There's a battle ragging for the hearts, minds and online loyalties of home buyers and sellers. These virtual battle grounds are:
- On the Internet for Real Estate Websites and Blogs
- Around Google-Like Search results (On Google, Zillow, and all the other Search Engines)
- Around the YouTube Virtual House Tours available soon on Google
- At the tops of the minds of every home buyer and seller.
NAR, Move.com and Realtor.com want us to believe that by keeping our listing data close to our virtual vests and hidden from the Search Engines (on the Invisible Web); home buyers, sellers and we agents will be better off. How long will we drink their Cool-Aid?
Internet searchers search for everything on Google. Searchers expect and demand Google-Like Search for everything. When home searchers don't get it from NAR, Move.com and Realtor.com, they'll only stay if they can't go elsewhere. NAR and Realtor.com can only hide their (our) listing data for so long. They can only threaten to take their (our) data and go home for so long. They can't beat off the Search Engines, the Banks and the Department of Justice with their buggy whips much longer.
Why didn't we Realtors hear more about Open-Web Google refusing to deal with Invisible-Web Realtor.com? I can't find it on Google or on Realtor.org. Why didn't we get a vote? Is NAR a dictatorship? Whose side do you want to be on in Real Estate 2.0, Real Estate Search 2.0 and Real Estate Search Marketing 2.0?
When will Google-Like Real Estate Search on Zillow, Google or any and every Search Engine overtake Realtor.com? Our dues don't go to open up our listings to Google, Zillow and all the other Search Engines. They go to fight Department of Justice law suits. No wonder Realtor.com charges so much for what Google, Zillow and the other Search Engines will give us for free.
Will a home seller, at first interest in selling his house, go to a Realtor, a Broker's Website or Realtor.com to get an estimate of his home's worth? Not when they can get a ball park or better estimate in a few seconds from Zillow.
I'm a Realtor and I wouldn't even go to me or my Broker, or Realtor.com for a quick CMA. I tell my sellers to go to Zillow.com and check the Zestimate against their assessment. I'm happy to be just what their father told them, their third estimate, with my professionally rendered CMA.
Do I check Zillow and the Zestimate first? Yes. Do I tell them I check Zillow and the Zestimate first? No. Not unless they ask. As good as I am with CMA's, it's still hard to do one in a few seconds. How many CMA's have you done in the past 3 seconds?
The Real Estate Industry is under attack from the lenders (Wells Fargo is one of the biggest Congressional Lobbyists for banks to get into Real Estate), the Search Engines (Zillow, Google, et. al.) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Wasn't it great when Realtors and the NAR had the DOJ, the IRS (ever heard of "statutory non-employee", it comes right before "statutory rape" in the law dictionary), and Local and State Governments in our back pockets? We had "Confidential" written all over our listing books.
We could threaten not to work with a Lender, an Inspector, or any other business dealing with the competition or too many FSBO's. But we knew enough not to yell fire or 6% in a movie theater crowded with Realtors. This was all before the NAR mandated our every-four-years ethics course that we tell everybody we take (on our TV ads).
Will we Realtors settle for the rip-off prices we pay for unmeasurable sponsorships ads around our own data on Realtor.com? MLS-Friendly Realtor.com; takes pages from their 1,000 page Invisible-Web, NAR-Contract Playbook, deflects our demands for better service and the free advertising we can get from the Open-Data User-Friendly Google Playbook Search Engines like Google and Zillow?
I can't see anyway to stop Zillow from hoisting their virtual flag at the top of the minds of all home buyers and sellers. As a Realtor, I want to have my ads on every Search Engine, on my own listings and on the listings of every home in my Farm. I want to be where my customers go first.
I want to be:
- "all around" my listings
- "all around" my Farm
- "all around" my customers and
- "all around" the Zillow page.
Happy Searching.
WebHomeUSAblog; The Blog of Real Estate Search Marketing
Amen brother! The world is living in 2.0 and we are still trying to figure out the chicken and egg story? Found you on a technoradi key word. I like your blog, love to give you a link...do you have space for me?
Posted by: Mark Eibner | December 06, 2006 at 02:34 PM