Your Own Common Sense Can Put It Together

Question mark
Originally uploaded by desi.italy

Quoted below is the beginning chunk of an online discussion. It was created to sell technology solutions to the real estate professional. I'm not going to comment on the technology, just the sales-pitch. Rather than a rewrite, you'll find below the quoted text my answer that I posted in reply to the sales-pitch.

We heard a much quoted statistic again yesterday and we decided to make it our weekly topic.

They say that 80% of home buyers use the Internet in their search for properties. What does this mean exactly? You never really see this number broken down much further. [note it isn't broken down]

8 of every 10 people look online. But what are they looking at? Buying tips, mortgage rate information, Realtor information? No, we are going to estimate that 90% of everyone who uses the Internet in their search is actually performing a directed property search. And this is normally initiated from a corporate site (remax.com, century21.com etc.) or a dedicated MLS system (realtor.com, mls.ca). Some Internet shoppers may go to a Realtor's website directly, but generally this audience prefers to select from a larger pool of listings (an MLS system).

We can't really back up this 90% with facts, but it seems reasonable don't you think? [and here he says he can't back up his 90% with facts either]

My (edited) Reply:

It's very EASY to tell a Real Estate Professional what is happening on the Internet with an Internet audience. If you don't know statistics, and don't have numbers Marty, I'd hesitate to put any of this out there.

As an avid student of human behaviour, having worked in technology since 1986, and since I'm heavily and actively involved in a wide-range of Internet audiences and always have, I have not only a good sense of Internet User Behaviour, but I also found out about a lot of the business-sales tactics of Internet professionals. Take SEO for example - you know the fly-by-night ones?

So consider this: The reason people come to a Realtor's site from an MLS somewhere is simply by the nature it is created and how Real Estate is currently being marketed (has been marketed) online. You can even look at a Realtor business card for obvious clues.

Real Estate has always been a Trust profession. Ever notice that it is the only industry that the professional members almost always have their photo on their card. It's been done this way for a long time, and the reason is that they are selling themselves to the buyer/seller and the Realtor is selling trust.

Getting online, the Realtor has no idea whatsoever about the Internet, technology, or computers more than they have to know, unless they worked the tech industry previously, are an avid hobbyist, or have a family or close friend working with it. The majority however, simply don't know what the truth is around what is being sold.

Here is the Truth about Searching for Real Estate.

As a buyer, I don't look for a Realtor, I look for a home.

• Am I simply looking for a specific home, or am I looking in a particular geographic area?

So the home-buyer hits the google page and types in, "commercial drive Vancouver property listings" as an example. Some Realtor sites are likely to show up, particularly those who have been ahead of the curve, have found the right solutions and tech-teams, and who have the success to invest in their technology and Internet solutions. But is it all Realtor sites, or are there others there too?

Anyone can answer these questions by simply running their own tests.

• Act like a home buyer.
• Remember how "little" inside knowledge most home-buyers have.
• Ask the dumb questions.
• Conduct the lamest searches, and
• the more sophisticated searches.

The more you do this, you will begin to see the results and the commonalities.

• Are they looking for you?
• Are they looking for just listings?
• Are they looking for a specific place in town?

This is what Creating New Doors on the Internet is all about.

Where the Real Estate industry and profession may have done a great job getting listings online, maybe what they've put online doesn't jive with the way people interact online. A real estate site is only one piece of the equation. Internet work is never done, it is not a static place, and it along with people always shifts and changes.

That is why StrataXL Software incorporates many elements into what they offer the Real Estate industry. Yes, it includes a Realtor site, but it also goes many steps beyond that to deliver websites that actually become representative off a geographic community and that site silently FARMS LEADS all day long and night without us or the Realtor lifting another finger.

It's not just in the Sell you see Marty. It's also in the Farming. We're not reinventing the door, we're preparing the field.