WebHomeUSABlog: Watch Or Lead: Borrell Associates Gets It. Do You and Your Associates?

Borrell Associates released their annual report on Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Outlook: 2007-2012.

Good News/Bad News.

Bad News: Total Ad Spend stagnant and Print Ad Spend to plummet. As the Real Estate market tries to deal with the sub-prime melt down and the market heads south, more Realtors have left the business, taking their advertising budgets along with them.

Good News: Online Ad Spend continues to rise.

Borrell puts numbers to what we've felt, experienced and known over the past 2 years.

With over 75% of home buyers starting their search on the Internet and over 80% making extensive use of the Internet, effectively marketing yourself and your listings online isn't a choice, it's a necessity.

Realtor.com, a subscription revenue model Website for Realtors, still ranks first in Real Estate Traffic, but the ad revenue model services of Yahoo Real Estate (#2), and Zillow (#5). With Google Base (not yet in the top 20) classifieds lurking in the background.

Will this search engine competition add Real Estate Search Wars to the Social Networking, Mapping, Online Video and Blog Search Wars? Are we ready for a Real Estate Search War? Should we watch? Or should we lead?

Of the Top 20 Real Estate Websites by Neilson/NetRatings, the national Real Estate Brokers are: Coldwell Banker, #8, RE/MAX, #9, Century 21, #14 and Zip Realty, #19.

Most newspapers won't take a fatal hit though. They've come back with their own Websites and their own online classified Real Estate services. But no newspaper classifieds appear in the top 20 Real Estate Websites.

Borrell also predicts the biggest development of 2008 will be the "converging triumvirate" of the consortium of 11 newspaper chains (over 280 papers), Zillow and Yahoo, with the consortium feeding the sites with their classified ads. Yahoo already has a working relationship with Yahoo to supply their Zestimates (value estimates) or ZMAs (Zillow Market Analyses).

Another merger of print and the Internet will come with the merger of Homes.com and Harmon Homes (neither in the top 20 sites, for now).

These are all major steps toward our/their National MLS. Should we watch? Or should we lead?

Google, Yahoo, Borrell, the newspaper consortium and Zillow with their $87 MM VC investors get it.

Do you?

Watch or Lead?

Posted by: Cliff Jacobson

Adapt Or Die! See You on the Web.

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