. But blogging for a living is far from easy. Brownstoner.com’s founder was undercover with a mask and wig to protect his identity so he doesn’t lose his day job. I’m sure the insurance benefits from blogging are fairly minimal at this time as well.
Can blogging make your business more profitable? Yes, if you blog with a credible voice or contribute to blogs related to your business or with visitors in your target market.
Hat tip to Alexis at Curbed: Thank you for the great restaurant recommendation.
Presented by Roald Marth.
Here is a list of web sites mentioned during the presentation:
Internet Connections:
Verizon DSL
Satellite from DirectTV
InsightBB Cable Internet
FIOS from Verizon (Fiberoptic Internet Connection)
Clearwire WIMAX
TabNote Computers:
Fujitsu 4020
Gateway Convertible Notebook
Digital Camera:
Samsung Digimax L55w
Broadband Router:
Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router
Online Fax Service:
Efax.com
Domain Name Registrars:
Register.com
Netsol.com
Lead Generation Services:
Homegain.com
Homestore.com
Housevalues.com
Justlisted.com
Voice over IP Phone:
Vonage
Skype
Mapping Websites:
A9.com
Google Earth
MSN Virtual Earth
New Real Estate Web Sites:
Trulia.com
Housingmaps.com
Roald?¢Ç«®Ç—¢s Friends & Family sites:
Madeline Roz
Maya Jonas
Nashca
Our Favorite Coffee Shop:
Panera Bread (free WIFI):
Comparison Shopping Web Site:
PriceGrabber
A WhereToLive.com Agent Site:
The Segal Team
Roald?¢Ç«®Ç—¢s Business Site:
WhereToLive.com
Did we miss anything? Have any questions? Please post them in the comments section below.
Thanks.
Recent Comments