The Official HomeRoute Blog

Real estate agents increase use of technology

The 2006 Realtor Technology Survey from the National Association of Realtors has been released, and it’s good news for technology, and not-so-good news if you’re an agent who hasn’t embraced it yet.

The percentage of agents receiving leads from the Internet grew to 42 percent. However, not all of those agents are happy with the quality of leads they receive.

Obviously, those agents aren’t part of HomeRoute.  Homeroute agents who participate in our Relocate-America and Homes101 sites experience are satisfied clients! I posted about one here recently and you’ll be hearing from more soon.

Back to the survey, the most surprising finding is that half of the respondents say it takes less than two hours to respond to a lead. Maybe a little optimistic thinking by the respondents?

One area we spend a lot of time on here at HomeRoute is coaching our agents. We hear it all “I was sick, I’m on vacation, I was in a meeting” as to why they haven’t responded to a lead. Not only do we deliver the lead notification directly to your mobile phone, we also email you and follow up with a phone call if the lead hasn’t been checked.

One correlation from the study was between Web site spending and Internet leads – the more you spend, the more you get. The group plans to ask where that money is spent in its 2007 survey.

If it’s a question now, why not do a survey on the NAR website? With the shifting market conditions, agents are going to be looking for ways to spend their money in smart ways. Informed decisions are always a good thing.

Overall, the survey indicates that real estate agents are using more technology – including online transactions, Web sites, lead generation and GPS. Let’s hope that trend continues.

-- Tonja Deegan

Real estate agents vs. the world

An alternative headline might be real estate agents vs. themselves and vs. the Internet. There has been a lot of talk lately about how the evolving online real estate landscape and changes in the housing market are going to be the downfall of real estate agents.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch talks about what qualities an agent needs in order to succeed in the business, in addition to having another source of income when starting.

I especially like this quote from an agent who tells others to keep trying: "We're just out there, like moving targets at the State Fair," she said. "I get shot down, then pop up and here I come again."

A similar story recently ran in The Arizona Republic. Phoenix was one of the hottest markets, and new real estate agents were popping up like dandelions. Now, the market is starting to cool and some are taking on additional jobs for income.

And if the doom and gloom of starting and sustaining a real estate business isn’t enough, others are speculating on the demise of agents altogether.

This writer from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wonders if real estate agents will become more obsolete, like travel agents have.

I would argue that travel agents aren’t completely obsolete. I do make my airline and hotel reservations online, but if I have a complicated travel schedule with multiple flights and/or cities, I’m still going to call a travel agent, who’ll be able to put those things together and save me time.

In the same vein, people will still need real estate agents. They might be able to look at homes online, but they’ll need an agent to show them the home, help determine the best price during negotiations and work out any complications in the transaction, all the while saving the homebuyer something precious: time.

USA Today and the San Francisco Chronicle both have articles on how homebuyers and sellers are bypassing agents and using websites for help.

So what do all of these things mean for the average real estate agent? What was good offline is also good online. You need to work hard, you need to be persistent and you need to follow up. And it will mean the downfall to those who don’t.

-- Tonja Deegan

Real estate surfing

Today’s post is a roundup of sites I’ve been trying out and reading lately.

Housing Maps is a mashup of Craig’s list and Google Maps. I like it much more than than Craig’s list search alone, because it makes it so much easier to see the location (instead of having two windows open and typing each address into Google Maps).

Google’s real estate beta search would be a great tool once it has more listings. It seems a little limited at the moment (at least in my area). It works similar to the Housing Maps mashup, where you can see the listing and its location on the map on the same page.

I really like the interface and usability of PropSmart. The coloring on the houses lets you know which do and don’t have photos, and it’s easy to scroll around the map and look at other areas. The house I’m selling wasn’t there so I was able to add it – quickly and easily.

And not directly related to search, but would help me in my research, is a column by Chris Roush at BusinessJournalism.org. He’s telling real estate reporters to get on the ball and start blogging. He’s absolutely right – real estate reporters (frankly, most reporters) should be blogging already, and should be reading blogs as part of knowing their coverage areas.

I’d be reading if someone was covering the areas where I’m looking to move.

-- Tonja Deegan

Neighborhood open house

This is an interesting idea from the Detroit News.

In an effort to stimulate local real estate sales, four neighborhoods in the two-square-mile Grandmont Rosedale area of Detroit will hold a joint open house from 1:30-6 p.m. Sunday.

I’m not sure if this is something that’s done in other states or areas, but I’ve never heard of it before. As a homebuyer, I think the idea is fantastic. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve visited a neighborhood, went to an open house and noticed another house for sale but weren’t able to see it. And yes, I could request a showing, but once we travel an hour in the car with two small children, I want to make as few trips as possible.

As a seller, I could see where someone might not like the idea if a prospective buyer likes your neighbor’s house more. But that’s something that could happen regardless if you both have an open house on the same day or not.

-- Tonja Deegan

Real estate agent gains business through lead referrals

Working Internet leads doesn’t always mean a sale, but it can make a good referral business. Just ask Aisha Barber, a REALTOR with Prudential Carruthers in Vienna, Va.

Aisha is the exclusive agent for her area on www.relocate-america.com, HomeRoute’s relocation Web site program. And when a couple of leads came in that were looking in her area and decided to look in another, Aisha didn’t admit defeat. Instead, she told them “I know a fantastic REALTOR there.” And she turned that potential lead loss into a referral opportunity.

“I have another person coming in today who wants to purchase in L.A. and I’m working on a referral there through Relocate-America,” Aisha said.

So her advice to other real estate agents who use Internet leads: never give up! “You just have to make it work for you,” she said. Every lead is an opportunity, and follow-up is key. If the lead doesn’t generate a commission, it could be a referral fee for you!

-- Tonja Deegan