The real estate industry is in a major state of change. With the power of the Internet in the hands of consumers, consumers shopping for real estate Online are in the driver's seat more than anyone would have imagined.
With the advent of Internet searches for listed properties, anyone with an Internet connection can now go shopping for the home of their dreams. They can look at comparables, view pictures of the interior and exterior of the homes, and even have virtual tours. All this can be done before a prospective home buyer ever steps inside the home.Consumers are going to various places on the Web to do free MLS searches online. Many Realtors have a MLS search built into their websites, and with the added website choices for the consumer to search online at places like Yahoo and Realtor.com, Realtors that do not have MLS property searches are going to be left out in the cold.
However, for those Realtors that do have or plan to have MLS searches from their websites they need to really ask themselves how is the best way for it to be set up? Realtors have two choices, they can choose to have free MLS searches with no registration to begin with, other than for automatic email updates, or the other route is to have registration up front in order to search properties.
Which MLS search is right for the Realtor?
The answer seems to have two very polar sides. On one hand the Realtor that has invested significant dollars, time, and content into his/her website feels that they only want to have the serious buyers come to their website to do searches. Other Realtors feel that in today's Internet Empowered Consumer, who is concerned about privacy, or giving out their emails, to later get spammed with unsolicited emails, and with the availability of all the free property searches online, it doesn't make any sense to not give away the searches on their website in the first place. Still, anyone that would like to have emails sent to them with automatic updates, when new homes become available or properties change in price, would still have to register in some form to be able to receive the emails. It is difficult to tell which type of searches produce the most leads. The free MLS search sites would likely have more traffic, with less leads per visitor, vs. the one with registration up front. But, how many leads is a Realtor losing by making a consumer register up front?
Which MLS searches do consumers prefer: registration or no registration required?
Consumers have all the power. It is the old adage that "information wants to be free," in that the consumer is simply a mouse click away from either searching or not searching from a particular website. With the availability of MLS home search information at virtually hundreds if not thousands of locations around the country and the world why would a consumer want to give their names, phone numbers, or email addresses up front? I can only say what I would do as a consumer. I do not like giving my name or email address out unless it is someone that I trust. Or, having built up an establishment of some degree of trust; usually from reading their privacy policy on their website, or after having visited their website numerous times and gotten to know the person or business, then, and only then do I give out my email address. Still, the consumer is liable to give fictitious names, phone numbers, and even throw away email addresses in order to sign up for something online.
If you are a Realtor, what is your take on this? Put yourself in the mind of the consumer, and think how real estate has changed in just the last couple of years. What would you do?
It really all comes back to The Internet Empowered Consumer. The article, The Internet Empowered Consumer was written by: Jay Izzo a,k.a. "Dr. Jay". More of his writings can be found at: The Real Estate Psychologist, www.realestatepsychologist.com.
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