Our team has been using an email system to get feedback on our listings for years now and it has worked fairly well. But an associate of mine came up with the idea of using a blog to capture feedback.
The idea was to create a more interactive platform for feedback and networking among agents in the Loudoun County and Fairfax County areas. Rather than just an elementary and cold email, we wanted to create a blog that provided agents a more visually appealing platform as well as the opportunity for agents and consumer to compare other's feedback and thoughts to their own.
So we launched blogback just after the New Year. We've been happy with the results so far and the traffic is steadily increasing by the day. This is not a real estate blog that talks about the community, market conditions and what's going on in the real estate industry (we have real/diaBlog and Loudoun Stats for that). It's a platform for giving, receiving and comparing feedback and comments on listings and interacting with other agents in our local area.
It has turned out to also be a tool for agents and consumers alike. It gives the agents who are commenting insight as to what other buyers and agents are looking for in properties. This may help in evaluating their own listings and making changes according to what the general buyer population is looking for and focused on at the present time.
Perhaps the listing agent and seller thinks that the home is clutter free. But most buyer's comments when compared to the pictures of the property show that buyers think that more than one item on one piece of furniture is "clutter". The agent can now go back to their sellers with that information, which may help them sell the home and the agent looks even better in the eyes of their clients.
And by seeing the comments on their property, sellers may be more prone to believe their agent when they tell them that they need to change something about the property or lower the asking price. That, in itself is invaluable in the market we're in.
We've also talked about allowing other agents and brokers to post their listings and get feedback on blogback for free. We believe that it will help all of us if we open it up to everyone. At the very least, we hope to create a better method of getting feedback as well as create a greater sense of community among agents in the area.
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