Cyberhomes.com - a Title Insurance Company now has a Consumer-facing website with a 1999 -style name
Posted by Pat Kitano at 11/9/2006 9:00 PM 
Categories: Technology, New Business Models, Lead Generation, Title Insurance
Categories: Technology, New Business Models, Lead Generation, Title Insurance
Today, Glen Robert Jr. at Inman News publicizes the launch of Cyberhomes, a home valuation tool in the tradition of Zillow, by Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions ("FNRES"), a division of title insurance and real estate services company Fidelity National Financial.
Kyle at the Tour Sheet picked up the feed and tied it with the recommendations I made to the title insurance industry a few weeks ago... specifically, I said the title insurance companies haven't courted the Consumer before and Cyberhomes seems to be the first major effort to do so. Shortly after I published the post, I did hear from a regional Fidelity manager that the company had a consumer focused initiative in place and I'm assuming Cyberhomes is the first step in their new (and promising) strategy.
Inman's article (pardons to those w/o a subscription) starts by stating "While Fidelity products typically cater to companies in the real estate industry, this Web site targets consumers and is free to use."
This is Fidelity's red herring (and I use the term as an approbation, not a slight). Yes, Cyberhomes does target consumer use but its association with Fidelity is set in small type after the Cyberhomes logo (see above) - it's not positioned for brand recognition to the Consumer... (here's the bet, next year ask any consumer if they can name the company behind Cyberhomes... and if they say Fidelity, they think it's the big Boston stock trader).
Fidelity's real clients are still the Realtors so here's their real strategy... it's all there in the very last sentence of the Inman article - - -
"Already, Frame (FNRES's CIO) said that the site has been demonstrated for a number of real estate companies."
The real estate companies are Fidelity's real clients and Cyberhomes is the Trojan House (figuratively speaking, again not a slight) through which Fidelity can funnel Consumers ("leads") to their real clients. If I'm a ReMax broker and have Cyberhomes on my site free of charge delivering more leads to me, I'll open the escrows from those leads with Fidelity, right? You bet!
Cyberhomes' business model will be to compete with Zillow's API, eppraisal and the other home valuation lead generators... they will sell and embed Cyberhomes into the websites of Fidelity's clients - Century 21, ReMax, etc. - as Zillow has done with Yahoo! Real Estate.
One more quote from Mr. Frame:
"Consumers don't want to be a lead. The consumer goal here, because most people want to be just left alone ... is totally transparent access to information,"
Do you hear the message, real clients? "Leads" and "Lead Generation" and "HouseValues" have become dirty words to Fidelity's real clients. Their soft sell - "your consumers don't want to be a lead" is perfect for introducing their "we're not dirty lead generators" lead generation product into their real clients' websites.
Eventually the Consumer will become direct clients of Fidelity and the other insurance companies... Cyberhomes is only the first step - it's not a consumer branding strategy, it's a consumer capture strategy for the benefit of Fidelity title reps dealing with their real clients, the Realtors.
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btw, Kyle at TourSheet also says it - Cyberhomes is a "mildly evocative name" - yes, it's evocative of 1999... it's a throwback name better suited for satire, a strange pick for a staid insurance company. What's with that?
Step back in time to 1998... apparently Cyberhomes was one of the pioneering internet listing sites owned and managed by an apparently defunct company called Moore USA, a provider of real estate MLS solutions. Cyberhomes.com is the relaunch of an old brand name site that will evoke pleasant memories for those agents who were online back in 1998, all 25 of you...
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Final comment - back in 1998, my first internet gig was with a pioneering 3-D virtual world company that was a predecessor to the popular Second Life. We acquired a 3-D property called Cybertown (which still exists today) and even in 1998, we wanted to change the name because it sounded so 1995!
Technorati tags title insurance Cyberhomes.com real estate real estate brokers Fidelity Title home valuation real estate technology real estate marketing Zillow
I am still way more concerned with the accuracy of the data than I am about where it comes from. Again, I did some checking and am not impressed wit the data.
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Teresa, excellent reality check. Joel, Greg and a host of others have panned the site. This article is a business strategy analysis on how Fidelity is positioning Cyberhomes. If the reviews are not forthcoming, it's essential feedback for Fidelity's new ventures. Let's see how they cope...
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Pat, very interesting. I don’t understand why title insurance companies – underwriters and agencies - don’t understand consumerism. It’s the American way.
At The Closing Specialists® we consider everyone our customer - the consumer, the real estate agent, and the mortgage lender. It’s a lot of people to keep happy but you have to be committed to serving them all. Our marketing is targeted to the consumer but because the consumer is the REAL customer.
Notice that our name is trademarked. If you visit the company web site www.tcsclosing.com, you’ll find a friendly TCS house logo – trademarked, and a slogan – We stay open so you can close!® - also trademarked.
Our TCS closers – on staff full time employees only – have a strict dress code that includes a TCS company jacket. It’s a nice Land’s End navy blue with our TCS logo. The TCS closer wears a white shirt or if they want to be friendly – an Oxford blue. In Pennsylvania, we have round table closings. All parties come to the table, sign documents, close and disburse. The TCS closer arrives in a TCS MiniCooper with our logo – branded and very happy looking cars. The TCS closer has a branded procedural method of closing at the table. The TCS procedure is designed to comfort the consumers – normally nervous - while moving though the closing process efficiently. Everyone signs with a TCS branded pen. The entire TCS experience, from the marketing, through processing and finally at the table, is branded and directed to the consumer.
Yesterday, I received a call from one of our title company attorneys. He wanted to know if I had read the Forbes article. He had just picked up the magazine and had read most of it. First of all this floored me because I’m thinking - this is last week’s news! - but we got to talking. He asked how business was and I said it’s great. He went on to chat about marketing directly to the consumer and how no one ever thought it could be done. I repeated my mantra that it’s not hard, anyone can do it, etc. I’m starting to feel kind of odd, like Nixon going to China. Is the perceived chasm or abyss between title insurers and consumers so vast?
If I wasn’t so busy doing title work, maybe I should start the TCS Consumer Directed Marketing Institute For Title Insurers – ah there’s got to be a better name for it. LOL
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The site was very close but the ability to see the neighborhood and adjust values provide a powerful tool to work with my Realtor when I am ready to list my house = I will be a repeat user
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As a Realtor in Chicago, where the attornies control most aspects of title, I have no input or influence (nor do my buyers) in terms of this new (old?) twist in the home buying process. As far as 'Consumer Use' vs
'Lead Generation' angle, it all gets diluted over time and ends up being just more of the same real estate blah, blah, blah. Any information, if it is good, will always be sold to someone. I believe the church I attend once every two years or so sold my information to a carpet cleaning service.
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In attorney states like Illinois and NY, the attorneys act like doctors dispensing pharmaceuticals, and get compensated on the back end by the perks offered by the title and drug companies, respectively. Cyberhomes is Fidelity's entry to continue to bind the Realtor to their title company (in Chicago, I assume via the attorney).
I like your story about the "Church of Lead Generation"... lol
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Pat, True that! as it were...
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Pat,
Great article. It's my opinion that with Fidelity's history in the valuation arena and their deep data we will see their algorithms are going to more accurate overall. Also I believe the idea of creating a generic label for Brokers is genius.
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Actually the name is a 1997 name (March '97) -
http://www.cyberhomes.com/
And, there were at least 50 of us at Inman Connects back then!
Here's our old high school photo(RE 2.0 before today's RE 2.0):
http://www.newrealty.com/
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Your vintage realty sites would make an interesting post on online real estate evolution, like "This Old House" for web 1.0 real estate.
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It’s a lot of people to keep happy but you have to be committed to serving them all. Our marketing is targeted to the consumer but because the consumer is the REAL customer.
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You're right, consumers often don't want to have to deal with a middleman; they just want to review their own options and go with it. But, I often see people asking to have their options explained to them. If you're not familiar with the business, sometimes all the jargon, paperwork, and legal-ese can be daunting. For that reason, sometimes agents who follow up with internet">http://www.prospectzone.com/mortgage/">internet mortgage leads have a warm reception and significant success. Some consumers really want somebody to spend the time to go through the options currently available in their personal situations and help them through the mess. Not all consumers are the same; different techniques will work better with different consumers!
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Good article and the name change is very appropriate with today's internet climate. I encouraged a friend who owns a glass company to change from his last name to using a more national sounding name. It's worked wonders for him too.
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CyberHomes brings mapping technology and possibly a whole lotta trouble full circle from a late 1990's innovation.
CyberHomes went away around 2000 not long after a law suit against Moore Data for infringement on USPTO 5,032,989. This appears to be the seminal patent on the mapping of available real estate on zoomable maps.
That case was eventually dropped, presumably due in part to the fact that Microsoft was also named in the suit and brought in its attorneys and boatloads of money.
A couple years ago REALTOR.com's key EVP Tech/Marketing guy (Marty Frame) joined Fidelity. It looks like they picked up where the previous company left off. Maybe with the same mistakes.
This patent holder "Real Estate Alliance Limited" out of PA. has launched a M A S S I V E new lawsuit on top of a multi-year battle with what appears to be the NAR (National Assoc. of Realtors)
This patent appears to have some some real legs. http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/14042/
Could Frame and company be in for a terrible 1990's flashback by trying to bring back CyberHomes. "Willful Infringement" is among the worst epitaphs I can think of for a promising technology.
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