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House Values - Lead Generation

What's the deal with this group?

Is their pricing fair? money in hand

Is there anyone out there who has used them and gotten good results?

Seems to be a little on the expensive side. I'm curious if it's worth it. What are the ratios of leads to closed sales? I have had success with one other company that I won't talk about in this blog because I really want to discover more about House Values and their company.

People always say that if you get one closed sale, that the money spent is all worth it. But should we waste all that time chasing bad leads that we're paying for or use good old fashioned shoe leather to get leads?

Posted by Jay Knorr, Auburn Al Properties on 05/01/2008 09:17 AM

Comments (4)

house values, lead generation, leads, sale

Post is included in group: More Referrals: Strategies & Tips on Getting More Referrals

4 Comments on House Values - Lead Generation

MAY

2008

OK Jay,

You must be new. to answer your question in a short and hopefully not offencive way, Their pricing is fair, if it is fair to charge for mostly bad leads which don't want to talk to you because they were tricked into giving their information to HV in the first place.

House Values and other Lead Generators, are a waist of your time and money. Generate the leads for your self and you will have much better long term success and much more pleasant leads to call on.

Jim

I agree with Jim Get your own leads. The best thing about housevalues.com was their marketleader system and the ability to send listings out automatically to buyers. I believe you can purchase their contact management system for close to 100 dollars a month, or you can use outlook, pipeline, or other programs free

I'm inclined put in my 2 cents. An agent in a bordering area, referred many House Value leads that were outside her area. (Not sure why she signed up for the zipcodes, but whatever.) I chased them down and concluded that most of them were lousy. About a year later, though, I researched them and about half did sell.

JUL

2008

Hey Jay,

I just finished a year subscription with Housevalues, and it couldn't have ended sooner!

What a waste of time and money. I sunk hours and hours and hours into this program with the hopes that my leads would materialize over time into some deals.

Here is the problem with Housevalues and JustListed (Housevalues provides LISTING leads, while JustListed provides BUYER leads):

1. They don't scrub their email addresses - so someone putting in asdf@asdf.com would be considered a viable lead, as long as the address is deliverable. You can't return these leads, and they contribute towards your monthly allowance of leads.

2. They have a very difficult and convoluted lead return policy. It is so complicated, and so unnatural that I can't even describe it. You WILL end up paying for dead leads, and can't even argue the return of them. They SAY they are trying to prevent abuse from members who return leads that are not high quality, but still viable - but this is BULL****.

3. VERY expensive. I paid over $400 per month for 10 leads per month.

4. Leads not mature: The leads obtained through this system are not mature, or even close to being qualified. Out of 140 leads, I have had 2 that I have been able to meet with in person, and have showed properties - but no deals yet. Many agents may think, well there is nothing wrong with that - you get one deal and your subscription is paid for. What they don't understand, is that each and every one of the leads requires a MASSIVE amount of time to cultivate because they are so FRESH in their search. Would you rather pay for mature leads or green leads? If you want mature leads, don't go with housevalues!

Fact: A high percentage of people are using the internet to start their research when buying or selling their home.

Fact: People coming through Housevalues are GREEN leads, and are so fresh in their search that they don't know what they want, or where to find it.

Fact: These people want information with no strings attached - they are tricked into providing some information in order to get house values or listings in an area - but have little or no idea that a real person is going to contact them. Once that person does, they rarely if ever respond.

Real Numbers:

Leads obtained through Just Listed service: 133

Dead Leads: 26 (duplicates, people who have asked never to be contacted again)
Leads with invalid email addresses - but still considered by HV to be valid (Bounced emails): 18
Undeliverable emails and invalid contact info: 6

Total Leftover: 83 prospects that I have the ability to get in front of, or 62%. That is a HORRIBLE retention.

Looking at the top producers within HouseValues - the AVERAGE leads to sales ratio is 1%. Some people have paid for THOUSANDS of leads, and only turned 1% into sales. Thats a terrible ratio in my books.

Finally, when I tried to cancel, they called me and tried to convince me to stay on another month. I said no. They sent me an email confirming my choice to stay on another month? Pardon? I sent a reply saying under no circumstances will I stay on another month, and I want to cancel NOW. They again called me, and tried again. Sent me ANOTHER email to which I again replied, NO. They did this just long enough to charge my credit card for another month.

I am in the process of disputing the transaction.

Hope this helps!

But don't take my word for it, there are plenty more people with horror stories from this company:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/149/RipOff0149871.htm - headline: