Househunt.com

By Jeff Payne

Real Estate Agent with The Payne Group at Keller Williams Success Realty

October 21, 2007 01:14 PM

Anyone using househunt.com? I was recently contacted by one of their sales associates about joining their network. The sales approach was eerily similar to getmyhomesvalue, housevalues, and the rest of the pay for leads type companies. Having had ZERO luck with these types of companies, I opted to not join the network. The salesperson told me that I would be exclusive in the market place. My question to him was, "We have 1400 realtors in our market, why are you calling me? Did all of the others say NO already?" Anytime they say the word "exclusive" it raises a huge red flag.

What does everyone think about househunt.com ? If you are using it, are you getting real leads?

Please view my site at www.panamacityhomesource.com

Comments(12)

Comment

Show All Comments

Sort:

Vicky Poe

Good Ole Rocky Top - Crossville, TN

Realtor/ Auctioneer

I have not been with househunt.com but I have been down the homegains garden path and a few others through the years that produced exactly nothing.

Oct 21, 2007 01:19 PM

Jeff Payne

The Payne Group at Keller Williams Success Realty - Panama City, FL

Panama City Real Estate

I have learned that I am much better of when I generate my own leads.

Oct 21, 2007 01:23 PM

Stacy Magid

Century 21 New Millennium - Woodbridge, VA

Stay clear of any of these pay for lead services. As a new agent I signed up for a bunch of these services in hopes of getting leads. I did get a listing and a sale from one of the services but overall te leads were garbage. Plus now it seems that the lead services all have the same buyer/seller leads.

Oct 21, 2007 01:24 PM

Mike Norvell Sr

Morris Williams Realty - Leesburg, FL

Norvell Consulting Group

I have not heard any good things about any of the lead generation companies..I have heard about a lot of bad, and there is no way you should have to pay up front for a maybe...My opinion.....Mike Norvell Sr

Oct 21, 2007 01:26 PM

Mike and Dawn Lewis

The Lewis Team at Keller Williams - San Diego, CA

The Lewis Team at Keller Williams in San Diego CA

Jeff,

I hav'nt used them although I did use Just Listed and House Values with mixed results. I think it was about a wash - "money in equaled money out". I agree with you when you say generate your own leads. By the way your site looks great.

MIke Lewis

Oct 21, 2007 01:27 PM

Jeff Payne

The Payne Group at Keller Williams Success Realty - Panama City, FL

Panama City Real Estate

Thanks Mike, I tried the house values and get my homes value and got one sale from it. WAY too much work for bad leads.

Oct 21, 2007 01:34 PM

Johnny Park

AmREDS - Bakersfield, CA

Hi Jeff,

I encourage you to try www.amreds.com. We are a different service than lead generation. Where lead generation offers poor quality data (consumer generated data tends to be unreliable, the highest "success" rates I have read are 7-10% which are horrible), AmREDS offers high quality data that comes from real estate agents like you and me.

Plus with lead generation you have no choice in what you get. If you get a million dollar buyer that's great but if you get a 100K buyer, well tough luck. You basically can't control what you're going to get. At AmREDS you decide on what you want to search for. Location, price, type of property, etc it's all up to you. And, if you don't find what you're looking for you don't pay.

Oct 21, 2007 01:58 PM

Anonymous

Angelica Richardson

Hi Jeff,

I've worked with HouseHunt since the beginning (1995). You are right to find out about HouseHunt from other agents. And, you do pose a great question. We have always stayed true to our niche of "exclusive community territories" and have never deviated from this business model. We know that there is only so much real estate activity on the Internet and so many transactions to be completed that we cannot possibly make all 2.5 mil licensed RE agents successful with our product. This is why we chose the exclusive model so that we can make just one agent in each community very successful. I encourage you to contact some of our Florida members at wwww.househunt.com. We have surveyed our members and those who took the survey have said that they would refer another agent to our system (100%). I encourage you to take a second look at HouseHunt.com and please do not lump us in the same category as other "lead generation" companies. There is so much more that we offer than just an exclusive territory and the leads from that territory (Including Agent Branding, a Follow Up System, Training, Agent Referral Network, etc.).

Angelica Richardson

Oct 25, 2007 06:11 AM

Rhonda Burgess

Southern Living Realty Partners - Smyrna, TN

Moving to Nashville TN Real Estate Specialist

Hi Jeff. I wanted to give you some insight from a Househunt.com agent not in your area. I'm in Nashville, Tennessee. I have been with Househunt.com since January of 2006. I'm the type who will try anything once. I called Househunt after a saw an ad in the REBAC magazine -The Real Estate Professional. One of the agents featured as a top performer was right here in my area - in my backyard. I called him and asked him a bunch of questions. He had nothing but wonderful things to say. He went from $0 sales to about $6 million in about 2-3 years time (don't quote me on the time period as that conversation was a while ago). I called Househunt.com myself and bought two territories here in Middle Tennessee. The first year with the 2 territories, I averaged 60 or so leads a month. They are typical internet leads - some good, some not. I personally feel that internet leads are about the same quality of leads I meet in person or who call me off of a sign - some good, some not. It's a numbers game. Anyway, at the end of 2006, I had closed nearly $2 million in sales directly from Househunt. My longest lead took 12 months. My shortest 60 days from start to close. In January of 2007, I did drop one of my territories as the leads did not fit my business plan, meaning they were wanting more rural properties outside my immediate service area. I decided to concentrate on the higher dollar, more easily accessible leads. By the end of 2007, I will have done another $1.5-$2.0 million in sales from househunt.com. One of my listings right now is a referral from one of the househunt clients I helped last year. My most recent househunt client just closed on September 29th and she took 4 months from start to finish.

As I have just started blogging and I have never been interested in websites, technology, etc., what I liked about Househunt.com is the search engine placement they provide for my website. My site/househunt comes up on the first page of Google search results for the most commonly searched keywords. I have people visit my site over and over because they say it comes up on the first page. Consumers like the site because it ALWAYS comes up, it's easy to navigate, and they like to use it. You can check it out at www.Relocate2Tennessee.com. These things are huge for me. I have a constant and consistent lead generator that I do nothing to. No daily or weekly maintenance - nothing.

I know everybody does not and will not have the results I have had. But if you follow up on the leads quickly (I tend to catch people still on my site with my quick calls.) and CONSISTENTLY FOLLOW UP, Househunt.com can be your best lead generator hands down. Feel free to call me or email me if you have any questions.

Rhonda

Oct 25, 2007 12:48 PM

Jeff Payne

The Payne Group at Keller Williams Success Realty - Panama City, FL

Panama City Real Estate

Thanks for all of the responses.

Oct 25, 2007 01:13 PM

Dominic Zendejas

KASE Real Estate - Mission Viejo, CA

Hey Jeff,

I think HouseHunt leads can be solid, but then again they can be garbage. Nothing is ever that crazy with pay per lead places. I am looking into the AmReds though...

Aug 10, 2008 04:48 PM

Marcy Moyer

eXp Realty of California Silicon Valley Probate, Trust, and Investment Sales - Mountain View, CA

Probate, Trust, and Investment Specialist

Does Househunt link your web site to their search engine, or have their own website for people to see you on/

Marcy Moyer Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto Ca. 94301

Dec 10, 2008 11:43 AM

Older Post

Newer Post

Rainer
194,261

Jeff Payne

Panama City Real Estate

Real Estate Resources

Panama City Real Estate, New home construction specialist, Cherokee Heights, Deerfield Estates, Military Relocation, Tyndall Air Force Base, Naval Coastal Systems Panama City Beach, Panama City, Real Estate, Panama City Beach Real Estate, short sales, REO, foreclosures, first time home buyers

Comments(12)

Jeff Payne

Real Estate Resources

Additional Information