I just got a phone call from a very pushy salesman at Realtor.com. It got to the point where he was getting very upset with me because I was questioning his statistics and his reasoning. A civil conversation at the least, but an interesting one at that.
See, I refuse to sign up with their website to feature my listings. I used there "showcase listings" system when I lived in Florida a few years ago, and honestly didn't see any return on my investment. When it was time for me to move to Minnesota, I obviously had to start my business from the ground up. It had been a year since I had been using them with six listings, so my subscription was up for renewal. I had sold all my Florida listings save one, but Realtor.com told me that to continue the featured listing service, I would now have to pay $1300 for the next year. What?! But I only have one listing. Talk about highway robbery. My current rate was $200. I quickly decided to NOT renew.
For me, it comes down to principle. I personally do not agree with the pricing structure that Realtor.com has chosen to implement. To tell me that this year, if I signed up, I would pay $345 for 10 featured listings, but next year, the new price would be $710, is ridiculous. They should have a flat rate system, and it would be better for business.
But no, THEY are the "largest real estate website" out there and they can charge what they want. THEY control the buyers, yada, yada, yada....or so they think. While talking to the rep today, he gave me all kinds of statiscics and data to prove his point. Even going to the length to tell me that I did not know what I was talking about when it came to my local market and how buyers find homes.
He even said that I should go with a year subscription, then cancel so as not to incur the higher fee with renewal. To me, if I am going to invest time and energy into such a service, I am not going to spend a year featuring these listings, to dump them in a year.
The funny thing about the website that is "looking out for its members", is that our MLS idx feed supplies them with all the information they need, additional photos, contact info, etc. So if they are already getting this information, which I pay to have sent to them via my Realtor Association dues and fees, why should I pay them more to release the information? There are plenty of sites that my listings are syndicated to that do this for free.
When I mentioned Trulia and Zillow, the rep got defensive. He asked me how many sales I have generated via Trulia, and I told him two in the last six months. I then told him I have received more listings and sales via my blogs and website, than I have with Realtor.com (which is zero). His answer was that I could do more with their enhancements.
Sorry, but I don't think so.
I told him that Realtor.com is rarely used by the buyers I speak with here in Minnesota. They use other sites that have more market exposure. He didn't believe me, and spewed more stats and data. Talk about pushy! I told him he doesn't know my market, being that he is in Los Angeles. Hasn't he ever heard the phrase "Real Estate is Local"?
So once again, I have shot down Realtor.com. I have better places to put my money that will get me more local market exposure and better ROI. I didn't mention that I am on Active Rain and would be writing about this...that might have been the straw to break the camel's back.
Oh, and by the way, when searching 'minneapolis real estate', my website comes up second, Realtor.com comes up sixth. Hmmmm.....
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