Comments
Real Estate is NOT done well online
I don’t know WHAT Real Estate agents are thinking these days.
1. It’s a recession.
2. There is a slump in the house market.
Which means
3. Buyers have a LOT more control.
So why is it that as I look for houses online, nearly all the ads have:
- less than 5 fairly average photos
- NO standard details (bedrooms, bathrooms, body corp, rental rates, rates, etc) but instead have a random combination or none at all
- No details of the next open home, or info about a past open home
If I was an alien, I would think that Real Estate agents are so swamped with people lining up to buy houses that they don’t have to take the web into account at all. I would have thought this would be a prime time to Agents to buck up their act and get some seriously good property information online.
I for one do NOT have time to go visiting every house listed, only to find that half my requirements weren’t met. I also don’t want to be told a bunch of rubbish or be forced into moving fast. I would have thought there were a lot of brownie points up for grabs for someone who provides good, thoughtful information that allowed me to shortlist properties in my own time.
In an age of instant information, I find the Real Estate industry severely lacking. Trade Me’s listings have helped somewhat but apparently Real Estate agents prefer not to list ALL their properties, which forces people to trawl through several, badly designed websites before giving up in frustration and waiting for the Real Estate Magazines.
Hello, my name is Natalie, I have a business called 
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:54 am
So true
and at something approaching an average of $20k a pop, not a bad job if you can handle it. (Our local agent (suburb specialist) was clicking up three a week not too long ago!)
Mind you, it gives me cause to dispair when I read that people are flocking BACK to teaching from real-estate as they can’t earn the BMW income anymore so have to head back to their ‘profession’!
March 3rd, 2009 at 11:44 am
My parents, whos house is currently on the market, have been through 3 or 4 different real estate agents until they finally signed with one who made a good job with the photos and their website/trademe listing.
The first agents they used thought it would be a good idea to show a photo of the back door, nothing of the front of the house whatsoever and another picture of the pool which ended up being mostly of the deck they were standing on – seriously, what househunter wants to look at some planks of wood and the laundry door?
These people are supposed to be experts and yet they didn’t document the best (or even recognisable) features of the house, nor was the website spiel particularly engaging. One would think an agent would want to spend the extra few minutes to get the good shots and write useful information in order to make a sale? Isn’t this their livelihood?
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Buying a house? craaazy.
Wait until the recession bites hard.
March 4th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Yeah yeah, patience etc.
Just starting to notice some good deals. If I find one I love no way am I not buying. But yes. No hurry.
March 20th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Natalie,
I empathise with your summation – and I run a real estate website!
Sorry it has taken me 2 weeks to get to respond also!
There are a couple of key points which I think are important to understand.
1. In terms of comprehensive content – the predictable need for a “one stop shop” well we have it at http://www.realestate.co.nz we are an industry owned site with 93% of all licensed real estate offices across the country subscribing and posting all of their listings – as of today 80,000 homes for sale 7,000 rentals, 21,000 commercial properties – over 115,000 listings making the site the most comprehensive site for real estate.
2. However I think I hear your beef more about content in relation to context than pure quantity and this is where I have to hold up my hands and say – “we can only display what we get”!
We publish the data the agents in the industry send us. For 3 years I have been trying to convince the industry that (a) the web is relevant – more than that it is the most important marketing medium (b) the phone will not ring if they put up 1 photo and 2 lines of brief description – people as you so rightly say want rich information. They also want to be empowered in marking decisions about buying property.
The good news is some agents get it – in the space of 3 years the average number of photos per listing on the site has risen from less than 3 to over 8. Many now have 40+ photos and videos. We have encouraged agents to show the address so we can map the property – seems logical – but nearly 40% don’t.
I wish we could show everything on every property – in time it may happen, in the meantime I will keep working to try and make your user experience better.
March 20th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Hi Alistair,
I totally agree, there are great options out there for listing properties and it is the agents that aren’t doing their jobs!
Lets hope they continue to improve :)
Thanks for your comment and also for the website! I also think you guys are behind zoodle? I think that’s awesome as well :)
April 16th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Great stuff. Nice to read some well written posts that have some relevancy !