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Realtor.com Losing Ground? - No longer the #1 Real Estate Search Site. Anomoly or Portend of Things to Come?

By
Real Estate Agent with Retired

According to Hitwise, the NAR property search site Realtor.Com is no longer the top website for real estate searches. It isn't even #2 now but has dropped to 3rd.

The most recent list of the top visited real estate websites has Realtor.Com, with 5.51% of real estate site visits behind FrontDoor Real Estate and Yahoo! Real Estate. And, Zillow appears to be catching up with 4.4% of the site visits and now in 4th place.

Realtor.com used to be solidly in first place in real estate website visits with a percentage of well over 7% of visits. But lately I have been hearing some grumblings about deteriorating performance possible caused by too many ads. I have noticed that it is taking a longer and longer to load the listings primary pictures during a search. Whether this is driving people away to other venues may or may not be the case.

FrontDoor Real Estate is HGTV's property search site. With the growing popularity of many of its shows such as Property Virgins, etc. it is not surprising that it would increase its intgernet market share. It will be interesting to see if this is just temporary or signs of things to come. And, will any real estate search site become dominant in visits and searches like facebook and google are respectively.

Only time will tell.

Show All Comments
Barb Szabo, CRS
RE/MAX Above & Beyond - Cleveland, OH
E-pro Realtor, Cleveland Ohio Homes

I only know that a lot of agents are grumbling about paying a monthly fee and getting zero roi. I have not received a lead from realtor .com in at least 2 years. Our office contract is up in March and I want out.

Feb 15, 2011 12:56 PM
Lou Ludwig
Ludwig & Associates - Boca Raton, FL
Designations Earned CRB, CRS, CIPS, GRI, SRES, TRC

Mike

Realtor.com needs to step it up or it will continue to lose ground.

Good luck and success.

Lou Ludwig

Feb 15, 2011 12:57 PM
Don Hintz
2D-enterprises / HAUS Design, LLC - Anderson, IN

Mike,

Haveing previously worked in one of the major franchises regional support office, I watched as their ranking plumeted.

In my opinion it was two fold.  Corporate leadership let the powers that be in their IT do what they wanted.  As soon as they "farmed out" the SEO for their website, it started going down.  And, they are so concerned about your brand and others were doing, I think they lost focus.

I think NAR has become too complacent and these other companies have a thought process so far out of the box and so far ahead of NAR.

My opinion, of course.

Feb 15, 2011 12:59 PM
William J. Archambault, Jr.
The Real Estate Investment Institute - Houston, TX

Mike,

Love the new logo.

Bill

Feb 15, 2011 01:13 PM
Mike Jaquish
Realty Arts - Cary, NC
919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Mike,

Move.com is so rich they don't need my lousy couple thousand a year.  I'm out until they improve.

Feb 15, 2011 01:20 PM
Richard Iarossi
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Crofton, MD
Crofton MD Real Estate, Annapolis MD Real Estate

Mike,

Go figure...this is the first time I've ever even heard of FrontDoor.

Rich

Feb 15, 2011 01:37 PM
Missy Caulk
Missy Caulk TEAM - Ann Arbor, MI
Savvy Realtor - Ann Arbor Real Estate

Nice to here, it is not really a site that helps us out.

I have never really liked that site or how they treat Realtors.

Feb 15, 2011 03:12 PM
Pat Haddad, ABR, CRS, ePRO, GRI
Keller Williams Indianapolis Metro NE - Carmel, IN
Carmel, Fishers, Westfield IN Real Estate Expert

Mike--I bit the bullet this year for the first time and paid for the showcase listings on REALTOR.com.  It has been about 4 months and still nothing.  It looks like I was right all these years after all.  Beautiful dog framing this blog--yours?

Feb 15, 2011 04:11 PM
Trey Thurmond
BCR Realtors - College Station, TX
College Station , Texas Homes

Mike,   I am not surprised. Several years ago the site lost focus and quit listening to agents.

Feb 15, 2011 04:12 PM
Don Rogers
Keller Williams Realty Chesterfield - O'Fallon, MO
Realtor, Broker, CDPE, GRI, OnullFallon MO & St Charles County MO homes

Good point Mike,

Realtor.com will need to correct the loading problem or they will fall even more.

Feb 15, 2011 09:59 PM
Mike Saunders
Retired - Athens, GA

Wallace - good question

Richard - just look at google losing out to facebook on number of visits

Barb - neither have I, our brokerage also has a contract with all of our listings showcased

Lou - just like the rest of us, good call

Don - just because its your opinion doesn't make it wrong

Bill - thanks

Feb 16, 2011 01:27 AM
Mike Saunders
Retired - Athens, GA

Mike - they get fat and complacent, time to help them reduce

Rich - we have been syndicating to them for sometime

Missy - and now consumers are moving on

Pat - they haven't helped much at our office either

Trey - doesn't that kind of sound like NAR on other issues?

Don - they need some fresh eyes, and a different perspective

Feb 16, 2011 01:30 AM
Brandon Hoffman
RE/MAX Connected - Irmo, SC

Yes, as soon as my time is up I'm not renewing either. They are no longer Realtor or Consumer friendly nor do they seem to care. Ever since they sold out to move.com they've gone downhill. Sometimes I wonder if NAR does more harm or good for us. (Can I say that, or is it some sort of violation?)

Feb 16, 2011 03:26 PM
Mike Saunders
Retired - Athens, GA

Bandon - of course you can say that, Active Rain is a Free Speech zone, well, almost.

Feb 16, 2011 03:30 PM
Broker Nick
South Florida Real Estate & Development, Inc. - Coconut Creek, FL
Broker Nick Relocation Broker Service

I despise Realtor.com and their practices or extorting from realtors who are successful at getting listings - 

Feb 17, 2011 04:26 AM
Mike Saunders
Retired - Athens, GA

Nick- you would think maybe that dues would cover some of it

Feb 17, 2011 08:26 AM
Sharon Alters
Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty - 904-673-2308 - Fleming Island, FL
Realtor - Homes for Sale Fleming Island FL

They definitely don't care a thing about the agent - all they care about is money!

Feb 18, 2011 12:47 PM
Mike Saunders
Retired - Athens, GA

Frank & Sharon - capitalism, love it or leave it

 

Feb 18, 2011 04:17 PM
Sally English
The English Team - Atlanta, GA
Sally English Atlanta Real Estate Agent

Mike,

Just found this post.  I so agree that Realtor.com has lost focus. Definitely not concerned with supporting the Realtor, the actual souce of the listing.  I have spent thousands of dollars advertising on Realtor.com over the years.  In Jan 2011 I gave up featured listings cold turkey.  I now have just the showcased listings.  And I am thinking long and hard about ditching that advertisig as well.

The business model needs to be adjusted and MOVE is not interested in taking a look OR in hearing from us lowly agents.  

I'm walking!

Latest from the propaganda department at Realtor.com:

For example, recent changes to the REALTOR.com® Listing Detail page and REALTOR.com® mobile apps resulted in an average of 36% increase in email leads for agents and brokers in January.(1)"

Wow, must have missed that with my 25 listings.

 

Feb 23, 2011 11:43 AM
Mike Saunders
Retired - Athens, GA

Sally - hadn't seen that information and it hasn't been felt with my listings either.

Feb 24, 2011 12:41 AM
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