Public MLS sites stir up controversy
By Jessica Swesey, Friday, March 7, 2008.Bookmarking Sites
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Bob Hale, CEO of the Houston Association of Realtors and the winner of the 2008 Inman Innovator of the Year Award, discusses the hot-button issue of consumer-facing property listings sites provided by MLSs. Hale's MLS has attracted consumer attention with HAR.com, and Hale talks about what makes it work in his market.
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Submitted by Adrian Sherwood on March 9, 2008 - 2:00am.
Consumers must have access to the listings. The problem isn't the listings, but rather the predictable workflow of agents, making them easy prey for anyone with a wallet and a website. Lead resellers and so called listing theft sites(LTS) both have one thing in common; they both are counting on the agents' actions to be predictable. For lead resellers it's the CMA. For LTS it's simply placing the listing on the web. The NAR has to shoulder some responsibility.
After 100 years NAR's sermon has been interrupted by an unexpected baptism of its policies. Copyright would not be an issue if agents couldn't be easily exploited. To most agents, the future is an enemy marching. It doesn't have to be this way. Agents will need to strike with an iron hand in a velvet glove. Let's see if they can see that coming.
Submitted by Richard Greenwood on March 21, 2008 - 2:11pm.
It seems to me the more exposure a home gets, the more likely it is to be seen by a buyer. Isn't one of our major professional responsibilities to expose our listings????
Submitted by Adrian Sherwood on March 25, 2008 - 7:36pm.
Exposure is certainly a responsibility that cannot go ignored. The problem is 'exposure' currently means posting listing information to multiple sites. This makes the client happy, but multiple postings drain agents/ MLS's of their value proposition. A much better way of leveraging exposure is to create multiple engagement videos(highly targeted virtual tours)for each prospective buyer and delivering that video to the buyer's inbox. Agents should focus on matching features, tastes, circumstances, psychological triggers(emotional and logical)to make the listing stand out from all others. For example, if a prospective buyer likes jazz, then an engagement video can be produced to use that natural emotional trigger to an agents advantage. If you are dealing with a single mom, it's logical to talk about the home's security features, flood lights, and gated fence. Doing this propels agents to a new status without sacraficing a clients goals; both are actually in line with eachother. The technology needed to produce such videos is already here and sits behind a little known website. I'm told agents will be able to produce hundreds of engagements per listing, and it will all take place in 60 seconds or less. Exposure is good, but engagement is better, especially when it doesn't leave the service provider exposed.
Submitted by Ralph M on June 20, 2008 - 6:37am.
"This makes the client happy, but multiple postings drain agents/ MLS's of their value proposition. A much better way of leveraging exposure is to create multiple engagement videos(highly targeted virtual tours)for each prospective buyer and delivering that video to the buyer's inbox."
Ding, Ding.....
You are 100% correct. Jump on board and get your fellow realtors to STOP diluting their own association and STOP using FREE sites that slowly become "pay" sites after the hook is set in the "Realtors" mouth..
www.aarsteam.com
www.nosellercost.com
www.weuuzit.com
www.iuuzit.com