We Have to Pay to get the Fish Nibbling at our Own Bait?- How did this happen?

The DOJ sold us out.

Repackaging, framing your own work to stand out. That must be the American way, using your noggin!

Kevin, I have been working diligently to create lead generation systems in conjunction with my referral partners and the cost is $0.

I can't for the life of me justify paying for leads especially when they are complete garbage most of the time.

I would much rather spend the time and energy creating leads that are exclusive for me and my referral partners.

My own broker does this. Imagine that you have a listing, and that listing gets put on the company website, right? Then when calls come in on it, they sell it back to their own agents, if you want to participate in their internet leads program.

Ok, we all agree, but now what?  How do we keep our listing in the MLS only?

Welcome to the real estate industry, no matter the "arm" you are viewing it from.  Very little of it seems to make concrete sense any longer.  You just have to survive the best way you know how ... and unfortunately sometimes play by others' rules ..

Gene

It takes all types to make the world go 'round.  I don't buy leads, but I can't fault anyone who does.  I had an agent 600 miles away call me and tell me that they would send me a client and all I had to do was pay them 75.00 instead of a referral fee (he was an agent and understood the slow market).  The catch was that even if no deal was ever closed I didn't get my cash back that was required up front.   

Hi Kevin:  I don't think it's so much 'us letting it happen'; it's more that we're (collectively) causing it to exist.

Sellers love seeing their listing plastered all over the Internet and demand that it happen. Buyers love that they can peruse all the information from the comfort of their living room - privately. Some savvy programmers have figured out how to put the two together and are asking to be paid for that by those who are likely to benefit the most. And here we are.

I don't know that it is so much of a problem.

Have a Safe and Fun Holiday weekend!
Bruce

I wish there was at least a way we could get a referral fee or something when OUR listing gets someone else a buyer!

Lenn is right, the DOJ (Dept of Justice) did that.  The premise used in their lawsuit was a ruse.  There were companies who, just "coincidentally" registered their domains at the same exact time . . . cough, cough . . .  to jump on the data that the IDX Pandora's Box created when opened up.  Trulia registered Sept. 5. 2005.  Look at the date of the DOJ press release.  Yup, it's all a "coincidence" . . .  The DOJ didn't do this for the benefit of consumers . . . it's NEVER about the consumers.

The ultimate answer is to STOP FEEDING THEM!!! Stop feeding them and they will run out of VC sooner or later.

Kevin - This is one of those things that doesn't make any sense to me.  It seems we shouldn't have to pay for our own listings.

Thanks #34 for explaining what the DOJ meant.  I reread all the repsonses thinking I had missed it.

I agree with Erica #37.  How is it our own association is charging us for branding our own listings?  It's all very irritating.

I was wondering how many agents pay for those services ?  50% ? 75% ?  If it's one of my listings, I'm glad it is available online for potential buyers to view, but I won't be paying those sites just to put my name next to the listing.  There are some things you can't control.  Pick your battles.

Don't pay for leads... you can generate your own leads by creating and maintaining your own local real estate website or blog AS LONG as you make sure it delivers fresh data and content all the time... get a point2agent site and use their built in syndication machine to USE THE AGREGATORS to drive traffic to your site creating leads for FREE... believe it or not it works both ways if you just learn how to it the right way...

I don't pay for leads.  I generate my own.  If you fill out your profile completely on Trulia, Zillow and other sites you can get leads for free.  I have a Zillow widget on my blog that brings in leads and I get at least one lead a week from Trulia, which I don't pay for.  All free.