Real Estate Websites: Empowering or Confusing the Real Estate Consumer?

Currently there is a major move in the online sector of the real estate industry to make more home listings freely available to the online public.

Sites like Trulia.com offer an abundance of complete listings from the MLS as well as newspapers. And the recent addition of Zillow.com covers the sellers side in offering property tax based price evaluations.

On the surface this seems like a good thing. More listings disseminated to the masses helps to sell more property. More information empowers the consumer. Or does it?

As an ex-real estate agent myself. I used the local MLS function of sending property into my email to absolutely deluge me with an abundance of properties and data.

I felt like the truly empowered internet consumer.

However, after about 2 months of going absolutely nowhere, I realized that too much information is not a good thing. As an professional internet marketer, and ex Realtor that served my target area, my home search was pathetic and unfocused.

Home Buying is Not Amazon Online

The consumer is not buying books. They are buying a house. And that house will not transact thru click and purchase in your website shopping cart. That's why you don't have a shopping cart.

The purpose of the Home Listings should be to capture the consumer contact information and then serve to court them into working with you.

How do you court them? That is the subject of a whole course material, however, you must show the value of you as a Realtor, and what you can bring to the table thru your negotiation abilities, financing abilities, etc that makes your hefty commission well worth your fees.

When you offer, and frankly your National Association offers listings without opt-in, you are not only negating your only tangible asset (the MLS), but you are throwing away your biggest attraction for a visitor to opt into your marketing system.

Therefore, it is my belief that as a Realtor you should use your voice and the thousands of dollars you spend with your various associations, and educate them into not "giving away the farm", because some consultant or lawyer tells them it empowers the consumer.

Discover how to use Real Estate SEO services to increase your positions in the search engines.