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If the Internet Went Away Could You Still Sell a House?

Years ago before Al Gore invented the Internet, as a Raleigh real estate agent for Merrill Lynch, I rode around with a trunk full of MLS books. When Age of the Internet "I found a buyer", I would "ask probing questions" to my home buyers of what they were looking for in their next home. We would cover the "basic stuff" like their budget, the number of bedrooms, baths they needed, and high priority items like location, schools and so forth. From there I would slowly identify their other "needs" (got to have it - can't buy a home without it) as well as their "wants" (I want it but if I can't have it that's ok). If a buyer came to me with their needs and wants list, I was in heaven! In those days that seldom happened. Armed with my answers, I "hit the books" for my clients to find them the home that best fit their needs.

The Age of the Internet

In this age of the Internet, buyers "come to RE professionals" via the agent website with their list of homes they want to see eliminating the need for the agent to "ask the probing questions". So have agents lost the art of looking deep into the needs (and wants) of a prospect and asking all the right questions? I wonder.

Helping you attract, keep and encourage your site visitors to engage with you,

Bobby

P.S. BTW - If you found this post interesting, I encourage you to visit the Crystal Coast Blog and read my post on Real Estate SEO 101!

Posted by Bobby Carroll - Real Estate Marketing on 05/29/2008 11:10 PM

Comments (38)

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38 Comments on If the Internet Went Away Could You Still Sell a House?

MAY

2008

Great Post! I am always glad to see a little something different. Keep them coming.

Bobby, I'm glad I came around during the interenet age....thanks for putting it in perspective!

Thanks Greg for your comment.

I would have a serious lead problem if I didnt have the web. I guess it would be back to desk duty. I get referrals but that just pays me a job salary. The web is what makes me excel.

Bobby, I remember the days before the internet. These days it is easier because the buyers rule out a lot of homes by looking at listings on the internet.

Hi Marc - Me thinks I'm showing my age! :>) No doubt about it, consumers are more savvy and so are agents.

some internet buyers don't want you to ask the probing questions,but you still have to try. there's too much inventory out there right now.

Laura - Phone duty... what an absolute waste of time!!!!!

Gita - There is a huge difference between Internet buyers and non-Internet buyers. At today's gas prices, who can afford to chauffeur a non-Internet buyer around all day?

Perhaps this is the reason that so many buyers agents now days seem to have more trouble closing deals. We hear concerns like "My buyers are just not loyal to me...". Well I wouldn't be loyal either if you know nothing about my wants and needs and are just a way for me to see properties. I don't need you for anything else. Yes I think we have lost something along the way to adopting technology. It was supposed to augment our services not release us from our responsibilities that made us indispensable to the buyer...

Kim - I ran into those sitautions myself. While times have changed many people still like to remain private.

This is a fantastic post! Excellent points and a great reminder on the fact that we still need to be human..deal with humans..act like humans.

Steve - Touche'. Hot markets and technology may have made some of us spoiled.

Man that sounds like a lot of work. Thank God Al Gore invented the internet!

Hi Clint - Appreciate the compliment! The web will never replace the need for human interaction in the emotional experience of buying a home.

Amstate - But you got really close to the client on a deeper level.

Nice post. We would bring back the books , Oh my. But I will say the driving around part in todays gas market would be a tough pill to swallow

Hi Charlie - I couldn't imagine the cost in today's market. NAR stats say Internet buyers view an average of 7 homes before making a buying decision. Non-Internet buyers need to look at 21 homes before making a buying decision. That's many $$$$ in gas.

We sold homes before the internet, cell phones, before lots of things we take for granted today; I'm confident I could do whatever it takes to sell real estate.

The internet does make it much easier and much more profitable because you don't have to run those ridiculous print ads anymore.

Hi Bobby,

My two cents. I realize that you are already "on the bus" with Web markteing, and your post here was a comparative discussion. Good stuff.

Just about every industry has been affected by the Web. Direct mail/ecommerce was the first to get disrupted. Then travel, etc. It actually took over ten years (WWW/HTML as a subset of the Internet, started in 1993) for real estate to be significantly disrupted. This was masked by the generla real estate boom from 2001 to 2005. The boom is over and just showing up at the brokerage office no longer works.

The real estate industry had some embedded inertia (MLS/IDX access) that prevented the public from full participation. Now, almost every MLS provides data feeds to agents to use on their sites. The era of "data control" is behind us. It is the buyer that now holds the cards.

Agents, you have to put yourself into the shoes of the buyer, just as YOU are a buyer of other products and services. You do not want gatekeepers and interference when you try to make a purchase for yourself. Instead, you want help when you want it, but otherwise, you want unfettered access to information, in depth, via the WWW.

It is exactly the same with real estate. The rules are no different. It is just that some people in the real estate industry want it to be different, for their OWN benefit. So they craft complex arguments as to why real etate should not be the same. None of it holds water.

Successful agents today use the WWW to their advantage (and there are many), instead of lamenting the old days. The old days of agents controlling the process and are gone, and they will not return.

If there is still a good reason for a buyer to go through a battery of "needs and wants", then put it online, as a questionnaire form, present it as a feature/benefit, and let them fill it out. I can see real advantages to it, for buyers who are willing to comply. They'll get better service. Incorporate it in your toolset. Establish a dialogue. Break through the barrier.

I encounter old school brokers and agents who insist upon ignoring the WWW as a marketing tool. They want to cling to old methods, to the bitter end. That is fine for ther own situation, but when they are mentors of others, then they are doing real harm to their proteges.

The WWW has fundamentally and radically transformed the way real estate is marketed, bought, and sold. That is the reality. Agents who intend to succeed going forward need to look through the lens of the buyer and seller, not their own lens, waxing nostalgic for days gone by.

Jim - What's a print ad? Just kidding! :>) If you succeeded before the dawn of the WWW and embraced the Internet when it arrived, you'll succeed today.

MAY

2008

Yes, back in the day -- before the day of the Internet we did sell homes. And I am sure that it could happen again --- but granted the Internet bring a lot to the picture and helps a lot.

A lot of properties are ruled out using the internet, but I still take the time when I initially meet with a client to inquire into their needs, understand what they are trying to accomplish, any problems that might need solving and craft a solution to incorporate all of it. I believe it's just part of the service.

I don't know that I don't find myself more involved ...more in touch......and I certainly have a better understanding of my clients then I used to........Yes I had the catalgoues that we lugged around...once a week we crossed out the sales....they came out every 2 weeks. Things moved in slow motion.........relatively speaking that is. Now we pump hundreds of e-mail......on Blackberry and laptop.....spend more time on the phone then not......and often are busy doing cma's while have conversations with 2 different clients....

Its quicker, sooner, faster and better ........although once...........in a while I think back and sigh....

My son is buying a home. And he did a lot of shopping on the internet. But I quickly put him with a good buyer agent, and she went straight to building a knowledge of his and his wife's objectives. They are certainly not my objectives for them, but she is doing a good job.

Even with the internet, most buyers, even young YouTube buyers need and want the agent, and hopefully the LO, who takes time to build that understanding.

Richard

I am not points crazy or anything. But I am reposting this comment because I was somehow logged off before I commented. And did not get my points.

Even with the internet, most buyers, even young YouTube buyers need and want the agent, and hopefully the LO, who takes time to build that understanding.

I'm not doing this for points though. Really. Points do not matter.You believe me right. :>

Richard

Becuz we have been involved in real estate since the 80's, we know what it was like...the books...the pre-fax days...the accept by midnight (that is a real tell tale of how long folks have been in the biz...who stays up that late ?) Sure we could sell or buy....BUT what a blessing with the price of gas, cost of our time that Al Gore...or whomever came along with this wonderful invention....Love it !

Bobby,

I'm relatively new to the biz...also to blogging & SEO stuff. Since I haven't mastered google yet, I've been getting my biz through blood, sweat and tears!!!! So, to answer your question, Heck yea!!

Have a marelous weekend...

Hi Bobby,

An very interesting question you have posed here. I've been around long enough to "try" to remember what it was like before Al Gore did us his great public service to all mankind, but it is difficult to remember. I even spent the last 25 years in the computer industry, and it is still difficult to remember no Internet. I have come to real estate post Internet though, so I can't imagine searching listings by paging through books! I do remember what books are though... Don't they still have those in museums called libraries?

Yes, I believe I could still sell a house without the internet. I have been in the business long enough to remember how. But, if you take away the internet, could you also reduce the price of print advertising, and the cost of postage, please?

Great post.

As a relatively newer agent, I do feel more comfortable when someone starts with a list of homes. I think I do a good job of supple menting the information, but the list gives a good starting point. The internet has helped jumped start my real estate business and without it I would be back a few places in line from where I'm at right now.

It is amazing how things have changed!

Dirk - I agree with your comprehensive comment. The WWW has had a major impact on many business sectors. Where it has made the most impact is those businesses and site owners who have embraced its technology and put it to good use. Those who haven't missed the boat!

Salesman ultimately sell the home. We all have the same resources yet not all agents are the same in the amount of sales they produce. If you don't ask the questions and qualify clients up front than that is what will keep you from selling and waste a whole lot of your time. If you lost your probing questions then you more than likely lost your skills and are now stuggling with your sales. Attitude, Approach, and Knowledge are what sell homes. Their are no shy Top Producers.

Of course you could sell a home without the Internet. It woul dbe harder as you describe but the contact interaction would be better I think. People hide behing the impersonality of the web. Search when they want etc. This is all good and nothing could be done about it even if you wanted to since it is here and the way it is for the current generation of buyers and sellers. That Genie is out of the bottle, never to be returned! So you must do the virual networking thing to remain current and realative to your market. But i I think that some unreasonable demands are created as a result and while Buyers know more than they used to (which is good) they may not know as much as they think they do. I have seen many get burned in the RE market because of it. However, if they use a savvy agent after their virtuial search they usually have better final results, in my experience.

HOW do you put your listing on Yahoo? I can't find where I can manually put it on yahoo.

I too lugged around Mls Books for years. So I KNOW I could sell a house and get referrals without the internet, in fact the internet is not my only source for growing my business.

The biggest problem I see about the internet is that you cant FEEL the location. Luckily thats where I come in and where the probing questions will never be out of fashion.

Bobby: Homes were sold before the internet was ever created. It would be back to the basics. I'm sure it could be done !

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