Real Estate Q&A - an Overview
Trulia Voices launches today - at its roots, it's a Q&A system that supports interaction between Trulia's consumer traffic and its real estate agent advertisers. I'll be chronicling Trulia Voices reviews here.
Ok, online Q&A is about as simple as community can get. The Q&A started simply, first as bulletin boards / newsgroups and then within forums - the classic online discussion construct typified by series of threaded user-generated posts. But even forums tend to be complicated in finding the answers being sought (try searching through one). The Q&A is easily searchable and the questions are more "granular", or to the point, than forum categories.
I analyzed real estate Q&A services while working with Trulia on the marketing of Trulia Voices (disclaimer: I co-founded Domus Consulting Group and we were engaged by Trulia last month. Also since the Voices product is brand new, we're making assumptions in this article).
It's non-scientific, but I noted there are three categories of questions asked in real estate Q&A -
-
Inquiring specifically about a
subject, a "google" type question
-
How-to question - How do I interview a real estate agent?
- Fact finding question - I need a list of the most productive agents in my area...
- Transactional question- who pays for title insurance in Los Angeles?
-
Inquiring about a
location
-
Locational question - why is Phoenix growing so quickly?
-
Community question - where are the best schools in Los
Angeles?
-
Specifically requesting a
contact with a solution
- Outreach question - can anyone help me find a good contractor?
- Referral question - can anyone in my network refer me to Zillow to make a presentation?
So, growing the Q&A system becomes a numbers game - the objective of marketing a Q&A system is to maximize visibility to the set of Answerers! And that's one of the principal goals of the Voices' launch.
Here is my chart analysis of four Q&A products, one from professional network Linked In that Brian Brady clued me in as having a robust real estate oriented Q&A in their Answers product, and the other three from Zillow, Trulia and Localism. (Pink shading added to highlight the product's differential distinction).
|
Type of question |
||||
|
How-to? |
Most questions are more abstract (how's the market
doing?) than practical (I have a problem...) |
Questioners tend to ask about property
details |
Consumers inquiring about transaction details |
Most questions posted by consumers and pertain to details
of real estate transactions |
|
Locational |
Rare |
Mostly Q&A on individual properties |
Q&A on neighborhoods, community and cities, akin to
"Yelp" |
Not as prominent |
|
Outreach |
Seeks individuals within their network who know answers
or can provide solutions |
Hyperspecific. If question is posed to homeowner, seeks
answer from homeowner |
Seeks answers from local agents |
Seeks answers from local agents |
|
|
LinkedIn |
Zillow |
Trulia |
Localism |
|
Questioner |
Questioner usually inquires within own
network |
Either an agent who seems to use the question for their
marketing purposes, or a consumer asking the homeowner |
Mostly consumers because Trulia gets a lot of consumer
traffic |
Mostly consumers requiring solutions to their real
estate transaction problems |
|
Answerer |
Contacts internal to the network, or real estate agents
using the Q&A ice-breaker to "Link In" to Questioner |
Answering questions specific to a house is difficult
unless you're the homeowner, neighbor or listing agent |
Potentially, any local person can answer a community
question. Agents will answer more specific real estate related
questions |
Only agents with specific knowledge of the locale and
its local real estate customs |
|
How does the real estate agent market themselves within the venue? |
Used as a professional social network |
Comments on properties and then markets themselves as neighborhood
expert |
Answers questions, recommends good local restaurants,
etc. and develops local marketing presence |
Answers specific how-to
questions and introduces self in one-on-one
dialogue |
|
Any additional benefits to the agent? |
Potentially can grow professional network via
LinkedIn |
Hyperlocal marketing presence on Zillow can work now
because few agents are taking advantage of participation |
Recognition on an Answerer leaderboard, direct link
from Trulia Voices profile page to agent website for SEO
purposes |
One-on-one dialogue that may turn into a
lead |
|
Evaluation |
LinkedIn Answers seems well used and the real estate
related questions are strategic and interesting |
Problem making a match between questioner and answerer
of a specific property |
Launching today |
Useful forum connecting consumer questions with Active
Rain answerers |
|
Final note |
Power of networks are utilized to give credibility to the answerers –a good thing for real estate professionals |
Zillow may need to expand their Home Q&A to blocks
and neighborhoods to achieve greater relevancy |
Trulia's consumer user base will dictate how Voices
evolves... its content could be much more than straight real
estate |
Localism Q&A credibly matches up consumers with
agents |
|
|
Linked In |
Zillow |
Trulia |
Localism |
Technorati Tags: trulia, zillow, localism, linkedin, q&a
Fantastic analysis Pat!
So, from the your analysis of the chart, it appears that Trulia is the best place for consumers to get specific information and interaction from real estate professionals. Do you think it's a good or bad thing that non-real estate professionals can answer questions?
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Thanks Eric!
I would say the consumer will get specific answers from real estate professionals from all four sites... the type of question/answer match is more limited in the cases of Linkedin and Zillow because in Linkedin's case, the questioner is essentially asking a small network and in Zillow's case, the Home Q&A generally is asking a question about one specific property.
Frankly, non-real estate professionals should have the chance in answering questions based on their personal experiences... readers will be able to ascertain credibility based on the answerer's bio or answer portfolio.
Since I had been consulting with Trulia, my intent was not to give a biased impression of the Q&A space, but to review each Q&A product impartially. That said, I think highly of Zillow's community and social media orientation to their offering, their Home Q&A just seems too hyperspecific to a single property to stimulate dialogue on that property.
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I don't think I've seen a better analysis for real estate pros than this. Great work, Pat. It would seem that Localism, in your opinion, is a good place for the REPro to play.
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Hey thanks Brian... I took my analysis lessons from the Most Opinionated Mortgage Broker...
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