Web 2.0’s seeming failure to birth bankable revenue streams or sustainable business models in real estate reflects glaringly off its windshield. Many are bracing for a crash.
The conventional cash register isn’t ringing, but convention is overrated these days.
A segue
I think we can all agree that building a relationship is the truest segue to creating a client. But when real estate emerged online over a decade ago it made a conscious decision to forgo that time honored method of building business. Instead, it lunged at the consumer. Baited. Switched. You know the rap.
Web 2.0 emerged in our space, in a significant way, in 2005. Which was just about the time real estate finally grokked the merits of Web 1.0 — which by then, ironically, were no longer merits.
Web 2.0 offered our industry something so vital, so apparent, so true to its nature: A new way to have a conversation with the customer, the prospect, the neighbors. It offered real estate the chance to get belly-to-belly with them where, increasingly, they hung out – online. Monitor to Monitor. Blog to Blog. Comment to comment.
Blogs were but one vehicle for making this happen. There were others. Web 2.0 offered real estate a chance to move beyond the multi-colored yarn of rhetoric spun from marketing departments and executive suites.
Web 2.0 offered real estate a chance to step through the window and view its soul. And it gave consumers a way to nibble at its service on their terms in a simple manner.
Web 2.0 was about better searching. More homes across MLS divides. Solds. All swimming in a robust glob of data gravy. With maps. And street views.
Web 2.0 gave consumers a chance to ask questions about property and places online. And it offered real estate a chance to provide the answers. It offered consumers a chance to rate those answers. And independent contractors. And companies. Just like can any other independent contractor or business on the host of rating sites across the web.
Web 2.0 gave real estate pros new ways to write about what they really know – their neighborhoods. Their markets. Individual homes. Parks, schools, roads, weather.
Web 2.0 gave us video, arguably the single most important vehicle for dispensing local information.
Web 2.0 has saved real estate brokers and agents fortunes by converting and replacing 1.0 technologies, practices and sensibilities.
Web 2.0 has given some agents and small firms search engine mojo that lets them compete with bigger players by leveraging their knowledge, ingenuity and creativity rather than their wallet.
It’s been only three years
since real estate has put its toe in the Web 2.0 water. It’s way to early to
call it over. Or label it as a failure. Or give up on it.
But what does tug at the Web 2.0 failure lever in our space is the “my agents would
not like this” or the "you can’t do this in real estate" responses heard in conference rooms from Seattle to Sarasota. Agent feedback. User comments on homes. Letting sellers comment on
listing blogs – ideas to engage the consumer.
Ideas that are smothered in their crib too often.
And too often, good ideas get slapped onto old ones, failed ones, resulting in chopped up and confusing offerings that are neither here or there.
Free and on your own terms
There are currently 19,000 real estate groups on Yahoo! alone. Tens of millions of people visit real estate sites every month. I submit that given the recent market devastation and all the concerns that plague consumers today, the merits of Web 2.0 and its revenue potential is literally standing at real estate’s welcome mat.
It’s ringing. Knocking. Throwing pebbles at its window.
But, for the most part, aside from a few isolated cases, real estate still isn’t answering.
- Davison
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Hi Marc,
I taught a short sale class in Puyallup, WA yesterday which is South of the Seattle area.
Not one agent had ever read a blog or knew what one was.
Marc,
It is a dilemma that will be with us for many years to come. Having spent the last five years in a marketing capacity of a large regional brokerage, I saw first hand how agents either got Web 2.0 apps or dismissed them as a waste of time. Sometimes you just can’t teach an old dog new tricks and I’m okay with that.
The things that get to me are when agents who have never used Web 2.0 apps discount the significance of said apps and question their mere existence in the real estate industry. Obviously agents are successfully leveraging Web 2.0 technologies and should be applauded because I really believe they will become the more successful agents as consumers demand the use of Web 2.0 apps when they want to buy or sell a home.
Derek Overbey
Roost.com
http://www.roost.com
http://blog.roost.com
Very true — I am amazed at the lack of blogging! Other agents look at me like I am crazy:)
Don't despair Marc–it's way too early for that. Worse case, the "my agents would not like this" crowd will soon be silenced, actuarily speaking of course.
Rather take heart in the emerging new breed of broker who understands that knowledge-sharing, content production and distribution are a critical part of their real estate brokerage operational core competencies.
We are all media companies now.
And yes Marc, they're out there–listening, engaging and bridging the gap between the online and offline worlds they serve. I am but of a growing crowd. Direct your web 2.0 diatribes at us–heart and soul (we are listening).
Web 2.0 or Web 1.0? Who cares if an agent "gets" it or not. Technology or rather "cheap" technology has "dumbed" down the professional. For instance, MS Publisher has created so called graphic artists who don't understand the basic concept of composition and correct color usage. Then take digital cameras. Everyone is now a "photographer" who forgets that you need to put down the toilet seat, clear the counters in the kitchen and pick up junk in a room before taking a shot. Then the advent of the handycam. How many jerky movies do we have do watch. YouTube is great for "Jackass" type movies but do you want to use an agent who "invests" into equipment and training that all of amounts to less than $500. Best advice is to go to an Apple store, talk to a few "nerds" who get it and stop all the blogging until you produce marketing material that looks like you've invested time and money that validates the commission check.
Valid points but consider for a moment that what Web 2.0 can really empower the consumer to do is tell immediately which agent is the local jackass and which agent is the neighborhood rock star.
All they need to do now is read the agents blog, watch their video or view their pics.
The story becomes pretty clear, very fast.
Web 2.0, in the hands of creative, the talented and the wise, can create miracles. Just ask Obama.
I'm jaded but what exactly is "Web 2.0" as it relates to agents? I see Frontdoor, Zillow, Trulia, Movoto, etc. being used as the search engine and the portal to try and find that "perfect" home. Should an agent's web site incorporate searches too, or should it compliment what's missing from the larger systems? What compelling reason would a consumer have to visit a web site? Should an agent use Superlative, ala mode, Advanced Access, etc. or should they just blog with their listings and talk about the community? I find what's really lacking is information on the community – number of pools, parks, sports activities, community involvement. I have to go to a builder's site to really get a feel about what's important. You buy a lifestyle, not an house.
Marc, your post is very timely, as the race to provide the best online consumer user experience continues with more and more entrants. I can identify with Doug's frustration, as there is confusion around Web 2.0 as it relates to real estate and where the agent and broker actually fit in. Believe me, I know only to well, as I, along with my team have spent the last 8 months researching all of this and more, as we build and launch the new Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate franchise network in a few weeks. Throwing away those old systems and tools has been both liberating and scary. But having the opportunity to build a technology and servicing platform that will "connect the dots" between the agent and broker, the consumer, and technology is exciting beyond belief. I am banking on the fact that there are a lot of "Doug's" out there who are looking for the right answers.
Great comments and questions.
For myself, I try to boil things down to its simplest form. In that regard I view Web 2.0 as an offering of tools that do their best to break down the walls that developed when the Internet moved from an information sharing medium (what the web was intended for) to commerce (what it was never intended for).
This might also explain why there are so many security issues with the Internet. You don't need security when you are simply sharing info as was designed way back when.
To answer your question Doug, as it relates to agents, Web 2.0 allows you to step out in front of the templates, the boilerplates, the platitudes and pablum of old school websites and aggressively move to an environment of information sharing and dialog with your customers – similar to what we doing together right here.
I would move beyond those old website packages and towards something like a blog site that allowed me as an agent to post info about my neighborhoods and/or my listings in the same manner as I would talk about them to prospects on the phone or in person.
I would build a blog around each listing.
I would provide my seller with access to the blog so they can contribute to the conversation should they want.
I would include mapping. And local data content. Videos. The gamut.
I would make sure that my web presence and its content were designed in a manner by which they can be viewed on a smart phone browser. With 6 million iPhones sold and the new G3 coming out in July, there is an entirely new generation of home buyers coming who are mobile. This means you need a mobile search solution. And video. I would encourage you to reconsider your perception of youtube.
Granted this requires more work than what it takes when you operate an Advanced Access site. But if you do the work, if you commit to the new medium the way many agents now are, you will stand out.
Otherwise the real you may not come through or worse, the visitor might interpret that 1.0 presentation as who you really are; cheap, carbon copy and lazy.
Read what Sherry wrote above. There is a race right now to provide the best consumer experience online. Thanks to the design features, the tools, the applications, etc., of web 2.0, an agent can take part in that race and be as competitive as it gets.
Might I point you to these blogs here on 1000watt that detail some real life success stories built on 2.0 sensibilities.
http://www.1000wattblog.com/2008/01/walking-on-the.html
http://www.1000wattblog.com/2008/01/synchronicity-.html
Thank you for the insights and just reaffirming what I thought all along. You are right about the property blogs, mapping, local data, etc. I'm rather new to the business but see a real lack of professionalism on the part of the agent who doesn't take the time to produce quality marketing material. They get a digital camera and since it's easy to point and shoot, the picture with the date stamps and poor compositions goes up onto the MLS as a low res image. Little detail and if you're scanning properties, I may just skip it for the next one. One may question the reason for a 10 megapixel camera, but I came from the printing business and you always start with the highest resolution because you never know how much you want to crop and zoom. As for YouTube, the iPhone doesn't support Flash video so I would prefer iTunes to distribute content. I can download a tour to my iPod, show it to a client and hook-up AV cables to their high-def screen and show them the virtual tour. But I would not discount YouTube, it's just another tool in my kit. I found a rather interesting site through activerain – http://www.rudymayer.com – that embodies many of the features I'm working towards – high-def video, video of the local community and smooth walk through video. Doesn't come cheap but then again, a commission on a multi-million dollar property more than compensates and justifies the expense. Keep up the great work. I enjoy the thoughts and observations.