ShowingTime+ Launches Immersive Listing Experience on Zillow
ShowingTime+ on Tuesday introduced Listing Showcase, an immersive, AI-powered experience only available on Zillow. This "super listing" features an entirely new look designed to help listing agents showcase their brand and listings, and deliver an elevated experience that could help homeowners sell their home faster. Now exclusively available in its first iteration to partners in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego and Seattle, this premium product gives agents a way to stand out and offer a listing experience to their sellers that rises above the rest. Listing Showcase gives agents the tools to highlight a home's best features and give buyers a deep understanding of the home before they ever step inside. The entirely new artificial intelligence-powered Showcase listings feature high-resolution scrolling hero images, room-by-room photo organization, interactive floors plans and more. These listings combine the power of AI with the nuance of an agent's deep local expertise to create a premium experience for shoppers not found anywhere else – an experience that will only improve as new functionality and AI-enabled features become available in the coming months. Showcase listings are designed to attract serious buyers and leverage AI to help sell homes faster. As the next generation of immersive home shopping experiences, every Showcase listing includes an interactive floor plan. Zillow research finds listings on Zillow that include an interactive floor plan receive 79% more saves than homes without, and are 10% more likely to go pending within 30 days. To build Showcase listings, AI selects hero images based on buyer preferences, associates listing photos with corresponding rooms in the interactive floor plan and room-by-room displays, and more. Agents can rely on AI for this step or use these selections as a starting point, allowing them full control over customizing the listing. Soon, listing agents will be able to select from AI-generated insights on which home facts and features matter most to home shoppers to help highlight the home's best features. "Combining ShowingTime+'s best-in-class technology with Zillow's industry-leading audience allows us to create an unmatched listing experience for agents and sellers," said Mike Lane, vice president of ShowingTime+. "As soon as shoppers land on a Showcase listing, they'll be virtually transported into the home, giving them a deep understanding of the home's flow, architecture and design – all before visiting in person. Listing Showcase is the first of its kind – a listing experience that captivates shoppers, wows sellers, and gives agents a powerful tool to help them win more listings and grow their business." Listing Showcase is an exclusive offering that is sold by subscription and only available to a select number of listing agents in each market. By working with a Listing Showcase agent, sellers' homes will appear higher in home shoppers' personalized search results as relevant, which is where the majority of shoppers begin their search. Listing Showcase will launch in most major markets throughout this year, along with new features and capabilities to continue elevating the Listing Showcase experience. Agents who are interested in hearing when Listing Showcase is launching in their market can join the waitlist on the ShowingTime+ website. "Being a part of Listing Showcase is like having an online billboard for our brand and business," said Hedda Parashos, CEO of Palisade Realty in San Diego. "From 3D tours to drone photography, the Listing Showcase experience is truly unique and will make our clients' homes stand out from anything else on the market. The fact that we can do it all on one platform as a one-stop-shop makes it a no-brainer for our business. There's no doubt that being able to offer Listing Showcase to potential clients will help us win more listings and attract even more sellers who want an exclusive experience when selling their home." Listing Showcase empowers agents to market themselves and their listings in the best way possible and contribute to a more dynamic real estate marketplace. The entire ShowingTime+ software suite helps agents and brokers operate their businesses more efficiently, win more customers and elevate the experience of buying and selling for their clients.

Tips for Buyers on Choosing Their Next Neighborhood
Have buyer clients that need clear strategies for choosing a new neighborhood? Share this article with them to help them learn how to narrow down the best area for their unique needs. Deciding to move and buying a house can be a stressful, yet exciting process. One of the biggest decisions you'll make when beginning your home search is where you will live. After you decide on the location of your new home, it's time to pick your new neighborhood. Picking your new neighborhood can be tough, especially if you have a family. It's important choose the safest and most practical neighborhood with something for everyone! Neighborhood Safety The first and most important thing to consider when choosing your next neighborhood is the overall safety of the area. At Homes.com, we know the importance of safety, so we have created the "Scores" section on every listing details page of every home for sale or rent.  On the "Scores" section, you can see the Walk Score, Sound Score, Transit Score, and Bike Score.  How Walkable Is the Neighborhood? To find the "Scores" section, go to any property listing details page and scroll past the "Transit" section. Once you get to the "Scores" section, you will see the Walk Score. The Walk Score tells you the walkability of the address and gives you a score out of 100. According to Walkscore.com, a score from 0-20 and 25-49 means Car-Dependent, 50-69 means Somewhat Walkable, 70-89 means Very Walkable, and 90-100 means Walker's Paradise. Even though a Walk Score below 59 seems low, if the score is between 25-49, your family may still be able to walk around the neighborhood, but you won't be able to run errands on foot. If you want an area that's more friendly to walkers, try to find a home in an area that has a walk score above 50. How Loud Is It? To learn about how loud your neighborhood will be, check the Sound Score. Below the Walk Score, you will see the Sound Score. The Sound Score tells you about the outside noise level at the address. The scale for the Sound Score is from 0 to 100. Zero is very loud, and 100 is very quiet. Getting a good night's rest, no matter who you are, is important, so if you are concerned about the sound near your home, it's best to choose a home with a sound score between 70 and 100. Is There Transit Nearby? To check on nearby transit for you and your family, check the Transit Score. You should see the Transit Score to the right of the Walk and Sound Score on the listing details page. The Transit Score tells you how close the address is to nearby public transit, and the scale is from 0 to 100. According to Walkscore.com, a score from 0-24 means Minimal Transit, 25-49 means Some Transit, 50-69 means Good Transit, 70-89 means Excellent Transit, and 90-100 means Rider's Paradise. Using public transit is not only an environmentally conscious decision, but it's a more affordable option than using a car every day. If you want to ensure that your new neighborhood has as many public transportation options as possible, pick a home that has a Transit Score above 50.  Is It Safe to Ride a Bike? To learn about how safe it is to ride bikes in the neighborhood, check out the Bike Score. The last part of the "Scores" section is the Bike Score section, located below Transit Score. According to Walkscore.com, the scale is 0 to 100. A score of 0-49 means Somewhat Bikeable, 50-69 means Bikeable, 70-89 means Very Bikeable, and 90-100 means Biker's Paradise. If you and your family enjoy riding your bikes together, you should look for a home with a Bike Score of at least 50 and above to ensure all of your rides are as safe as possible.   Streetlights Next, look around and see how many streetlights will be near your new home. At night, a few streetlights will help you and your family feel safer. If you see streetlights on your street but they don't come on at night, you might be required to pay a small monthly fee to your power company to keep the lights on. This sometimes occurs in areas outside the city limits. Crime Rates Finally, to get the best idea of the safety in your new neighborhood, you should check out the crime in the area. On City Protect, you can check out the nearest law enforcement agencies and see the incidents happening near the neighborhood. You can also sign up for incident updates to always be in the know and protect your family. Commute to Work Another big consideration you need to make before choosing your next neighborhood is your daily commute to work. You may find a neighborhood you love, but the commute may be over an hour to and from, and that commute could be even longer depending on traffic. Therefore, you should put the home and work addresses into Google Maps to see how long the commute will be. If the commute seems too far, you should pick a neighborhood closer to work.  Schools If you have kids, you'll likely want to check out the schools in the neighborhood you are considering. We have created the "Schools" section on every listing details page. The "Schools" section is below the "Request a Tour" section. Typically, each listing has four schools listed. With each school, you will learn its score out of 10, whether it's elementary, middle, or high school, if the school is public, private, or charter, and how long of a car ride or walk it is from that address. Homes.com gets their school's scores from greatschools.org. Greatschools.org is a website where you can search by the address or name of the school and check out the overall ranking of schools and their test scores. By learning the most about the schools in the area, you can be sure that you are sending your children to the best schools available. Amenities Nearby You might also want to consider the amenities you would like your neighborhood to have, whether it's a park, pool, gym, or restaurant. Determine what kind of amenities would be best for you and your family to enjoy. To find out more about your new neighborhood's amenities, scroll down to the "Parks and Recreation" section or the "Property Details" section on the listing details page. Having these amenities is fun for the whole family and a great resource when making new friends in your neighborhood.   Engagement Speaking of making new friends, you may want to consider the engagement of your neighborhood. Some neighborhoods host group events such as block parties around the holidays. If you and your family enjoy these types of activities, then try and find a neighborhood with a community that engages with one another. Most neighbors that have a lot of engagement usually have an HOA. An HOA is a homeowners' association that charges monthly fees to residents to maintain the neighborhood and keep engagement high. To learn more about HOAs, check out our article, What Is an HOA, or Homeowners Association? Hopefully now you know how to pick the safest and most comfortable neighborhood for you and your family. And if you ever get stuck, Homes.com is here with our Search feature to help you find the perfect home! To view the original article, visit the Homes.com blog.

Realtor.com Seller's Marketplace Adds Four New Selling Options
Realtor.com announced the expansion of its Seller's Marketplace, adding four new selling options and expanding its reach throughout the U.S. Seller's Marketplace presents homeowners with information about more selling options than any other real estate search site, allowing them to compare information and choose the option that works best for them. Seller's Marketplace has grown traffic by more than 300% year-over-year for Q3 while providing highly qualified leads to our industry partners and agents. In addition to the five seller offerings already available from companies such as EasyKnock, HomeGo (New Western Company), Knock and WeBuyHouses.com, as well as listing with an agent, homeowners can now view selling options from Flyhomes, Orchard, Reali and Swift Homes. With just a few clicks, homeowners can see which of these are available in their area and compare estimates for sale price, timeline, and more with no upfront cost or commitment. "Since launching in 2020, Seller's Marketplace has had tremendous momentum and we're proud to add more great selling options to help homeowners understand all the different ways to sell a home," said Marissa Mierow, vice president of product, Realtor.com. "We want to empower homeowners to take control of their home sale and be able to compare more options than ever before – all in one place." Seller's Marketplace now includes: List on the open market with an agent Buy Now, Sell Later Sell with Ease Sell Now, Move Later Sell in Any Condition In today's competitive housing market, alternative selling and financing solutions have gained popularity as ways to sell a home quickly, compete and win in bidding wars, unlock home equity, and even provide flexibility for tricky circumstances. Realtor.com® is the only national home search site that lets people compare different selling options and empowers them to find the right fit with just a few clicks. Real estate agents also continue to benefit from Seller's Marketplace through many of the solutions offered by Seller's Marketplace providers as well as from referrals from the Realtor.com® network. "Everyone's situation is different and Realtor.com® wants to provide important information and connect homeowners with providers in the financing and selling spaces, so that they can weigh their options and make the best decision for themselves and their families," added Mierow. To learn more, visit realtor.com/sell.

40 Million Ways Agents and Consumers Are Supporting the Broker Public Portal
Real estate professional know that the big portals don't play fair. That's why this industry success milestone is well worth celebrating: Homesnap, the public-facing brand of the Broker Public Portal (BPP), is the No. 1 real estate platform for client engagement, when it comes to agent-consumer communication, according to Homesnap user data. More than 40 million buyers and sellers have engaged with their agents through Homesnap. When the BPP was first being organized, I was skeptical. Did we need another portal? But Homesnap brought back fairness. Most importantly, Homesnap gives agents a resource to generate millions of free leads on their own. If we, as an industry, had allowed ourselves to share data as Zillow did, we might never have lost customers to Zillow. We constrained ourselves and our vendors. By creating the Broker Public Portal with Homesnap, we have developed a competitive offering for consumers who can connect directly with professional agents that help them buy and sell houses, not a lead generation engine that repurposes and resells their contact information. This is our effort to collaborate as agents, brokers, associations, and MLSs to do the right thing for the customer we serve. Variety is good, and consumers are all different, with unique preferences. Homesnap simply gives consumers another option. Forty million of them choose to engage via Homesnap because the BPP has created a safer place for them to shop for homes, a place where they are getting correct data that they can then use to make a decision. Homesnap powers the only national home search platform that plays fair because if features by real-time MLS data and follows our industry's Fair Display Guidelines of "Your listing, your lead." If it's your listing, the consumer is directed to you. If you are working with a buyer on Homesnap, then every listing directs your customer back to you. Together, we provide consumers with the most accurate and timely data, which maintains long-term trust and empowers them to act. Homesnap also helps agents avoid one of the biggest mistakes they can make: creating orphans. Successful agents know that the majority of their business comes from referrals. Yet most sellers and buyers become orphans – they don't use the same agent again because their agent doesn't stay connected to them. Homesnap's built-in engagement features, like in-app messaging and targeted marketing, help keep customers engaged for life. Our industry too often focuses on creating new leads instead of retaining our clients. I fly American because I have status with them, and they reward me. I stay at Marriott because I get a room upgrade. I use my grocery card for my discount. We may be the only industry where we sell your house and say goodbye. Then we chase a stranger for our next sale. Homesnap is your post-closing app, a way to stay in touch with your sphere. That's why so many agents rate it as their top real estate app: it helps them engage with their clients both during today's transaction and while those clients are still pondering tomorrow's deal. Every MLS and brokerage in America that hasn't already needs to work with BPP and Homesnap. Because if you leave your clients with Zillow, I can guarantee you that Zillow is not giving them back to you. It's time every agent and broker embrace Homesnap: it is your brand, as you are the BPP. If Homesnap is not available in your market – call your association or MLS and ask for it. Tom Hosack is CEO and President of BHHS The Preferred Realty in southwestern Pennsylvania and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BHHS Stouffer Realty Services in Ohio, with over 2,300 agents and 56 offices.

Realtor.com Adds More Immersive 3D Home Tour Experiences
To address increased consumer demand, realtor.com today announced that it is adding two new technology providers, Asteroom and CloudPano, to provide additional 3D tour options for home shoppers. In addition to Matterport tours, real estate agents can now upload tours from Asteroom and CloudPano directly to listings on realtor.com. "Concerns around the pandemic certainly heightened the demand for 3D tours, as many home shoppers wanted to explore the home but didn't feel comfortable visiting in person. However, they are more than just a COVID solution, they are now an important option for consumers during their home buying journey," said Rachel Morley, Chief Product Officer, realtor.com®. "Realtor.com® is adding two new technology providers, Asteroom and CloudPano, to help empower agents and brokerages to add more 3D tours to their listings, which we know leads to more views and better engagement." 3D tours have become a crucial part of the home buying journey, and enable home shoppers to understand what it feels like to be in a home without having to step foot inside. By clicking on the 3D tour button on a realtor.com® listing, the viewer can explore an interactive 360-degree view of the home, just as if they were walking the property in person. Asteroom, CloudPano and Matterport have offerings that leverage smartphone cameras which enable quick scanning and cost less than solutions that require specialized equipment. By providing agents with low-cost, easy-to-use options, realtor.com® will increase the accessibility and availability of 3D tours on its listings. A realtor.com® consumer survey conducted in the spring found that 65% of home buyers believed that virtual tours would continue to be a great resource in their home shopping process even after the pandemic. And while the pandemic accelerated virtual tour adoption—at the peak of the lockdowns, listings with virtual tours received 17% more views per property—that momentum has continued. In December, listings with 3D tours on realtor.com® were up 227% since the pandemic began in March. Learn more here.

Zillow Ends Free Rental Listings. What Now?
Will Zillow's price gouging ever end? Starting in January 2021, rental listings currently syndicated through MLSs will no longer feed directly into Zillow. Instead, agents and brokers wishing to publish a rental listing on the third-party platform will need to do so via Zillow Rental Manager, which is contract-based and starts at $9.99 a week. While the company claims the decision was made to "empower" its partners, in reality, the move is little more than a blatant cash grab. Revenue stemming from its main moneymaker, Zillow Premier Agent, has stagnated in recent years, and Zillow Offers, its direct home-buying platform, continues to lose thousands of dollars per transaction. Switching a free service to a paid one was the easiest way to satisfy pressure from investors.

2 Secrets to More Lead Conversions, Straight from a Top Team's Playbook
Lauren Bowen leads one of the most productive real estate teams at Robert Slack. She's increased conversion rates and productivity while the company nearly doubled in size. The secret to her team's success? They stalk their real estate leads... or, more accurately, they let their lead generation solution do it for them. Targeting the Most Likely Buyers Anyone who has spent any time on the internet has been "stalked" by an online ad. You visit a site once, and for days or weeks after, an ad from that site follows you around the web. This is called "ad retargeting," and marketers love this advertising strategy because it is so effective. The Lauren Bowen Team employs this strategy to great success via realtor.com's Local Expert program. Local Expert users can create three types of ads: For Sale ads, Just Sold ads, and Branding ads. Those ads are then displayed to buyers in your chosen area on realtor.com. Once they leave the site, those same ads are displayed in their Facebook feed. "This not only helps bring a buyer to the house, it also shows the seller that we are putting it in front of numerous buyers for them," Lauren says. Tip: Because Local Expert offers detailed campaign analytics, you can impress your sellers by telling them exactly how many people have seen their home's ad. Dialing Up Lead Volume for a Higher Conversion Ratio Lauren's team may have stumbled on another secret to improved conversion rates when, thanks to the success of their realtor.com program, they decided to increase their volume of leads. This lead to a curious phenomenon. The team's number of lead conversions not only increased—as expected with more overall leads coming in—but their conversion ratio increased as well. That means the team is converting a higher percentage of leads than they were at their previous lead volume. "We've almost doubled our conversion ratio with the same leads," says Lauren. See Lauren THIS THURSDAY at Inman Connect NY Want to hear more real estate lead wisdom from Lauren? On Thursday, she'll be sharing her expertise during a panel discussion on the Team Track at Inman Connect New York. Check out her panel, Lead Distribution: Who Gets What?, on January 30!

What Do You Really Know about Apartments.com?
The other day, we at RE Technology were talking about Apartments.com. As we frequently explore different companies and products to stay current in the market, we sometimes like to challenge our initial perception before further research: As of now, what do we think we know about Apartments.com? Our guess, of course: that Apartments.com just focuses on apartments. We could not have been more wrong. We learned they have many different rentals, not just apartments, and most importantly...RESIDENTIAL RENTALS (single family homes, condos, duplexes, townhomes, etc...) which is the reason they are attending all the top industry conferences.   What is ever more amazing is that there is NO cost for an agent, broker or an MLS to display their listings on the Apartments.com Network. Most importantly, this is “Your Listing, Your Lead” where there is no advertising from competing agents on a single listing. The Apartments.com Network is positioned in the industry as a lucrative lead source for agents to incorporate rentals into their business.  Renters become buyers! We were absolutely amazed that you could find homes, townhouses and condos using the Apartments.com network, which boasts nine different rental sites that receive over 50 million monthly visits.  Each of the different sites fill a different niche for renters. Apartments.com ForRent.com, ApartmentFinder.com  Apartamentos.com ForRentUniversity.com After55.com WestsideRentals.com CorporateHousing.com  ApartmentHomeLiving.com. You would think that using the sites in the Apartments.com network would incur expensive fees for agents and brokers. On the contrary, as stated, —Apartments.com is FREE to the agent, broker, or the MLS. Having a feed thru the MLS is easy for the agent, as their data feed prevents them from having to re-enter the listing every time, automatically uploading it to the Apartments.com network. Last, but not least—for two reasons, the Apartments.com network of sites cannot be a better lead source for agents that deal in rentals. First, the network has more than 50 million renters visit their sites every month—the #1 most visited rental source in the country! Second, renters eventually enter the homebuying market as an additional lead source to agents.  Apartments.com Network is already connected to 200 plus MLS organizations across the U.S.  To find out if your MLS already offers the Apartments.com Network in your marketplace, click here.  If you are not sure that your local MLS is connected, click here to get them added.

Digital Marketing Strategy Wins Agent 3 Transactions from 1 Inquiry
How would you like to win multiple transactions from a single online inquiry? That's what happened to Realtor Terry Grayson of The Grayson Group when a lead from realtor.com referred him to family members who owned a construction company. And although those referrals already had a decades-long relationship with another agent, they decided to transact with Terry because of the online exposure they knew their listing would get. We recently spoke with Terry to learn how he differentiates himself online, his secrets to converting more leads, and more. Today's topic is multiple transactions from one inquiry. Apparently, you have been able to make this happen with your online leads? How did you get started with this and what triggers the "extra business" from your online marketing? In 2014, I started off with purchasing leads from two of the national websites. Also, the company I was with at the time would send me their brokerage overflow leads if the listing agent did not pick up. This introduced me to the whole concept of online advertising and reaching out to clients when they have an inquiry about a property. When I switched over to realtor.com, I could just see a difference in the quality of the lead. The others were not as serious or as ready to engage immediately. As an example, I have a realtor.com customer right now that I'm working on. This one realtor.com lead turned into three transactions so far because he was not only a buyer looking for property; his parents have a construction company that does concrete work and they met me at the showing. They came along just to make sure that my buyer made the right decision and they were looking at the structure of the property. Six months after we closed, his parents reached out to me and they went forward with me to list their property based off of that relationship. It was an interview process because I was competing with a more well-established real estate agent that had a 25-year track record in the community. And yet they felt that I would do a better job listing their house and selling it—just due to the fact that they knew they would get online exposure. What is it that you can offer your buying customers on the listing side to facilitate double-ended transactions? The likelihood of the house selling would be better than if it were just to be put online because I have the realtor.com branding. With this new Local Expert product, we are coming up 50% of the time in local home searches. I own market share in ten different markets, and I'm showing up in the fourth position on the front page for all of them—and so are my sellers' properties. This is really awesome because they can see that they're going to get that exposure where the other competing real estate agents wouldn't. I've already have used it for listing presentations, and it worked out perfectly. It's quite impressive that you can just show up 50% of the time in somebody's neighborhood. Do your clients take notice of your branding? Yes, and if they're using, for instance, Facebook, it attaches itself to that and all of a sudden my ad pops up. I've had customers come back to me that are still actively looking for homes (they like to do their own house search even though I send them listings through the MLS). They come back to me and say, "Terry I see your face all over the internet—you're everywhere." Since you have closed an abundance of customers you met online, how does this position you to get additional listing business, repeat sales and referrals? It really is pretty impressive. I feel very confident that the past clients that I serviced realize that I am the agent of choice in the area because my face just continually pops up everywhere they're looking. When they come back in the market to move again, they're the ones really looking online on a daily basis and they see us over and over and over again. Sample of a flyer that Terry uses in his business:

From Restaurants to Real Estate: How One Entrepreneur Closed 79 Transactions in 1 Year
When changing economic conditions pushed Mike Novak and his wife out of the restaurant industry, he responded by getting his real estate license and closing 79 transactions in his first year. In this interview, Novak—now Team Leader at The Novak Team by eXp—shares how he and his wife started over in a new industry and and built a new brand, and the role that online leads and branding played in making a fast comeback. You had a 400 employee restaurant chain—now you are starting all over in real estate. What happened? My wife my owned a chain restaurant company and Washington state changed the minimum wage in November of 2016 from $9 an hour to $15 an hour and we ended up losing over $50,000 per month. I got my real estate license and we had a great comeback, doing 79 transactions our first year with just my wife and I. After losing that other company, we didn't want to have employees and the responsibility of providing for other people, so we just tried to do it ourselves for as long as possible. But we quickly found our ceiling and that ceiling was about 12-13 transactions a month. We then added an admin and then we started adding buyer's agents. Eventually, we stated to expand further using pay-per-click ads, Facebook, and then finally realtor.com. How long have you been using realtor.com® as a lead source? We're going on about 10 months—so not that long. We've been really big into pay-per-click and Facebook leads, and we wanted to get some more leads that are closer to actually being ready to make a move. That's when we explored realtor.com®. How did the leads perform? Since we've brought them in, we've closed a lot of deals with, so we keep expanding it as we keep seeing more and more success. Also, I might add, a lot of the buyers we get are sellers as well. Do you use realtor.com's branding tool, Local Expert™ to support this? We went and signed up for the entire county. I think it is going to be impactful for listings. Sellers use realtor.com to scope out their neighborhood and so that's going to present opportunity for listings. You mentioned that you wanted to shift to leads that were closer to a transaction. Did you notice these were further along? Oh, absolutely, yes. Most of the realtor.com leads are zero to 30 days away from being ready to meet with an agent, whereas pay-per-click leads are usually between 8-12 months, and Facebook's like 15-18 months. What do you do to warm up these inquiries so you can close them? We shift the conversation to the person and not the property. We coach them on this. Our communications are, "We want to talk to you about the reason you're thinking about making a move and the impact that would have on your life." That's going to allow us to build a connection and get away from just answering that the house is about three bedrooms or two baths and, yes, 15 million square feet. We try to take the normal agent that is taking a phone call in and they're giving answers and responses on the property and flip it around to talking about the person. How about if they are not quite ready to move? With all of our leads, regardless of being realtor.com® or Facebook, we throw them into our CRM and then we will retarget them on social media. If there's a match between the email address that we received from realtor.com and their Facebook email address, we'll get back in front of them that way with some video content. Then we'll also try to figure out what their timing is and follow up with them. We organized leads by A-B-C-D. As are ready to go right away. Bs are a little bit further out, like 30-90 days. Cs are 90-150, and Ds are 150+. Have you measured your success? $400,000 of GCI last year came from this. We're definitely recruiting with this success. Instead of waiting 6-9 months to get a closing, when you have a newer agent that needs to put food on the table in three months, that's going to make them feel real good. Learn more about Local Expert™ can help you build your business here.  

Why an Up-to-date Agent Profile Helps You List More Homes
Your customers are likely checking you out before agreeing to an appointment. Sellers want to see what else you sold--and buyers want to read what your previous customers have to say about you. Greg Drake makes the effort to ask his customers why they chose him, and found that what they read on his profile pages made a difference. He has figured out how to make sure his reviews get read--in particular by people on the verge of listing or buying a property. Drake has won awards for his five-star customer service. Here is his opinion on how this drives new business. Realtor.com's Local Expert product and your realtor.com profile are meant primarily to get your brand out there where people are shopping for homes. But can you point to actual business this brings? A couple of times this this year, I've had people click on the Local Expert ad on realtor.com and then they went to my realtor.com profile and reviewed that. They then contacted me and I got two listing appointments from it. One was a sell and buy, so I effectively got three sides from that combination of the Local Expert and the realtor.com profile. I know this because I stared asking how they got to me or chose to work with me. I asked them saying, "I know you're interviewing agents, why did you choose me?" Why do you think seeing this makes them inclined to work with you? One of the big things was they saw my Local Expert ad on realtor.com and they felt very comfortable with that backing from realtor.com saying, "Here is your local expert." They felt that it added extra credibility over the other agents that they were interviewing so it was that edge that got the team to where they needed to be to get the listing. It was extremely helpful. So they check you out when comparing agents. How are they going about their research? People find our team through Local Expert at or they'll look at the profile on realtor.com and they'll also go to my LinkedIn. I get a report on how many people have looked at my profile in the last week, and with LinkedIn I can see who is looking. I find a lot of people will do that—they'll do some of the research on realtor.com and go to LinkedIn as well. They look at everything to make sure they are choosing the right agent. They want to feel that the legitimacy and the credibility is there before they'll engage with you or they'll meet you. This occurs with a Connections lead when they say "I want to see this house today." Do they still look you up once you speak with them? You go out and meet them at the house. They don't know you and you don't know them. You're trying to gain rapport and gain credibility. I'll find that they will later go in and look at LinkedIn and then they'll look at my profile on realtor.com. I've asked them, "What guided your decision to work with me after you've seen houses with multiple other agents?" It came back to their research into our credibility and the sales volume and things like that, which show that I am an experienced agent and I know how to get the job done. They also see the recommendations, and from this they felt comfortable with me. That's what gave them the kind of edge to say, "Yes I want to work with you." Being able to bring in buyers is always interesting to sellers. Do you use this advantage when making a pitch for a listing? I bring up Local Expert in listing presentations because it's a key factor for people searching for that. I'm going to show up in your ZIP code as the Local Expert. They're going to contact me to find out more about your home, and who knows your home better than I do when I'm listing it? I can best answer the questions to find out what they're looking for. I can convert that inquiry into a showing, which is a benefit to you versus that lead going to someone who you know doesn't know your home who can't sell your home for you because they don't really know anything about it. Sellers understand it and they'll go online and they'll test it to see who are the couple of people that show up as a Local Expert in this area. To them, they see the value in having the Local Expert marketing the home. They feel comfortable going with me versus somebody who doesn't have that exposure. Greg Drake is the Broker/Owner of Realty Professionals, LLC. He provides a superior level of informed and professional residential real estate services to buyers and sellers in the Denver metro area.  

Real Agent Story: Online Branding Key to Winning New and Past Clients
How are real estate agents building their business online? To find out, we've been speaking with successful Realtors. Today, Delaware-based agent Debbie Phipps shares how she reaches buyers, sellers, and past clients through lead generation and strategic branding on realtor.com. Your branding on realtor.com—is this a tool to secure listings? I use realtor.com® Local Expert as an important element in my listing presentations. I log them onto realtor.com® and I show all of the exposure and how it drives everything to my DebbiePhipps.com site. I have a 15-inch laptop I bring to the presentation. I talk about realtor.com®. I tell everyone that it's the only site that's affiliated with the National Association of REALTORS®. I recognized early on that this was where I should focus my marketing dollars because the site would be there over the years. The other sites don't have the same correctness and accuracy and the amount of people looking at them. Other sites come and go. But realtor.com® will always be there. I tell my potential listing clients that this particular program I use gives them maximum exposure that is better than you could ever get with any other agent. Of course, it's a tool to make sellers understand the exposure you are giving them; but it's also a presentation tool. While presenting, I show them an example of a listing. I put in the appropriate Zip codes, so they see that my listing and my links to my website where they are featured are coming up 50 percent of the time as they scroll through three or four pages. If I get an appointment where I don't have the Zip code, I will still be able put it in nearby areas. Usually they're very impressed when they see how their home will appear on realtor.com®. Does this help you on the buying side? I use the featured property piece of the Local Expert for listings and the other piece of it as a way to help us close our leads. When the realtor.com® leads come through, they recognize me as someone that's a local expert. I have worked primarily in New Castle County, Cecil County, Chester County area most of my life. I've been in this business 30+ years. I want past clients to know how to find me. So past customers are reminded by your branding? You can't imagine how many calls I get because people remember me from our past association. When it comes to selling their house, they're still calling me. I keep my brand out there so that they can see I'm strong in business. Most people say they would use their agent again. But although they were happy with the agent they used last time, most don't even know what their name is now. If they can't remember their agent, how could this help draw them to you? Are they seeing your branding? As an example, I recently went to a $550,000 listing in our average $250K marketplace. They didn't know me at all, but they were impressed with my marketing. I am always marketing my brand through my website, social media and print ads. It is not easy to measure, but you eventually can see the effect. My marketing appears in quite a few places, but the realtor.com® Local Expert really grabs their attention. Many of my listing leads say, "Oh, we saw you on the internet," and when I drill down, they saw me on realtor.com®.    

Kendrick Realty Clones Business Model to New Locations
At RE Technology, we love to bring you success stories from fellow real estate professionals. Kendrick Realty has a GREAT story about how they were able to significantly dial up the success on their lead gen efforts in 2018. Check it out! In early 2018, the founders of Kendrick Realty, Lucas Monroe and Dan Sundberg, started to expand their lead program with realtor.com. At year-end, we checked in on their progress to see what they learned while driving agent- and office-expansion through their realtor.com lead solution.

Homes.com Nails New Website Design
Homes.com has been running in fourth position in the portal race, tucked in behind Zillow, Realtor.com, and Trulia. I thought that their old site was fine, but their new site adds in artificial intelligence in ways that make the consumer experience fantastic. In a world of sameness, Homes.com has changed the game. The first experience for a visitor is incredible. The site is the first major portal to look at my machine's IP address and make the site conform to what I probably am looking for. In this case, I run my Safari browser in Private Mode and I had not logged in, just visited the site. It knows that my IP address is in Arroyo Grande, CA and pulls up other criteria based upon the average home in my town – three bedrooms around $730,000. Yes, California home prices are outrageous, but that is a conversation for another day.

3 Questions to Ask Before You Share Your Listings Online
As a real estate agent, you work with a variety of different people from appraisers, inspectors, and lenders to your MLS and search portals. Most of the time, it's easy to understand what each person or party wants from you and you always know what you expect from them: help completing the transaction. However, sometimes motivations can get murky. Not every party out there is equally committed to your success, after all. This is certainly the case with the search portals that are supposed to help you advertise your listings to interested buyers. If you want the highest return for your listing efforts and advertising dollars, you need to ask three key questions before selecting which search portals to advertise on.

How to Win Over 'On the Fence' Clients — Once and for All!
On occasion, your go-to closing line may not cinch the deal for you, and your prospects or leads may request more time to consider signing on with you. It can be frustrating to not have solidified their business, but, more importantly, you may not have any idea what (if anything) you can do to sway them once and for all. That's where a robust realtor.com® profile can come in handy. The time for the hard sell has come and gone, but by sharing the testimonials and reviews of past clients who have worked with you, you'll be able to offer one resource that could help you win their business.

Agent tried online leads and received a lead that closed on day one!
RDC: We know this is not always going to be the case – but we heard you signed up for realtor.com leads and immediately received an inquiry that went to contract – can you tell us about your experience? JP: I received my very first realtor.com® lead the same day I signed up for realtor.com®, from a gentleman out of Oklahoma looking at properties in Carillon Beach in Panama City Beach Florida. We toured four homes and we made an offer on a home listed at $1,175,000 on May 19th, just ten days after I signed up for realtor.com® leads. We closed on that home on June 6th, less than six weeks after the initial contact. It was a cash purchase and it went fast. I am very happy for him and his family and I was glad to be a part of the transaction.

Realtor.com's Mobile App Gets Spiffed Up for Spring
Realtor.com spent the first quarter of this year sprucing up its mobile app for spring. First, the property portal announced two augmented reality features that let smartphone users look up and view listing information via their phone's camera. We told you about that update, but we didn't cover two recent features that really spike the fun factor of the Realtor.com mobile app—both for you and for your clients. Here are two new features you can start using for the selling season ahead: iMessage integration Realtor.com joined the ranks of Zillow and Trulia when they added iMessage integration in February. The integration lets iOS users browse and share recently viewed, saved, and nearby listings right from their phone's text messaging app. Users can preview basic property details like price, square footage, and number of beds/baths with a long press of their device's screen.

Best of 2016: I Didn't Hire FOUR Listing Agents!
There's just 10 publishing days left in 2016, and we're continuing an annual tradition of counting down our top 10 articles of the year. The following article was originally published back in March and is #10 in our countdown. There's nothing like becoming an ACTUAL customer of a product to give you a different perspective. I have looked at Zillow and other third party sites a gazillion times in my career as a consultant, but it took actually selling a home to really open my eyes. We held onto our home in Buffalo, New York for a long time after moving to California. This year, we finally decided to sell it. Once the home was live on third party sites, I became very interested in the agents who were featured on the property. I called each one to experience what a potential buyer might. Here's what happened: First, every one of the premiere agents and my listing agent called me back within minutes. This is not the normal response time I have experience in the past, so I was very pleased. Checkmark for all of them on responsiveness. Now let's get to the area that was very troublesome to me. I asked each agent to tell me a bit more about the house. I wanted to see how much they actually knew about the property. Had they visited it? Were they familiar with the neighborhood? The town? The street? I was very disappointed to find out that NONE of the premiere agents had been in the house or even in the neighborhood recently. They knew nothing about the property. They were simply using my property to troll for potential buyers. They were not experts in any way regarding the community or property they were representing.

How Do Homes.com and Realtor.com Compare?
Since the internet is among the top three most important methods of generating real estate leads, and online listing sites rank as one of the most valuable tools, every agent is challenged to leverage these resources for creating, capturing, and closing leads. But how can agents effectively compare the value propositions of marketing on the most popular real estate sites? An analysis of online marketing solutions from Realtor.com and Homes.com show that their marketing tools stack up pretty solidly when compared side by side, offering a range of options to suit any agent's CRM strategy, marketing budget, and revenue goals. Both online real estate sites possess expansive reach that enables agents to pitch their professional profiles broadly while electing strategies that fit within their budget and plan. The no-cost Realtor.com profiles promote trust relationships with prospects by detailing agents' listings, client recommendations, ratings, and reviews. Similarly, two programs through Homes.com amplify an agents' brand while also providing the benefit of decreasing regional competition while carrying a nominal cost. For instance, the Local Connect program, available to only a select number of agents within a specific zip code, features links to registered agents' contact information, profile, or website. An enhanced version, the Featured Agent program, virtually eliminates online marketing competition by placing regionally exclusive links to the registered agent's profile only. Regardless of the price point an agent chooses, all of these programs deliver the ability to cast a wide net for maximizing brand awareness and lead pipeline development.

Zillow and Move/NAR Settle Lawsuit and End Trade Secrets Battle
Zillow settled several lawsuits recently, including one we've all been watching closely: the Move, Inc. suit that accused Zillow of stealing trade secrets. According to the terms of the agreement, Zillow must pay Move, Inc. $130 million by June 20. Move, the operators of Realtor.com, brought the suit against Zillow in 2014 after two Move executives defected to the rival portal. The suit alleged that the executives, Errol Samuelson and Curt Beardsley, stole trade secrets and destroyed evidence in order to conceal the theft. Move and Zillow "have agreed to dismiss all claims and counterclaims with prejudice," according to an SEC filing, and the settlement is not an "admission of liability, wrongdoing, or responsibility by any of the parties." NAR will receive 10 percent of the settlement after Move deducts legal costs and fees. Move originally sought $2 billion in damages. Despite the settlement, bad blood persists. That means you shouldn't expect to see Zillow at any NAR conferences or events anytime soon. NAR has banned Zillow from their events for the remainder of 2016--and we wouldn't be surprised to see that ban stick around for even longer.

I Didn't Hire FOUR Listing Agents!
There's nothing like becoming an ACTUAL customer of a product to give you a different perspective. I have looked at Zillow and other third party sites a gazillion times in my career as a consultant, but it took actually selling a home to really open my eyes. We held onto our home in Buffalo, New York for a long time after moving to California. This year, we finally decided to sell it. Once the home was live on third party sites, I became very interested in the agents who were featured on the property. I called each one to experience what a potential buyer might. Here's what happened: First, every one of the premiere agents and my listing agent called me back within minutes. This is not the normal response time I have experience in the past, so I was very pleased. Checkmark for all of them on responsiveness. Now let's get to the area that was very troublesome to me. I asked each agent to tell me a bit more about the house. I wanted to see how much they actually knew about the property. Had they visited it? Were they familiar with the neighborhood? The town? The street? I was very disappointed to find out that NONE of the premiere agents had been in the house or even in the neighborhood recently. They knew nothing about the property. They were simply using my property to troll for potential buyers. They were not experts in any way regarding the community or property they were representing.

5 Best Practices for Advertising on Property Portals
Husband-and-wife team Eric and Janelle Boyenga were among the very first agents to start advertising with Zillow. A decade ago, portals were still new and agents were beginning their first tenuous steps into online marketing. "Years ago, and still even now, we'd spend money in different places and just see what sticks," says Janelle. "If something stuck, we'd spend more money." Zillow was one of the places that stuck. They joined the site in February of 2006 with an initial investment of $1000. In the 10 years since, Zillow has consistently been their best source of leads and business growth. "Zillow really catapulted our business," says Eric. "We get a lot of leads--somewhere between 100 to 200 leads a month. If we had Zillow 20 years ago, we would be where we are today 10 years earlier because you can really speed up your growth." Over the past decade, the Boyengas have perfected their Zillow game and they now share their knowledge with other agents as trainers in Zillow's Accelerate Program for Zillow Premier Agents. They shared their favorite best practices for leveraging Zillow during our interview. Best Practices for Leveraging Zillow Providing great customer service is the best way to make the most of your investment in advertising with Zillow, according to the Boyengas. "A lot of Realtors don't understand what clients are looking for and don't take online client contact seriously," says Janelle. "They're looking for a Realtor that's professional, and so many times agents don't even respond to clients when they email them or text them--and all they want is your help!"

A Look at Zillow's New Premier Agent App
Zillow Group launched the new Premier Agent app today, available for free to all agents with a Zillow or Trulia profile. The app gives agents an easy way to manage their incoming Zillow and Trulia leads, and offers insights into those leads based on the consumer's search behavior on the portals. In the app screenshot below, for example, you can see information like what size home, location, and price range that a lead has been searching for on the portals. This lead "intel" helps agents come prepared to the first contact, and able to suggest homes and other valuable information to the lead right out of the gate--thus increasing the chances of conversion.

Your Past Sales Are Crucial to Your Current Reputation
When consumers visit a property search portal, they're looking at homes but also absorbing information about agents. Whether they're buying or selling, consumers pay attention to agents that have had successful transactions. They're interested in finding the person that, in their mind, is going to provide the best possible outcome. The primary way consumers can investigate an agent's "track record" of successfully closed transactions is through sold data. They can access this information in two main ways--by searching recently sold properties and by viewing individual agent profiles. Let's take a closer look at how each of the top three portals handles sold data. How Portals Display Sold Data All three major portals allow consumers to search recently sold listings. Zillow and Trulia both display the buyer side and listing side agents under the "History" section of their property pages. Realtor.com offers this information beneath the "Listing Provider" heading. For agents who have "claimed" their previous sales or whose brokerages who supply sold data to the portals, the agent's name is linked to their profile where consumers can find the agent's contact info, read client recommendations, and more. When sold data is not provided by either the agent, their broker or MLS, no name at all appears (see the image below). This is a missed opportunity to connect with seller leads. Owners who are considering listing their home are most likely to search Recently Sold data in order to get a feel for current market pricing.

Appraising Your Digital Property: Where Agents Should Be Online
Let's talk about property--digital property. These are virtual "places" like websites, social media and search portal profiles where prospects can find you online. Without a presence in the digital world, today's web savvy consumer will pass you by in favor of the competition. Buyers will never even know you exist. Sellers, on the other hand, will question why they should list with someone who can't even market themselves online. That doesn't mean you have to join every social network you can find, however, or run out and buy single property websites for each of your listings. When it comes to building an effective Internet presence, it's better to leverage a few web properties well. Here's a rundown of which are most important. Profiles on Property Search Portals According to a joint study by NAR and Google, over 90% of consumers start their home search online. Thanks to the way they dominate search results, property search portals like Zillow and Trulia are often the first place those consumers end up. That's why it's crucial that you claim your profile on each of the top three portals. If your brokerage or MLS sends listing data to portals, your name already appears on your listings. In the case of Trulia and Zillow, both display the listing agent's phone number and a link to their portal profile where consumers can see their other listings and read customer reviews. However, it's not uncommon for brokers that aren't meticulous about keeping track of their agents' contact info to send outdated phone numbers with their listing data. Claiming your portal profile will not only ensure that this information is accurate, it allows you to build a robust online property that's attractive to consumers. Be sure to add a recent headshot and solicit past clients for reviews for best results.

Have Home Sellers Lost Their Status to Real Estate Portals?
The large real estate portals giveth opportunity, but do they also taketh away the rights of home sellers and their agents? The hot topic in real estate used to be the marketing, buying and selling of homes and property. It seems as though the buzz has been replaced with debates and discussion on data feeds, real estate portals and syndication. It is reminiscent of the old days when there were issues of procuring cause and the like. I guess it's always a to-do when it is about money. Procuring cause debates are normally between real estate agents and brokerages while data feed/syndication discussions can fall unknowingly on the property owners themselves. When a homeowner signs a listing contract with a real estate brokerage, there is an understanding between the parties. This understanding is the foundation of the contract and includes things like fees for services (commission), contract length and marketing plan. The factors that make up the contract are often based on rules, regulations and guidelines relating to the laws and ethics of the real estate industry in the governing municipality where the property lies. The listing contract often allows the home seller to opt-out of any online marketing. The seller may choose to opt-out of the online marketing world because they do not want their property to be subject to an Automated Value Model (AVM) such as the famous Zestimate®. The seller may want to only be in the local multi-list, but not on the national syndication sites. There may even be more personal reasons they do not want the mass syndication. It is also possible that Mr. and/or Mrs. Home Seller simply want their home information to be as correct as it can be and only trust their real estate agent and the agent's website to do so. After all, it is the brokerage and agent who they trusted and hired to sell the property, right? Whatever the reason for opting-out, choice is the issue here. So what happens when the home seller and their agent make the choice to opt-out? While I cannot be sure what happens in every case, I can tell you what happened with a property that I opted-out of the MLS data feed. The address of that home is 20 Beech Rd, Mohnton, PA 19540. (Yes, I am exposing the address and you will soon understand why.)

Best of 2014: Beating Zillow and Trulia at Their Own Game
Here it is--our top article of the year! This article was originally published back in May and is the most read article of 2014. See #2 here. What if I told you that just about everything you find unfair about the way that Zillow and Trulia display your listings can be changed? Guess what? An insider understanding of how these sites work has allowed thousands of listing agents to get hundreds of dollars worth of free marketing on these sites without paying a dime. Before I go on, do not stop reading this article just because you do not have a listing. Print this article out because there is a listing in your future. Carry this article around in your pocket or your briefcase as a reminder of what you are going to do to improve your business when you get your first listing. In fact, even without a listing, you can take this advice and lay the foundation for your future success today. If you can spend about 15 minutes of your day, today, performing the steps that are outlined in this article, you will be the master of your listings on those websites. You see, the truth is that Zillow and Trulia have both learned that if an agent has not set up their profile on their portal, they are unlikely to ever respond to a consumer who inquires about the listing. Even REALTORS® who uphold the REALTOR® Code of Ethics™ are ignoring consumers who inquire about their listed properties. Today more than 50% of the consumer inquiries on Zillow and Trulia never get a response. What's worse is that, when the listing agent does respond, it typically takes 15.5 hours rather than the 15 minutes that consumers expect. I am about to show you the path, but there is one other thing that you must understand first. What savvy real estate professionals know is that leads on your listing fill your buyer pool. Having a listing is the greatest way to pump up your business. One listing generates dozens of buyer leads. If the buyer doesn't land on the house you have listed, you can show them something else. And guess what? Those buyer leads are usually seller leads, too. We all understand that every homeowner shops where they want to live before they list their existing home for sale. This is where all of the magic happens.

Why Listing Portal Dominance is the Best Thing to Happen to Real Estate
2014 has proven to be the year of the race to housing portal dominance. The real estate industry has seen unprecedented mergers and acquisitions among key players Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com. This activity has struck a chord with a plethora of agents, for better or for worse. However, one thing is certain--the change is forcing agents to prove their relevance in an age where housing information is literally littered all over the place. Real estate notoriously lags behind in technology adoption compared to other industries, but the fear of going the way of travel agents is empowering agents to reverse this trend. Zillow and Trulia alone control about 70 percent of online real estate traffic, and I am not surprised at all. These companies have ruthlessly innovated on behalf of the consumer as major real estate players stood idle. This massive land grab has finally caught the attention of the industry and literally forced the industry to start building and creating the demand for innovative products. Over the next couple years, agents will have to adopt new tech to simply survive. Starting in 2015, Millennials will represent the largest block of homebuyers. To no surprise, this demographic is also the largest users of smartphones. If these macro trends are any kind of indication for where real estate technology is headed, here are three tips to help empower agents in a world where portals dominate search and mobile is ubiquitous: 1. Leverage mobile technology to increase client retention There is no better platform than mobile to stay top of mind with clients. Your brand is literally in their pocket all the time. This represents an opportunity to cut costs and increase effectiveness of their marketing dollars. Whether it be your own app or popular blog, creating a user experience worth experiencing is a tremendously powerful way to create "stickiness" with your clients.

Friday Freebie: The Property Search Portal that Doesn't Want Your Money
You've heard a lot about free product trials and digital downloads in our Friday Freebies column. Today, we're excited to break away from the norm by highlighting a product that doesn't have a free trial at all--because it's always free to agents and brokers. Househappy: The Visual Search Portal That's Always Free to Agents Househappy is a bit of an upstart. Since entering the competitive portal space 18 months ago, the site has differentiated itself with a distinct "Pinterest-like" focus on visual search. Visitors to the site's main page are greeted with a grid of nothing but crisp, clean property photos that can be filtered by criteria like location, price, seller concessions, nearby attractions, and more. But for real estate pros, the best part of Househappy is the site's hardlined determination to NOT make money off of agents and brokers. Profiles are free to both consumers and Realtors, and there are no banner nor advertising programs for agents to buy. You'll never have to worry about a competitor's contact info being shown next to your listing, either. How? It's all possible thanks to Househappy's unique business model. You can read more about that in our review, along with details about the nifty features offered to agents, like: Agent Dashboard for managing your profile and listings Notifications on when consumers have "liked" your listing so you can follow up Access to contact information disclosed by consumers Easy syndication via a partnership with ListHub Ready to get started? Sign up for your free Agent Profile today!

Introducing Househappy
We've heard Househappy.org called the "Pinterest for real estate" several times since the site launched in March 2013. While the search portal's visual focus makes the comparison understandable, the truth is that the Portland-based startup is far more compelling—especially for real estate professionals. "When searching for a new home, real estate consumers really want to see images of properties," says Robyn Woodman, Vice President of Partnerships for Househappy. Househappy gives consumers exactly what they want by offering a visual real estate search experience that places property photos front and center. While that alone is enough to differentiate Househappy from other property search portals, it's their business model that makes them really stand out. Househappy is (and always will be, according to Woodman) free to consumers and agents. Unlike other portals, agents never have to worry about a competitor's contact info being shown next to their listing. There are no banner ads, either, and no advertising programs for agents to buy into. But we'll get to all of that in a moment. First, let's take a look at how Househappy works. The Basics Househappy's interface is based on the principles of clean, beautiful design. As you can see in the screenshot below, a search brings up properties as a list of photos displayed on a grid. Mousing over a photo will reveal the location, price, and property type. The heart icon lets users who have created a free Househappy profile save that home to their favorites.

4 Lead Generation Sources: Which Should You Budget for in 2014?
In December, we explored how Virtual Office Websites (VOWs) can be used to generate leads. There are many more sources for online leads, though, so we're kicking off the New Year by taking a broader look at our options. After all, now's the time when many agents and brokers turn budget- and process-minded, and examine what is working for their business and their budget. Some sources, like social media and Craigslist, only require an investment of time and motivation. But at the start of a new year, many real estate pros are more concerned about paid sources of lead generation and where--or if--they fit into their annual budget. With that in mind, today we're going to take a look at four different sources of online lead generation. Each will be evaluated according to cost, time and effort, and quantity of leads. Custom or DIY Websites Do-it-yourself websites come in all shapes and sizes. They can be anything from simple Wordpress sites to full-blown custom designed web destinations. Some who take the DIY route plug-in a third-party IDX search like Diverse Solutions to their site, or use only an MLS or association provided search widget. Others provided limited or no search capability. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however. I'm particularly fond of this website for local brokerage the Davies Company. Why? Because it's clean, uncluttered, and makes it easy to find exactly what I need. There's no sense of being overwhelmed by property search options or other features--a feeling many generic template sites often convey.

Choosing a Property Search Solution
What is Property Search? We don't need to tell you what property search is; you know it all too well. It's where your buyers live and breathe, and where your sellers want to reach buyers. There are third party property search portals available, the property search portals on broker or agent websites, and property search portals on MLS sites. The key isn't just for these solutions to be user-friendly, but also for them to have access to accurate and comprehensive data. Finding a solution that's a good fit for your needs and your budget is crucial. Questions to Ask There are some important questions to ask when buying any real estate technology product and some that are unique to choosing a solution for property search. First, let's look at general questions you'll want to ask. What are my objectives for this piece of technology and will this product help me achieve those objectives? What is my budget? Does my MLS or Association have any agreements with any vendors that might help me obtain this product at a discount or for free? What kind of customer service and training programs are available? Are there webinars and, if so, are they recorded so you can view them at any time? Is the vendor's online help sufficient?

Friday Freebie: Agent Profile on realtor.com®
Have you claimed your free profile on realtor.com® yet? It's the first step to building repeat and referral business, and gaining more exposure and leads. Free Agent Profile on realtor.com® Realtor.com® is the network where serious consumers spend time searching for real estate. By completing your realtor.com® profile, you let the world that you are not just an agent – you are a REALTOR® who has pledged to a code of ethics. Do this today and your 'Find a REALTOR®' profile and listings will display a prominent REALTOR® "R." Other benefits of your realtor.com® profile include: Manage your recommendations and connect with consumers in your community Your profile acts as the basic building block for other free tools like the realtor.com® Mobile Collaborative Search App An easy way to ask for recommendations and get them posted on realtor.com® and important social media sites Generate referrals, recommendations and repeat business Demonstrate your expertise, show your activity Claim your free profile on realtor.com®!

Luxury Agent Leads the Way With Home Auction
When many agents are asked about the role of auctions in the home buying and selling process, they usually respond with a statement about distressed properties or foreclosures. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. RE Technology took some time to learn about Auction.com, how it works, who uses it and the role it plays in luxury home sales. They totally debunked the myth. As it turns out, auctions are a primary way that the world's hyper-wealthy buy lots of things, ranging from luxury homes to art, yachts, and planes. To understand the auction process, we interviewed Auction.com's Vice President of Business Development, Julie Han, and Ruth Ann Fisher of Del Realty in San Diego to learn more. Auction.com is the leader in residential and commercial real estate auctions, especially luxury home auctions. The company has more than 1 million registered website users, spends more than $30 million in advertising each year, and employs more than 1,000 people. I make note of this because it seemed unreal that they have sold over 100,000 homes in the last five years alone. As to the myth of using auctions for distressed properties, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the stronger the market, the higher the values fetched from auctions. One element of auctions that I did not think about was agent lead generation. When you post a listing to auction, you not only sell that house for maximum value, but you generate leads of other buyers in the market.

My Husband’s Love Affair with the REALTOR.com iPad App
I'm constantly finding my husband in bed with the REALTOR.com iPad app. I'll pop into the grocery store and return to the car only to find him once again enthralled with it. I've decided to take a professional interest in this – if I don't, I'm going to get a serious inferiority complex. So, I sat him down and asked him to explain his love affair with REALTOR.com's consumer-facing mobile solution. His observations are interesting, so I thought I'd share them here. "I know it's accurate." Before using the app, my husband used the property search on the REALTOR.com website. Why? Because somehow (and I swear it wasn't me), he picked up the concept of MLS data being the most accurate data, and that this is where REALTOR.com obtains its data. I shouldn't be surprised – he's an incredibly intelligent guy, and tends to do his research before making any decision (particularly big ones like buying real estate). He says he's been "disappointed" by Zillow. He found great properties listed there that were actually no longer on the market, and his poor heart was broken on several occasions. He's also seen incorrect prices– and doesn't want to be wondering if he's missing an important $50,000 price drop.

A Secret about REALTOR.com
REALTOR.com has been a member of the REALTOR® family for a long time. The National Association of REALTORS® provides REALTOR.com as a member benefit. Every MLS and Association in the nation provides REALTOR.com with an update of your listings every day. It is the most comprehensive and accurate database of real estate listings in the world. That is the stuff you already know. Now let me tell you a secret that you probably do not know. When the National Association of REALTORS® set plans to launch the site, property listings was not the core focus. The core focus of the site is to connect REALTORS® with consumers. On the surface, this may sound like a shallow differentiation, but it is not. The Find REALTORS® directory is a key component to REALTOR.com. The website offers the most robust and comprehensive directory of REALTORS® in the world too! Until recently, the agent pages on REALTOR.com were okay. They were commonplace, much like the agent pages that you might see on the typical broker website. There was the agent image, a useless and outdated bio, phone numbers and email addresses. Social media arrived on the scene years ago in real estate, and REALTOR.com had not selected a plan to connect REALTORS® and consumers through those platforms. Today, that has all changed. Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media profiles can now be added to your profile page on REALTOR.com.

Trulia Social Search
Trulia launched a new program called Trulia Social Search on July 28th of this year. If you have not taken a look at it, you should. Many speculate this this is Trulia’s way of providing a more soothing solution to Agent Ratings found on Zillow, one of Trulia’s competitors. This is also probably in line with what Realtor.com has with their acquisition of Social Bios. For years, agents have put quotes from past clients on their website. These recommendations are not quite as harsh as Agent Ratings. But they do demonstrate that some people who have received services from the agent were satisfied with the agent. When I look at the recommendations, they feel a lot like Linkedin recommendations. It provides people who may not know the agent to get some feedback from others, which is a good thing. Trulia allows recommendations to be submitted in two ways. In both cases, the agent requests a recommendation from a past client. The customer has the choice of entering the information into Trulia, or connecting using Facebook. Moreover, agents may request recommendations from their Facebook friends. The Facebook integration is pretty cool in part due to the nature of Facebook itself. When a client posts a recommendation, it is published to Trulia, the Agent’s Wall, the Client’s Wall, and the walls of both the agent and client’s friends. In that sense, it is as part advertisement and part collecting recommendations.  

REALTOR® Marketing is Changing with New Lead-Generation Service
Today, Listingbook announced MyQuickFarm.com, a new lead generation system that has the potential to change the way REALTORS® prospect online. This is not your mother’s lead generation. For as little as $1 per lead, real estate agents using MyQuickFarm.com will receive exclusive, high-quality leads and the tools to convert these leads. MyQuickFarm.com The $1 leads from MyQuickFarm.com include first name, last name, and email address. Once purchased, they are exclusive to the purchasing REALTOR®. A minimum of 100 leads is required (for perspective, Listingbook has already had an agent purchase more than 7,000 leads). These leads come from third-party sources as well as the Listingbook website (http://www.listingbook.com/home/).