As I have posted before, The Information Genie is out of the Bottle! it is no longer our job to hand out information, but to maximize the value of the informaiton available and put it in context for our clients, both Buyers and Sellers and then use our local knowledge regarding our own area to bring the transaction into sharp focus.
With that in mind and a purusal of Trulia.com, PropertyMaps.com, Craigslist.com, Redfin.com, PropertyShark.com, Zillow.com and others is the consumer getting value from Realtor.com? I had a discussion with a Gen X Buyer the other day who told me that Realtor.com is no longer relevent to her or her friends. They see Realtor.com as a glorified Sunday classified section. Glossy Pictures, glorius pronounements by agents with no shortage of verbiage to describe how wonderful every single home is and little else. Basically real estate porn. At least the monthly centerfolds tell you they like warm puppy kisses and long walks on the beach! (Of course I do not know that from first hand experience but Guys talk and you hear things..) The other sites mentioned above include demographics, school info, overlay maps from the Feds with Megan's Law houses (propertymaps.com) and other very useful information including estimated values and recent sales all in one place.
It is my experience as I share these sites and data with clients, I gain credibility. Those that don't seem to lose credibility because they seem to be hiding something, even by ommision. Even if the the client doesn't really care about a piece of data I have made it available. If I have to explain why it is faulty, I have gained credibility by being a true facilitator and guide.
Realtor.com forces us to buy back our own listings to be "featured" on their sites with very high fees. They then market to the public adding percieved value to their product forcing us (Realtors) to join and pay the fees because our Seller's demand the exposure caused by the advertising. (see Catch 22) These fees add to our costs of marketing a home that is then paid by the consumer as a commission. Neat trick!
If you are a Realtor, where do you think Realtor.com is going in the next couple of years? Will they grow or will we as a professional group simply move over to other venues as both we and our clients understand the value of Web 2.0?
If you are a Consumer, what do you want from the Real Estate internet community? You are here on AR so you obviously want more than pretty pictures. Where do you see YOUR Realtor in the BIG picture of gathering and filtering information that is relevant to YOU?
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