Home > Blogs > Sharon Simms > Real Estate Musings from St Pete, Florida

Trulia - ignore it or join it?

By Sharon Simms

Real Estate Agent with Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International

August 30, 2008 01:21 PM

For months I haven't taken the time to go over to Trulia and see what's happening there (after all, how many places can we visit each day?). This morning I did.

My listings are there on Trulia, from luxuryrealestate.com and other "providers". So, should I register and "claim" them, so that inquiries come to me? Yes, I think that's a better alternative than having them call someone else about my listings. Who knows the most about them and can best market them? Me, I believe.

Then I went over to their Questions and Answers section, and checked out questions submitted on St, Petersburg. Hmm, there are several St Pete agents already there answering questions. Some questions were about neighborhoods where I have listings. Shouldn't I be out there marketing my listings by answering questions appropriately?

Just because we ignore a site, or don't join a site, doesn't mean it's going away. Why participate in only the top 1 or 2 sites, when we can be missing clients and marketing opportunities elsewhere? It's certainly worth participating for a trial period and evaluating the return on time invested.

What have your experiences, good or bad, been with spending time participating in Trulia?

Re-Blog

Comments(24)

Comment

Show All Comments

Sort:

Sharon Simms

Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL

St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS

Debbie - we should be open to any avenue for marketing our listings.

Erin - thanks for sharing your results. Congratulations for putting in enough efort and consistency to gain results.

Aug 31, 2008 12:38 AM

Missy Caulk

Missy Caulk TEAM - Ann Arbor, MI

Savvy Realtor - Ann Arbor Real Estate

Sharon, I answer questions for my area and some in MI but leave the other states alone. If you sign up for email alerts on St. Petersburg they come in your inbox and you can choose to answer or not. I have got 2 leads from it, no closings but good contacts.

Aug 31, 2008 12:52 AM

Rudy Bachraty

Director, Communications & Partner Strategies, WellcomeMat - Fort Collins, CO

Hi Sharon!

I hope you're enjoying your "Labor" Day weekend. Thanks for asking the question.

I hope to see you and others give us a try.

@Erin - Thanks for being such a great community member. Great to see you connecting with both home buyers and sellers.

@Missy - Happy to see on Trulia too. Good contacts are great to have. Relationships have to start somewhere right? Good luck....

Rudy

Social Media Guru at Trulia

Aug 31, 2008 01:27 AM

David Slavin

Keller Williams Premier - Katy, TX

CDPE, ABR, SRES Keller Williams Premier

I haven't done anything with them and I guess I should claim my listings that get posted there from other sources.

Aug 31, 2008 01:34 AM

Sharon Simms

Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL

St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS

Missy - I already signed up for St Petersburg alerts and wouldn't presume to answer other states though from time to time it might make sense to read some of the Q&A.

Rudy - knowing you're part of Trulia means a lot. I did join and have started filling in data and claiming. Once that's done I'll probably take on the PRO membership.

David - seems logical to me.

Aug 31, 2008 02:01 AM

Jeff Dowler, CRS

eXp Realty of California, Inc. - Carlsbad, CA

The Southern California Relocation Dude

Sharon - I signed up and participate every now and then but seem to run out of time. The site gets lots of traffic so it is probably smart to have a presence there. Anwering questions is a good method in addition to having your listings there. And you will get alerts when there is a new question or a new anwer to a question you already answered.

Jeff

Aug 31, 2008 09:36 AM

Susan Milner

Florida Future Realty, Inc. - Cape Coral, FL

Cape Coral Real Estate Broker, FloridaFutureAgents

Sharon,

I consider Trulia one more site where I might get a lead and build a presence. And like you said, my listings are there anyways, might as well claim them :)

Aug 31, 2008 10:04 AM

Sharon Simms

Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL

St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS

Jeff - time is always the issue - if I had a magic wand I'd give myself several more hours a day than anyone else gets.

Susan - yes, it doesn't make much sense to let someone else get the leads to our listings - especially if they might direct them somewhere else.

Aug 31, 2008 11:22 AM

Susan Milner

Florida Future Realty, Inc. - Cape Coral, FL

Cape Coral Real Estate Broker, FloridaFutureAgents

Sharon, another way that I determine which sites to become involved in is by asking the following 2 questions:

1) how are their rankings

2) would a consumer ASSUME that every agent could/should be listed here

Aug 31, 2008 11:36 AM

Sharon Simms

Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL

St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS

Susan - great question #2 - do sellers assume we should be there? Then we should.

Aug 31, 2008 11:54 AM

Lisa Friedman

Alliance Realtors - Bedminster, NJ

Central New Jersey Real Estate

Sharon, I haven't really done much with Trulia mainly because I have been investing my time elsewhere. However, your post has inspired me to look into it. The q&a section sounds interesting. Thanks for the advice.

Aug 31, 2008 01:07 PM

William Johnson

Retired - La Jolla, CA

Retired

Hi Sharon, I have no real experience with Trulia but read how the listings on Trulia and Zillow are so out of date. Somehow I just don't believe that. The article was nationally syndicated and I am still exploring it for content and accuracy.

Aug 31, 2008 04:45 PM

Sharon Simms

Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL

St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS

Lisa - it was more a question than advice, but I am pursuing it more, based on the answers here.

William - sometimes inaccurate information is our own fault. Yesterday I claimed all of my listings on Trulia, and noticed that one did not reflect the latest price reduction. I saw that the original listing came to Trulia from Visual Tour, so I checked that listing on Visual Tour and - sure enough, we had neglected to change the price on Visual Tour, so we were the ones responsible for the price error on Trulia, even though we had never sent them any information directly. So - let's not be too quick to throw blame. As to old listings - I think it's like political posters - fast to go up, but nobody bothers to go around to take them down after the election.

Sep 01, 2008 02:04 PM

Mesa, Arizona Real Estate Mesa Arizona Realtor

Homes Arizona Real Estate LLC - Mesa, AZ

AzLadyInRed

Sharon, I suspect others have chipped in; however, I did/do sign up for Truila, and I do jump in now and again. It's funny, though, when I see a question for Arizona, and someone from out of state attempts to answer it. I sometimes chime in, depending on the question. ;-)

Sep 02, 2008 03:33 PM

Sharon Simms

Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL

St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS

Teri - it is interesting when someone offers advice about real estate in another state - wonder what the liability is for doing that?

Sep 03, 2008 11:44 AM

Scott Skinner

Liberty One Lending - Tempe, AZ

I know you cant ignore it, but there are only so many hours on-line in every day - maybe I will quit sleeping :)

Sep 03, 2008 05:04 PM

Virginia Hepp - Mesquite NV REALTOR

Desert Gold Realty - Mesquite NV Homes For Sale - Mesquite, NV

Mesquite NV Homes and Neighborhoods - Search MLS

Sharon - I joined Trulia a couple of months ago, but I am not a Trulia pro. I have answered questions from my state and get the email alerts. I have had 2 direct calls from 'questioners' who liked my answer. Both were out of my area of expertise, 1 a listing in another area, 1 about a loan. I referred both of them. I keep my answers general and simple.

You should definitely fill out the Trulia profile - it is free and gets amazing search results - use your keywords. You can put your website in, too, good links.

Sep 04, 2008 05:29 AM

Sharon Simms

Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL

St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS

Scott - so true. It's one thing to join a site and totally another to actively participate in it.

Virginia - thanks for the hints. It's sounds like you're getting good value from the free part.

Sep 04, 2008 11:22 AM

Frances Flynn Thorsen

eXp Realty LLC - State College, PA

Author | REALTOR | Educator

Sharon - Trulia's stats are very compelling and they sold me a long time ago.

Five million UNIQUE visitors every month
70% of buyers there plan to buy in next 12 months, and 70% of them are UNrepresented.
38% of homeowners plan to list in next 12 months.

They have some neat widgets and tools and other resources. Trulia is awesome!

Sep 16, 2008 06:18 AM

Sharon Simms

Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL

St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS

Frances - with that recommendation from you, I'll delve into it even further.

Sep 16, 2008 11:41 AM