HomePerks offers real estate rewards
Company adds networking, property listings features
By Inman News, Thursday, July 17, 2008.Bookmarking Sites
HomePerks, a company that last year launched a system for real estate professionals to offer rewards to other professionals and to consumers, has retooled its offering.
The new version of the site, which has emerged from private beta testing, allows real estate agent members to feed property listings information to the site and "basically use it as a calling card of existing and previous inventory," said Brian Columbus, founder and CEO of HomePerks LLC, based in Oak Brook, Ill.
The site also has added business networking components, and allows users to connect with other professionals. "In some ways it is similar to Facebook but more business-related," Columbus said.
Professionals and consumers can receive free "Perks Points" from national retailers by signing up to use the site, and real estate professionals can choose to purchase more Perks Points from the company that they can, in turn, offer to other professionals and consumers.
Consumers who are "sponsored" by a real estate professional will receive a monthly statement that will feature customized content from that professional, including personal branding.
Columbus said that real estate professionals could offer the Perks Points as a closing gift for a consumer, for example.
The major professional categories featured at the site include: Realtors, builders, apartments, mortgage, title, and home services. And he said that other categories of real estate-related professionals have joined the site, too, including home inspectors, lawyers and interior designers, among others.
Columbus said that the company has set up default offers to help ensure that the Perks Points rewards system is compliant with the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), a federal law with provisions related to real estate kickbacks.
"We're priming the pump to ensure compliance," he said.
The rewards are intended as a mechanism to keep real estate professionals in the minds of consumes for the long haul, even if consumers are not immediately planning to engage in a real estate transaction.
There are about 50 retailers, representing a range of industries, that are a part of the rewards system now, Columbus said, including Apple, Orbitz, Wal-Mart and Office Depot, among others. And HomePerks maintains a catalog of thousands of available items that can be purchased with Perks Points -- from Dolce & Gabbana wool gloves (1,281 Perks) to an Adirondack chair set (3,511 Perks).
Sabrina Simpson, a Realtor for Prudential California Realty in Moorpark, Calif., said she decided to sign up for a HomePerks membership and she has invited other agents from her office. "I personally like the program. I think it has a lot of potential," she said, noting that she can use the rewards as an incentive for visitors to open houses, and as an incentive for other agents to refer business to her.
HomePerks members, she noted, can control how many points they want to offer for different connections.
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Submitted by Steve Simon on July 17, 2008 - 2:47am.
What a "Garbage Can" of an idea!
Turn your profession into a coupon clipping low level supermaket "Green Stamp" type business!
This is the non-professional type of thinking that surrounds our industry...
Please don't point to 50 vendors that signed up, Duh, the vendor wants to sell thier Blender, they will sign up to sell it anywhere!
What a low class concept... Of course this is my opinion and mine alone:)
If the answer to a complex problem is very simple, it is usually incomplete...
Steve Simon is the lead instructor at the Steve Simon School of Real Estate www.stevesimon.us
Submitted by Al Clark on July 17, 2008 - 3:56am.
I was in early at eNeighborhoods and we did boatloads of research on "giving this, for that". Our focus group results indicated consumers would be more willing to fill out a form for home search access if they got something of immediate value, AND lasting value. We designed reports and services such as newsletters that provided information on home management, it was not about "the transaction"! How novel is that? Consumers wanted to know what's happening in Washington, recalled products, scams, energy use issues and many other pocket-book related news. The chicken pot pie recipe card in the email just doesn't cut it any more.
So the form is OK but professionals need to offer more than instant gratification
Albert Clark, Principal Partner
My Home Management Club
www.myhomemanagementclub.com
Long&Foster Home Club
www.lfhomeclub.com
Aclark@myhomemanagementclub.com
Submitted by Brian Columbus on July 17, 2008 - 8:02am.
Steve:
HomePerks is NOT a coupon or green stamp site. HomePerks is a loyalty system that provides professionals tools to engage consumers throughout the life cycle of a property transaction. Client retention is a monumental problem in our industry and our team of career real estate professionals is working hard to crack the loyalty code. Various reports from NAR/CAR/others show that 70-90% of consumers say that they "would definitely" use their real estate professional again but only 10-20% actually do! We're working to give pros such as yourself a better tool than just the recipe cards, "just sold" postcards and magnet calendars. We're combining social media with tried & true tenets of rewards programs (Airlines, Hotels, Retailers, etc). These programs drive repeat business, referrals and overall loyalty that can save individual marketers and corporations alike huge sums of marketing dollars. At Starwood Hotels , one example, more than 50% of the chain's $6 Billion sales come from members of their Starwood Preferred Guest program. This program has certainly not diminished luster of their luxury brands (Westin, St. Regis, Sheraton, Le Meridien, etc) and their program is certainly not "low-class" despite co-branding with retailers and service providers. Loyalty programs are not for everyone, but the average US household has membership in more than 40 of them.
This market requires creativity and although this concept may be out of the box for real estate, I wouldn't dismiss the value of our service in our first public week of business.
Brian Columbus
Founder & CEO
HomePerks.com
Submitted by Dave "Utah Dave" Robison on July 17, 2008 - 6:11pm.
Theres a reason why people don't use their Realtor again. Okay, there is a couple. One, the Realtor disappeared after the transaction. Rewards or not isnt going to cure that. Two, People forgot their agents name just 6 months after. Yes, have found this to be true. I asked someone once, who was your Realtor. They replied, "oh it was the presidend of the salt lake board..whats her name..i dont know." The key is being front of mind with a relationship and a solid footing for giving value. Disappearing after closing is why people leave. I admire Brian for going for an idea. I would love to see the stats of Brian's clients in the future. 100% client retention guaranteed program. Wouldnt that be cool? The truth is.....it doesnt exist through a simple program. It all depends on the agent themselves taking all the right steps to their success.
Your Friend,
Utah Dave
www.UtahDave.com