There are billions of dollars pouring into our industry today-- investment bankers and venture capitalists alike have caught the real estate bug. If the programs and companies you offer don’t meet the ever-changing needs of consumers, then you’re not going to be around for long.
It is often said that for most people buying a home is the single largest purchase of their lives. A decision of that magnitude should be made with time and careful consideration, but recent buyers have been rushing from one house to the next, making offers as quickly as they can. It should be no surprise then that the chief complaint revealed in the WAV Group Homebuyer Frustration Report was feeling rushed to make an offer on the house, with 49% of frustrated buyers pointing to this issue.
A tremendous amount of energy and money has been invested into moving consumers from a digital experience into an agent relationship. Consumer research performed by the National Association of REALTORS® regularly indicates that consumers start their process of buying or selling online before connecting with a Realtor®. I do not think anyone denies it.
WAV Group is recruiting MLS and broker participants for a study to get an understanding of what these groups of people think about their relationship with Zillow. This study is funded internally at WAV Group. What do home buyers think of the service What do home sellers think of the service? What do renters think of the service? What do Property Managers think of the Service What do Premier Agents think of the service? What does Premier Mortgage think of the service? What do real estate brokers of all sizes think of the service? By participating in the study, you [...]
The real estate industry suffers from what I call the “lowest common denominator” phenomenon. Every one of the business models in the industry – associations, MLSs and brokerages are built on attracting and retaining as many agents as possible. Many real estate entities collect monies every month from every participant – regardless of their productivity. While these models each have their own reasons to exist, they have created a major problem in my view. Real estate organizations are so busy attracting sales professionals that many ignore the needs of the most important group – the customer. It’s no wonder that [...]
I can’t tell you the number of times I have had a conversation with someone in the real estate industry where they tell me that the consumer is NOT their client. We prefer to think of the agent as the primary audience and simply ignore the fact that agents do not provide the checks. As the saying goes...follow the money...If you want to succeed in real estate, you have to address the needs of those that secure mortgages to buy and sell homes, not simply those that get a commission check from the sale. That seems like a simple concept, [...]
If you visit any of the large third party property search sites today you will see a significant focus on the rental market. In most cases, rentals are now getting just as much focus as residential sales. A few months ago Zillow purchased Rentjuice again underlines the growing importance of the rental market. They paid $16mm for the company to take advantage of its younger, renter focused 2.8 million viewers. Zillow, once again, is closely watching what real estate consumers are looking for. They are addressing their needs with an aggressive push into the rentals space and are WAY ahead [...]
