It wasn’t so long ago that my brokerage, Chase International, launched its spiffy new website with new mapping features, more pictures, more local info… the whole nine yards. The other day I heard rumblings of yet another redesign. So soon?
Yes, Dear Readers, on the heels of the huge success of Zillow and Trulia, the competition for your eyeballs is keen. He who controls the eyeballs of the Internet, controls ad revenue and/or lead generation sources that drive business forward. Zillow and Trulia and Realtor.com charge brokers and agents big bucks to advertise there, while House Values and others make their living selling agents Internet leads for truly hefty sums. The brokers finally realized that to survive in the new environment, they needed to attract their own audiences to their own websites, even here in little old Reno.
Lately I’ve noticed a rash of improvements across many broker websites here in town. Occasionally readers will comment privately about some cool new feature they found on another broker’s site that they suggest I add. Out of sheer curiosity, I ask you this: Who has the best broker website and why? What are its most useful features? What do you love? What do you hate? Where are your favorite places to search locally? I’ve never met a more savvy bunch of Internet searchers than the people who comment on this blog, so I imagine the response will be eye-opening.
12 comments
I like Dickson Realty’s website, because it seems to focus more locally than Chase or CB or others. Take this page for example: http://www.dicksonrealty.com/relocation this page overwhelmingly tells me ‘Thinking of relocating to Reno? We’ve got you covered’ complete with a free relocation kit, relocation department, area tours that don’t involve looking at homes. Chase seems to miss the whole relocation section entirely.
It’s important for people to know that the MLS isn’t a database broker sites directly ‘connect to’ from their sites; without getting too technical, the database is downloaded outside of the web-site environment, and then merged into their own site and re-uploaded to the broker site. This task can be daunting, the database hovers around 22 megs and that’s without pics. So, many firms only update their MLS once a week or once every two weeks. This is why there always seems to be outdated listings. The MASTER MLS has rules that state you have to update your property status within 24 hours of it changing (i.e. pending, sold, active etc), however that rules does no good when most broker sites don’t update their MLS daily.
For viewing MLS listings, I like http://www.vantage-realty.net/ because it has a couple of unique features I haven’t found on other sites: First it pulls ALL the MLS info for a listing, whereas most broker firms filter out MLS info they feel isnt necessary. Second, it has an ‘add to basket’ feature I’m surprised other firms haven’t adopted yet, that lets you pick out several properties, add them to a basket/shopping cart of sorts, and then email all the listings at once to your broker/real estate agent. For out-of-town people browsing multiple properties this tool would be handy to fire off a set of properties at once to their broker instead of one by one. However Vantage Realty needs help in better describing the local area.
So for finding out local area info, Dickson Realty, and for viewing the most accurate up-to-date MLS listings, Vantage Realty.
One more comment too, as far as something I HATE…is the fact there is no Central Reno in the MLS system for Northern Nevada. People trying to find property downtown to purchase, whether it’s commercial or residential, have the painful task of looking in 4 or 5 different ‘regions’ (e.g. Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, Northeast) and then have to figure out which of the listings in each of those quadrants is close to the center of the city. And forget trying to zip code because ultiple zip codes overlay downtown. Does anyone else agree it’s time for a Central Reno sector of the MLS?
The first thing Chase has to ask themselves is what is the web site trying to achieve? Are you trying to sell your listings or genreate leads to new buyers? You may need two distinct sites that cater to each.
I think the money is into catering to selling, not buying. The Redfin model on the buyers side is going to take hold eventually. If you are a local moving up, down, or sideways, in what conceivable way could a buyer’s agent earn 3% of the sales price as a commission? You already know the difference between Arrowcreek and Somersett. A bit of a different story for new arrivals, but how much gas can that Lexis burn on a few tours?
I don’t see the “standard” 5-6% commission changing too drastically, but I DO see the distribution shifting. Maybe to 4-5% on the listing end, and 1-2% on the buyer’s end. The lister’s agents (or is it the brokerage - not too sure) are responsible for marketing the homes, and that’s not cheap. Internet, print, flyers all add up. And no guarantees going in that this is a real deal and the seller’s won’t flake out.
So what I invision is a model where listing has the power, and the buying agent becomes a commodity, and the buyer is considerably more on his own in the process. So give them the tools.
Which has finally brought me back to Realty web sites. I have posted previously what sites I use and what I like. Here are a few things I WANT:
Search
- by area
- by zip code
- by exact price, not a range (finds an unlisted address)
Sort
- by price
- buy listing date
Info
- DOM
- Pending/sales status w/ dates
- near by listings / comps
Links
- to Assessors previous sale data
- Aerials - Zillow has the best 3D, County has the most recent. City/Couty also has a “mug shot” of the property.
Whew. In the end Chase should chuck their web site and illiminate something that may so pretty, but doesn’t gives information that the buyer wants to learn. which also sells short you sellers who are paying for the sitw.
I am not sure if one web site is going to have something for everyone. I rate a great web site on clarity and graphics that are easy on the eye - the “less is more” approach. Most brokerage web sites look to me like a traffic jam of information. I think a web site should be fun, not a test of complicated negotiation of prompts and menus. The “snob appeal” of Chase still appeals to me. Simplicity and distinction. I love the focus on the agents. I did look again at Dickson. Fuzzy photos, typo errors. Fuzzy photos of agents tells me I am going to get a fuzzy photo of my home listing. Typos on bios - that tells me my agent misses details. Interesting topic, I will look for more comments.
While I don’t know the better websites in your community, I thought your observation regarding brokers upgrading their own websites to generate their own traffic and leads was very interesting. It’s definately something to keep our eyes on and what that means for Internet based revenue models.
Interesting that when Diane asks for input and help on an issue, the “usual suspects” don’t have much to say. I was really looking forward to seeing what sites they are using to form some of their contrarian positions.
Mike Van H - thanks for the primer on the MLS. It seem there should be an easier way to get real time updated listing information onto the brokers’ sites. The brokers should get RSAR to earn their money and update the way the data is transfered. (And why was there a rear view mirror in your last set of dog “walk” pictures?)
Suzee - All the sites use the same photos. Dickson just made the decision to downsize the image quality on their site to save bandwidth - a pretty stupid mistake if you ask me. No excuse for the typos - I’ve seen agents misspell their own names!
There are over 200 houses listed at over a million in 89511 (Arrowcreek, Montreau, etc.). Fun facts to know and tell!
There are over 200 houses listed at more than $1 million in 89511?
More interesting than the broker websites are some of the 1990’s websites we see from individual agents. The sites are hilarious and there is obviously a large industry in (juvenille) design for agent sites. This blog is certainly much more refreshing than the average agent website that is laden with boilerplate text. Having looked some at homes in the Seattle market - http://www.redfin.com is an amazing resource - and at least as a web mash-up — is the #1 way to search for houses in the Seattle area.
LOL GreenNv. I have a good excuse, really. My 9-month old German Shepherd, Hans, developed something called Pano-somethingrather and they usually outgrow it by age 1, but it’s some kind of growth related arthritus, and the vet told me to keep his walks short when he has a flare-up, so I drove my dogs down to the riverwalk to walk them.
“Interesting that when Diane asks for input and help on an issue, the “usual suspects” don’t have much to say.”
I suppose I am one of the “usual suspects”. The reason I haven’t responded is I am not too wowed by any of the NV sites. I actually pay more attention to other markets on the west coast and frequent their sites. When I look at listings in Reno, I just use Dianes! The only opinion I have is, the more search criteria available, the better. And, I do like good graphics and color. Dianes site is pleasing to my eyes.
Okay, BB, I’m intrigued… which are your favorite sites on the west coast and why? Thanks!
Hi Diane,
Two sites I like to use are Windermere, and John L. Scott. The reason being, they offer interactive map searches which allow the user to aerial zoom in on neighborhoods, showing only the homes which meet the criteria the user has selected (and there is a good selection available). The properties are denoted by a small icon, and a quick mouse over it reveals a picture, and a click on that picture brings up the listing. Neither site is without faults, but they are the best in the NW, IMO.
It should be noted that dial up users DO NOT want to click on the interactive searches. High speed is a must.
BB