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Searching Online for Homes While Wearing My Customer Hat

ONLINE HOME SEARCH, FROM A BUYER'S PERSPECTIVE

This evening I decided to "play" real estate, not "do" real estate. In other words, I put on my customer hat and put away my real estate agent hat.

Buyer's Hat - istockphoto.com

We've toyed with the idea of relocating to another area of the country ever since my husband retired three years ago. We're not what you would call "highly motivated" but we're more motivated now than we were a year ago, before lifelong savings and investments started to tank with the economy.

Tonight I focused on South Carolina, where we lived in the 70's when my husband was stationed aboard a ship out of Charleston. My first stop was the ActiveRain homepage to identify agents in our target area. Much to my annoyance, all of the agents whose websites I visited had home search tools which required registering. Then I checked out Realtor.com and finally ended up on REMAX.com - the easiest home search tool of all. In fact, it was so easy that I happily DID register so I could save properties to later show my husband.

My experience as a potential buyer reinforces my belief that registration, as a condition of an online home search, is a turn-off for consumers. It certainly is for me.

That being said (agent hat on now), I did sign up for Growth Leader and found that some people DO register for home searches. I guess this is another one of those situations where there's no "One Size Fits All", so I'll continue to follow my instincts with "no registration" on my primary website and use Growth Leader in a neighboring market. Only time will tell which produces more commission-paying clients.

In the meantime, as a consumer, I think I'll stick to REMAX.com so I can view listings without registering. When I'm wearing my customer hat, my priorities are different than they are for Margaret Woda, Maryland REALTOR.

Note - As you can see, I'm not a RE/MAX agent but that doesn't stop me from appreciating their home search website.

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I Love Maryland

If you enjoyed reading this post, check out Focus On Crofton and Your Online Relocation Package for Anne Arundel County by Margaret Woda.

Serving home buyers and sellers in Crofton and the neighboring communities of Annapolis, Bowie, Crownsville, Davidsonville, Fort Meade, Gambrills, Millersville, and Odenton.

Posted by Margaret Woda, Maryland Real Estate on 03/05/2009 09:45 AM

Comments (23)

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23 Comments on Searching Online for Homes While Wearing My Customer Hat

MAR

Margaret - I always left registration as an option, not a requirement. Most consumers just want to browse without being 'followed' around by an agent. And I found that by not requiring registration ... I got more phone calls and emails than my associates that did require registration. Just my $.02.

Your post is intersting . To register or not register is a dilemna . Ironically I get more hits and inquries from those who register. I have access to my site in multiple ways. Some require registration some do not. So I cannot answer which is best so I can be reahed both ways. I think like you about the registration turn off. But the results are the opposite

Margaret, My "personal preference" is no registration too. I've heard compelling arguments both ways. In the end I believe that ease of search trumps registration. Rich

Until I signed up for Growth Leader, I had no registration on any of my sites. And I've had GREAT success getting web-generated leads without requiring registrataion on my home-searches. Not as many names, but all good ones who are ready to get started NOW.

Margaret: I think we all should take off our Realtor hat from time to time and pretend to be a customer. Registering has always been an option on my site. It doesn't make sense to make anyone register in this day and time, or most of them will do what you did and what I would do too. I leave sites almost immediately if I have to register. I think North Georgia would be a great place to retire to !!! :-)

I am not a big fan of having to register for anything, and often make up the registration info I provide so that I do not end up being solicited or on someones 'list' of prospects.

Good topic Margaret. The way I look at it, there are places out there on the web that offer up the info for free. Some are better than others of course. I often get calls from people asking about a particular listing and requesting more info only to find upon research the listing is no longer active. I ask where they got the info and it is always some second rate site with out of date info.

But back to your topic, I keep registration on our site simple and request an e-mail address only. If I loose a few prospects so be it. I've found that some of those people who are vague in their commitment usually aren't loyal and can waste huge blocks of my time. I also am quick to point them to get pre-approval so as to zero in on their true buying power. Life is too short to spin your wheels with some of these shoppers.

I have to agree! I do not like to register and I will leave a site before sharing my information. I have even gone the next step as to have the complete search table right on my first page of my website. Ask the question, why do people go to real estate websites? For Listings! Not to see how many awards you have and how great you are (which they will look at when they decide to contact you so make sure it is available), they want houses with pictures and addresses. Hopefully when they see how helpful you are, they will be calling you. My site is www.Searcy4Sale.com and I am located in Searcy, Arkansas about 50 miles north of Little Rock. We would be glad to have you move here!

It appears that the NAR is moving to require registration for MLS searches. I am still, and have been for 9 years, linking to real estate agent and company sites that show their own listings without requiring a registration.

As for places to move, Cape Cod is a great place, and we have a movie production studio with 14 sound stages and a 10 acre back lot being developed as you read this. Jobs! Its a beautiful day on Cape Cod!

Happy listing and selling!

I know there are two camps on this. I have always made it a requirement to have a name and email address. If you can't provide that how serious are the buyers? Are they really going to contact you just because you don't require the info? Loyalty is made when you have a connection and a real buyer. I think the requiring of info does some weeding out to a degree on who is serious about buying a home.

Hi Margaret... fun being the lookerisn't it? Can you invite you to come check out Raleigh??? You can search our TMLS for free - signing up is optional. We have had some clients that told us they used our site for a year before they contacted us... My thoughts are that since the statistics of today's online buyer/seller show most start looking online about 8 months before they're ready, we welcome them with no obligation.

I have done it both ways on my site and find that by bounce rate was to high when I required registration. With buyers looking months before they are really ready to buy I have found that when they are ready they will contact the one that they went to for most of their market information.

Hi Margaret ~ It's an interesting exercise isn't it? I always intend to do some poking around online as though I were a buyer but seldom find / take the time. Did you consider trying realtor.com? I was pleasantly surprised when I finally checked out their new look and actually found it a great way to check out a different city's listings. It's one real bummer about all the changes with Google - years ago before the Florida effect or whatever it was called - you would get plenty of individual agents' sites in the top spots. It made for much better searching from a customer's perspective IMHO. Those were the days!

Liz

Margaret- Nothing drives me more crazy than having to put in my info to get info. But Missy closed more than 50% of her business from her site that forces opt ins. And her site that does not force the opt in only created 2 sales or so all last year. Interesting.

I don't use forced opt in on our website and we have plenty to keep our buyer agent more than busy and closed sales. But I am also doing what you are going to do, I am going to test the two methods against each other in two different towns. That way I am not competing against myself but still being able to measure the results. Let's see who wins out in our market:)

Margaret- BTW- You guys should move down here to Wellington! You would love it here!

Margaret - we have done it several ways. Currently our main site reguires registration for details, and saving listings, sending them to friends etc. It seems to be working ok. I personally don't like to register unless it is convenient and/or I really like the site. ~Rita

Margaret - I'm with you as far as not wanting to register just to get information. On my site it can be done both ways and I'm glad to hear that you found RE/MAX the easiest :)

Katerina - Wellington is on my radar!

Obviously there's no right or wrong answer on the question of register vs no registration, from an agent's point of view. From a consumer's perspective, however, there's no question - I want information from someone who's willing to share freely with me, and I'll choose a REALTOR based on who provides the most value without nagging me with their drip email campaigns. 'Been there, done that - NO THANK YOU!

We feel the same no registration but is difficult to pay for the option to search for the public and then not getting the business.

MAR

Terry - I don't get the volume of leads without registration on my sites, but the leads I do get without registration or people ready to list or sell. That's really what I want and not the contact info of a bunch of window-shoppers. All I need is one closed transaction to pay for years of IDX subscription, especially since I can use it on multiple websites.

I agree with you on the registration and have found your companies website, http://www.longnadfoster.com, to be the best, fastest and easiest for searching on real estate. Plus I don't have to register to get more info on a property but I can register if I want to save my searches and listings I like. Great site!

MAR

Interesting points - we should done that hat on more frequently!

Margaret - Good luck with your home search. I know I never look forward to moving all my things.

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