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 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

More on mapping sites using Google mash-ups

I don’t usually click through a comment that I think is spam, but I did today on HomePriceMaps.com, which commented on my blog post about Zillow and Trulia.

And true to their word, I emailed them my current location and within a few hours, they had added the data for my area. Zillow and Trulia both do not cover it yet, so kudos to HomePriceMaps for interacting so effectively.

However, my piece of advice would be to email a blogger instead of posting a comment, just to make sure it’s not deleted as spam and to make a better connection with the blogger.

-- Tonja Deegan

Real estate manifesto creates controversy

So I’m a little behind, but Los Angeles real estate agent John Strum wrote a manifesto for the future of real estate. On his blog and others, people have been for and against his ideas.

So what does it mean to be a "provider of outstanding service"?  It means whatever you decide it means...in this new age of real estate that we're transitioning into, each agent will invent their own value proposition.  It might mean responding to email requests within 1 hour, because you're constantly plugged in through your Blackberry or Treo device.  It might mean sending a professional cleaning crew into a home prior to the first open house, so that a working couple won't have to deal with the added pressure of "getting the place ready to show."  It might mean providing free handyman service after your buyers have been in their home for a month, so that all of those "little things" can be easily fixed.

And he ends with this:

The age of the realtor as the "keeper of the listings and knower of the comps" is drawing to a close.  The really good news is that a new breed of empowered homeowners and home buyers are looking for equally empowered professionals who understand their needs and are capable of delivering measurable value-added service.  To all of my realtor friends, the future is here...are you ready?

Whatever your opinion on the specific ideas, the underlying theme is this: the Internet is here to stay. As I said before, real estate agents need to embrace it or they may be left behind. Your potential customers are online doing research and looking for help – wouldn’t you like to be the one that can finish the deal for them? Being online with a marketing plan and using those Internet leads can only make your business stronger.