One Reason why there are Thousands of Home Listing and FSBO sites
Posted by Pat Kitano at 10/16/2006 9:33 PM 
Categories: Technology, New Business Models, Realty Realities, Lead Generation, Transparency
Categories: Technology, New Business Models, Realty Realities, Lead Generation, Transparency
I met a mortgage broker earlier this month who had a national FSBO posting website. He seems to have franchised the website for his locality from the parent website. He offers FSBOs a package ranging from free to $129 to "advertise" their listing on this national FSBO site; note this is not a MLS listing front so the only exposure is through this site alone. The mortgage broker then returns inquiries from interested buyers culled from the ad listing and FSBO signposts and tries to work them into pre-qualifying their loans with him. This business model is a simple lead generation system that brings the potential buyer into a curious sales situation.
Normally, the potential buyer is accustomed to inquire on a listed property and meet or talk with a listing agent. In the FSBO website scenario, the buyer's call is answered by someone he/she thinks is playing the role of the listing agent, but it's actually the mortgage broker qualifying the buyer as a lead. The buyer is caught off guard because he/she has initiated the inquiry to the mortgage broker, who can then more easily introduce loan prequalification services as a solicitee, not as a solicitor.
I'm thinking that's an effective sales gimmick system, and I'm guessing there must be lots of sites with this model and there are.
As I start looking further into why there are so many home search sites in general, this RIS Media October 17 press release popped into my radar -BetterHomesUSA , a company that lays claim to a thousand home search websites that are "linked" together, is introducing a "multiple website" service in order to attract home sellers to BetterHomesUSA agents.
The phrase that caught my attention was "sellers are well aware that buyers are beginning their home search online, Vecchio (BetterHomesUSA president) predicts it's only a matter of time before sellers demand exposure on more than just a couple of Web sites - a service that would be costly and technologically daunting to many Realtors".
In yesterday's post , I had been researching ways Realtors can streamline the daunting task of posting to Craigslist and other listing service sites because home sellers are demanding internet based marketing coverage. And now I see the BetterHomesUSA press release just said as much... sellers would have lots of marketing and be happy.
So I kept reading the press release and getting more suspicious ... After five minutes of thought (yes, this business model is a puzzle) and some undercover work, I realized BetterhomesUSA will get these sellers exposed on hundreds of sites that read like the porn of real estate domain names:
BetterHomesUSA
Operates National Real Estate advertising portals.
BetterHomesUSA Marketing System includes
· Advertise homes on BetterHomesUSA.com
· Advertise homeson HomesinYourTown.com
· Advertise foreclosed homes on HomesinForeclosure.com
· Advertise builder listings on NewHomesInYourTown.com
· Advertise fsbo's and get buyers and seller on BetterHomesByOwner.com
· Advertise rental listings on Rentalsinyourtown.com
· Advertise Condos on Condosinyourtown.com and BetterHomesandCondos.com
· Advertise Estates and Homes of Distinction.com and CribsinYourtown.com ,BetterHomesofDistinction.com
· Advertise homes on HomesintheUnitedStates.com
· Advertise homes on HomesinTheUS.com
· Advertise homes on HomesAdvisor.com
· Advertise homes on RealEstateinYourTown.com
· Advertise homes on Homesin.com
· Advertise homes on Surfyourtown.com
· Advertise homes on HomesinNewJersey.com & HomesinNewYork.com HomesinCalifornia.com HomesinCanada.com HomesinNebraska.com
· Advertise historic homes on HistoricHomesinyourtown.com
· Advertise adult homes on AdultHomesinyourtown.com , www.AdultHomes.com
I like the last line, I did a double take. This list came from a curious dormant blogsite that is the BetterHomesUSA blog . Its President posts the company's pitch here. So, really... what is this company? A google search doesn't pull up any positive or negative reviews, and apparently they have a lot of offices, mostly in New Jersey.
Both the FSBO website and BetterHomesUSA are examples of how Consumers walk into situations trusting the marketing message but not knowing the agenda behind the message.
Technorati tags BetterHomesUSA FSBO FSBO sites home listing real estate marketing
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11/1/2006 4:19 PM
sellsius° wrote:
[...} One Reason Why There are Thousands of Home Listing & FSBO Sites [Transparent Real Estate] Who’s behind the curtain waiting to snare you with lead bait. An great investigative post. PKitano should be on everyone’s blogroll. [...]
I think these sites need to be made more transparent to the consumer. When people email or call me I don't try to sell them anything. If they want to see one of my listings I show it to them and then ask questions and refer them to a lender if needed. When a consumer asks a question they get a free no obligation answer. I can't believe the number of home search sites out there that are total piles of s___t. Always misleading the consumer and only having some listings. Just because sites are run by non-real estate professionals, or are new, or are written about, or are appreciated by the tech community does not mean they are worth while for actual home shoppers.
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An excellent post and piece of investigative reporting. Lead capture is big business and there are many ways to capture a lead, including creating the impression that you are strictly a search site. The creation of multiple & mirror sites is an old strategy but it still works.
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Thanks JF & Teresa... I see a lot of inventive twists to finding clients out in the field and I'll continue to report on them... many of the business models are solid and transparent.
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wowww muy buena investigación. Me parece que no puedes confundir tanto al consumidor porque si tienes esos nombres de dominio la gente ira a buscar cualquier cosa menos casas.. creanme.
Saludos
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Gracias!
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My first take was that they were aligned with Better Homes & Garden Magazine (& affiliate companies). I wonder if they'll have a suit on their hands anytime soon.
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I've worked closely with Title companies to provide technology solutions to agents and brokers in the past. In many cases the agents don't want to be educated, they want someone to do everything for them, and that's where the problem arises, many title companies are more than willing to go to those lengths to get and keep the business.
I agree that the standards should be increased for the business development reps. I don't think it takes an MBA, in fact, I'm with Guy Kawasaki regarding MBA's but that's another comment/post. Free markets will drive the issue of transparency and the standards of the business professionals involved in the transaction at all levels, including the Realtor. In my opinion, that shift is already under way whether people acknowledge it or not is a different story. I think there are a few title companies that get it, probably more than you might imagine and at levels within the organization that would surprise you. Getting it and executing on it are two different things, after all, some of them are fortune 500 public companies with huge infrastructures and all the baggage that comes with it.
Only time will tell what position Title Companies will hold in the changing landscape of the industry, if it becomes as transparent as many predict, Real Estate Professionals and Title Companies may need each other more than ever, or not at all, there won't be any grey area.
I think if you look at the investments title companies have made in the past several years, there is a strong indication that they are positioning themselves for different scenarios and outcomes.
However, like Dennis Miller says, "That's Just My Opinion, I Could Be Wrong"
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