Leprechauns, Unicorns and Property Marketing - Part 1

Guest Contributor
Published: 07/04/2012
Posted by: RE Technology

The Internet has evolved into the perfect medium for real estate shopping:  it’s quick, convenient and highly visual.  It’s interactive, social and provides access to almost unlimited information.

So why hasn’t the message changed with the medium?  Why are real estate web sites still taking data from old databases like MLSs and simply dumping it onto the web for public consumption? Consumers spend most of the buyer-life cycle / home-buying experience online and most of that time they are unrepresented. Therefore, agents have to market properties directly to buyers and sellers. But most agents’ tactics are the same as if they are still just sharing info with other real estate agents.

The MLSs (multiple listing services) are good for allowing sales agents to share their listings with other real estate professionals.  But the information they share is primarily what other agents need to know about a property and is formatted for their use: picture quality is not important and the descriptive copy is jam-packed with real estate jargon and abbreviations. This is not content for consumer marketing.

Yesteryear’s jalopy on today’s superhighway

When the Web became popular and consumers started looking online for real estate information, the simplest solution was to make the data in the MLS available on the Web.  But very little about the information or the presentation changed.  It was still designed for agents’ use in helping to sell one others’ inventories. And unfortunately, that remains the case today.