Linda,

Loved your blog. Realestate.com has been relentless in their pursuit of having me subscribe to their lead service. In fact, they informed me that they don't have a single subscriber in Reno, NV and that they had 48 leads last month!

I inquired about a one-month trial to gauge the effectiveness of their leads, but was told I must subscribe to a minimum of six-months (at $350.00 per month).

I think I'll stick to good old-fashioned hard work!

I am so glad I found your webiste.  I am an "older broke"r who has been out of the sales end of the business for 2 years.  I was seriously considering joining a RealEstae.com brokerage to get some leads to start my business back up again.  However, I was uncomfortable with the lack of experienced and quality agents that seemed to be affiliated with them in this area.  Also, the referral fee for the lead (only paid on closed deals) and the split on the balance of the commission was just to steep. 

Thanks for your comments.  i appreciate the input from other agents. 

The follwing is a copy of my communication with Realestate.com

Travis,

In response to your communication, you never answered my question. My question is how many agents do you have running after the same few leads you provide. How many leads do you have? What is the percentage of agent sucess in closing or at least contacting?  

Unless you could produce evidence that there are enough LEADS for the brokers that you have subscribed, I will continue with legal action against your company. From speaking with other brokers, it is evident to me that you do not have enough LEADS for the number of brokers you have signed.

Please address my concern in writing with exact numbers of agents signed in my area and the number of leads that are provided to them.

Sincerely,

Philip Winner

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From:  "LendingTree" <agentsuccess@Realestate.com>
Reply-To:  agentsuccess@Realestate.com
To:  <philipwinner@hotmail.com>
CC:  <phil.winner@lfg.com>
Subject:  Case Number: 7892122
Date:  Tue, 10 Apr 2007 16:20:36 -0400
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Please retain this line in all replies: Case Number: 7892122
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>Dear Philip Winner,
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>I'm not sure if there is a problem with your email server so I'm resending the same communications that was forwarded to you on yesterday to both email addressed.
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>*** EMAIL OUT  04/09/07 17:09:52 travisb Action Type:Borrower
>Send to: philipwinner@hotmail.com
>Dear Philip Winner,
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>Thank you for contacting RealEstate.com a service of LendingTree LLC. In regards to our discuss and the concerns that you had here are some response. 1. We strongly encourage all of our agents to expect our lead notifications and to contact our consumers withins minutes and not hours. To help assist with your response time you may want to add text messages as an additional method of contact. This allows you to be notified at the moment you have an opportunity to respond to a lead, and allows you to contact us for assistance with that lead. I noticed that you mention that you were trying to respond to a lead and it was already taken. Well after my research it appears you are referring to QF ID  QF ID :   26941916 which was a consumer looking to purchase in the PALM SPRINGS, 92264 area with a purchase price of $900,000 - $1,000,000. The notification was sent out at 2:01:00 PM on 4/7/2007, you attempted to accepted this notification at 10:15:34 AM on 4/9/2007. Given the length of time that past, one could expect this lead not to be there for that extended time period. The final accept for this lead notification came on 4/8/2007 at 5:09:14 PM. 2. You also mentioned that you visited our web site and form directed you to one broker. To clarify RealEstate.com has two divisions one is geared for our broker network and the other for individual agents. Whatever direction the customer selects is the direction there request will go. For addition information of where do we get our leads from please refer to the FAQ document that was forwarded to you 03/23/07. There you will find a question that states "Do the leads you get come from RealEstate.com?" The response to the questions is Many of our leads do come directly from RealEstate.com, but not all of them. The RealEstate.com Agent Network is exposed to many affiliate web sites which are RealEstate.com branded and co-branded and allow for greater local search traffic. If you go to RealEstate.com you will see that it offers many services for the consumer. We want our leads to only be focused on what you as a real estate agent can provide, therefore, we build other sites to drive lead volume. After quick research I was able to identify 2 agents in your area that are having success with the program. However, for privacy and respect for our consumers I am unable to disclose their entire name. The name of the first agent is Mark G and the other is Kim M. I strong encourage you visit the testimonials on the web site, in addition we have monthly conference calls from agents that are having success with the program, please listen to those also. Lastly, as mentioned in our discussion if you cancel the agreement prior to your agreed upon expiration per the terms and conditions
>You will pay an ETF equal to 50% of the remaining contract. I hope this information was helpful.
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>Sincerely,
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>Travis B.
>RealEstate.com
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>*** NOTES 04/09/2007 clarifymaster Action Type:procedure Logged Notes
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>Sincerely,
>
>Travis B.
>RealEstate.com

Philip,

I will be in touch with you...This company cannot and will not get away with their predatory practices.  I've been selling real estate for 10 years...should have known better than to even have a phone conversation with these people.  The 'leads' that I have been given are absolute rubbish.   They will regret not willingly let me out of the "contract". 

Elizabeth Davis

Keller Williams Realty

704-995-9838

I run a small, independant referral generation company based in Montana and sympathize with Realtors all day that have been duped by glitzy television ads and slick sales people willing to say and do anything to get a commission. (And no matter what they tell you, they are paid on commission.  Dont believe the hype.)  I have to admit, it makes my job very hard because not only do I have to compete with these multi-billion dollar corporations and thier deep advertising pockets, but I have to combat the over-all attitude toward them.  It makes running an honest, reputable business designed to assist agents in getting closings a real up-hill battle. 

I agree with everything that this blog has said.  Lead generation companies are out for only one thing...themselves.  That is why they have those long term contracts...Huge set up fees...high monthly fees...equally high commission splits...And in return all you get is someone with no intention of doing anything other than filling out bogus info on a website because they saw a commercial on CNN.  And then its sent to 20 agents in your backyard without even having been verified to prove its even a real human...Its maddening especially when you consider that only about 1 in 120 of these types of referrals actually lead to a closing...(My God!  How many man-hours did I just waste on this????)

BUT.....There are companies out there that DONT do that kind of thing...Companies that were started by a  Realtor that was taken to the woodshed by corporate violators only after their bottom line and caring less as to whether or not their customers sank or swam...Compaies like www.recr.com (my company) that do not charge monthly fees, do not require long term contracts, do not require commission splits,  and physically verify every referral by phone BEFORE it is sent to ONE agent.  As a result, my closing ratio is 1 in 5!!  (Feel free to email me if you would like me to prove this -- clintmiller@recr.com)

 So, before you make any decisions about 'lead generators' or advertising in general, make sure you do your homework.  Its your money...and what you could expect for a ROI!  Ask about the closing ratio!!  If they dont know or if they tell you that its not important....DONT SIGN UP! 

Clint:

yeah, RECR is really great.  NOT.  As a current member, I have received 16 leads to date..of which, 14 have been returned cuz they are not valid.  The only reason I didn't return all 16 is cuz i felt bad about giving em all back...not anymore!!!!!  Your company is a scam like the rest of em...I can't get a return phone call, people don't want anything to do with the REALTOR, etc.  To all out there, don't bother with this company either.

I am the owner and qualifying broker for one of the companies which you might call a lead aggregator.  BuyersUSA Relocation has been operating since 1992.  We started before the Internet became popular.  All REALTORS know that sending other REALTORS relocating home buyers is a standard practice. Our company does this on a large scale.  We started out by advertising on Prodigy and Compuserv, then moved on to major US newspapers.  In 1995 we started converting to becoming one of the first businesses of our kind on the Internet. 

Since 1992 we have had many members who have done very well with our service.  These professionals receive excellent comments from their leads, submit a professional advertising profile, are comfortable with our operation, and have an excellent conversion rate.  Of course, we have about the same percentage of great REALTORS that a local board would experience.  (This is meant to say that in any given board a small number of agents command the bulk of the commissions, while the rest of the "wannabees" do nothing but complain.) 

Then there are those who are never going to benefit from services such as ours.  Most of those are likewise not very successful with their "non-aggregator" business as well.  We carefully screen non-performing members to find out why they are having problems.  Generally, we find that they have never completed their profile or have written the most inappropriate blurb about themselves (that clearly does not meet our advice or guidelines), never completed our tutorial, fail to provide us with working primary and secondary e-mail addresses, never log into their account, and have a very poor client evaluation rating.  Of course, their response is that our service is worthless.  Unfortunately, no one is going to make them happy. In those cases where we do our best, it is more appropriate for those members to leave and try something else (or a different career). 

The previous postings include an owner of a lead generation program and a response from an irate member of his program.  The comment about the 16 leads by the member is ridiculous.  Considering the anonymous nature of the Internet it is way too easy for someone who is just thinking about moving to submit an exploratory request.  Back when I was an agent manning a real estate company's telephone, it was not unusual for me to get six to eight calls before landing a sincere appointment.  With the Internet I would expect that to be much more. If an agent does not understand this, then he or she should stay away from referral companies and let the more professional members make some money. 

It does not surprise me to find such rantings on the Internet.  Yes, there are "get rich quick" shady companies.  I'm abhorred with the stories that I constantly hear about companies that come and go in this industry.  The fees they charge are not justified.  Frankly, I doubt that they ever have successful participants. That fact that those companies temporarily exist is an embarrassment.  However, this is no different than the number of unethical REALTORS that I see fined, de-licensed, or prosecuted on a monthly basis just within my state.  Nevertheless, there are real, legitimate referral companies who have a strong track record of benefiting their members. I consider our network one of the better and longer lasting ones. 

We sincerely wish that all of our members were top performers who consistently do very well with our service.  Conversely, the amount of money we waste on providing leads to members who do poorly when it comes to contacting their leads or fail to have adequate "people skills" when it comes to building and maintaining rapport is staggering.  Therefore, our system tends to allow licensed agents (or companies) to join and gives them an opportunity to prove their worth.  After they fail to do so, we restrict or limit their leads until they improve.  This allows proven members to benefit vastly.  Needless to say the others who fail "the test" will be dissatisfied (and will probably create blog sites or respond to them).  What we have found is that about 30% of our members come to us with great skills and professionalism.  Another 30% will benefit from our advice and coaching.  The remainder will not be successful with us or any other company.  The quicker we can identify members of this last group the faster our better performing members will benefit.  Unfortunately, this is not an indictment of the referral companies, but a negative aspect of the low barrier to entry to the real estate profession.  There are many great REALTORS in the profession.  Unfortunately, they are embarrassed by the others not-so-professional licensees. 

We realize that there is a cost of acquiring a successful real estate transaction.  Whether money is spent on signs, business cards, classified advertising, "home guide" ads, etc, or paid as a referral fee, the failure to understand the overhead of a business signifies that the "complainer" has never mentally transitioned from an employee mentality to a professional mentality.  The phrase "parasite" of the original poster reflects such failure.  Luckily she has never been affiliated with our network - I hope that it stays that way.  Frankly, we are very proud of the long-term relationships that we have with successful REALTORS and the steady stream of positive comments that we receive from leads about their assigned REALTORS.  We rest our case with these successes rather than the "spilled milk" complainers and ranters who typically have more time to post to such inflammatory blogs rather than working on their professionalism.

You guys are on the money, I have been trying to get away from www.homegain.com. I cancel service with one person and next month they sign me back up, yesterday I pulled up my bank account and they have charged me three days in a row for the same service. I just can't believe this is happening to me.

Keep up the post. Bruce