realtor.com Archives

Realtors® Reaffirm Commitment to realtor.com®

CHICAGO (July 24, 2013) – The National Association of Realtors® Board of Directors today reaffirmed NAR’s commitment to making realtor.com® the first, best online destination for home buyers and sellers. The board voted in favor of recommendations to modify an existing operating agreement that will help the site compete more effectively in an evolving online marketplace. “Over the years, Realtors® have invested a lot of time and millions of dollars in building information technology to give consumers online access to real estate information, and we know that consumer demand for all things ‘home’ has never been greater,” said NAR President [...]

By Marilyn Wilson|2018-05-03T21:24:31-07:00July 24th, 2013|Main category, Press Releases|0 Comments

The War That Few Are Watching

There is a War being waged between the leading portals today. They are fighting with all of their might to be leaders in consumer website traffic. Today, Zillow is in the lead with Realtor.com on their heals and Trulia not far behind. Homes.com is pacing with the pack too, and perhaps showed just how strong they are by climbing the rankings at a remarkable pace in 2012. In an announcement released yesterday, Move proclaimed victory at retaining their relationship with MSN.com, the portal operated by Microsoft. I tried to get information about the battle, but limited facts were made available. [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:33-07:00June 19th, 2013|Main category, Marketing, Strategic Planning|4 Comments

The Future of Anything
Gallery
The Future of Anything

Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, How to Make Strategic Planning Really Work in your MLS, Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning, Suveys and Research, Technology Evaluation

The Future of Anything

I would attribute the series of postures on The Future of the MLS to Saul Klein. He may not have been the first to coin the phrase, but he has embraced it and made it his own. It is with due respect that we leave that posturing behind and set forth on a new journey. Our industry is at an inflection point, and my fear is that we are too blinded by current affairs to look beyond the steps in front of us. This morning, I encountered a quote from Antoine de Saint Exupery, a French writer, poet, and aviator [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:35-07:00May 30th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Broker-Agent Information, How to Make Strategic Planning Really Work in your MLS, Main category, MLS Insights, Strategic Planning, Suveys and Research, Technology Evaluation|0 Comments

Trulia buys Marketleader

In a release today, Trulia announced that they are buying Marketleader. As a result, Trulia has taken ownership of a brokerage. That means that they can compete with other online brokerages like Redfin, ZipRealty, Sawbuck, Movoto, and others. However, I do not think that is their strategy. There is a persistant paradigm emerging in the portal business whereby these companies combine the portal with technology products and services offered to agents and brokers. Operating a portal that relies on ad spending alone does not seem to be sustainable for the type of growth and stable recurring revenue for investors. Advertising has, and always will be [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:37-07:00May 8th, 2013|Main category|3 Comments

It is all about schools

The most active group of home buyers in sellers in America have one thing in common - school age children. Traditionally, real estate has ducked the consumer by avoiding the laborious and somewhat liability producing task of informing consumers about schools. Our industry has largely taken the stance that if a consumer wants to know about schools, they will provide the phone number to the school district. Good luck with that. This is not true of all brokers or MLSs. Some have invested heavily in procuring the most accurate school data available. You will often find the information somewhere down below the [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:38-07:00April 23rd, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights|0 Comments

Errol Samuelson promoted to Chief Strategy Officer at MOVE

MOVE published a release today announcing that Errol Samuelson has been promoted to Chief Strategy Officer, expanding his role at the company. The full press release is below. You may not know that Errol was once part of the most powerful team in real estate. I call them the four horseman - Errol plus Marty Frame, Prem Luthra, Ben Grabowski. All four have gone on to great success. Marty Frame is a leader at RPR. Prem Luthra is a leader at Real Estate Digital. And, Ben Grabowski is a leader at CoreLogic. They play pivotal roles in four of the [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:38-07:00April 4th, 2013|Main category, Press Releases|0 Comments

Move releases the new Realtor.com Brand

We have seen some re-branding released recently from leading real estate consumer brands. Today we see the release of the new Realtor.com – where home happens. Last year saw the rebirth of Century 21 – Stronger, Bolder, Faster. These are very well recognized consumer brands. MOVE EVP Marketing, Barbara O’Connor and her team took a close look at the Realtor.com brand within a year of her arrival at the company. I am excited to see how this new treatment works out. I can assure you that they have likely exhausted focus groups to predictably make a selection that reaches their [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:40-07:00March 5th, 2013|Main category, MLS Insights|2 Comments

Are my listings going everywhere – Zillow Front Door

Whenever an announcement like the Zillow-Front Door announcement is made, brokers have questions about their data and where it is going. We call this the issue of re-syndication, and whenever an announcement is made made about one party sending data to another party - brokers should know. Zillow is not re-syndicating to HGTV's Frontdoor.com website. The first thing that I would suggest to any broker providing data to any publisher is to have a contract with the publisher that defines what they can or cannot do with your data. Most of the franchisors like REALOGY, Keller Williams, RE/MAX, and others have such [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:41-07:00February 13th, 2013|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Marketing|2 Comments

MOVE, INC. ACQUIRES eFROGPOND, INC. ASSETS TO EXPAND MARKETING SOLUTIONS

SAN JOSE, Calif., January 14, 2013 – Move, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOVE) today announced the expansion of its suite of free marketing tools with the acquisition of certain assets of eFrogPond, Inc. an integrated communications and marketing solutions provider best known for its Housing Trends eNewsletter. This acquisition signifies an enhancement to the Move, Inc. series of industry-leading marketing solutions. Move, Inc. is the operator of TOP PRODUCER Systems and REALTOR.com. The Housing Trends eNewsletter will continue to function in its present form and Top Producer Systems CRM subscribers can distribute Housing Trends eNewsletters automatically to their customers. Going forward, subscribers can [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:43-07:00January 15th, 2013|Broker-Agent Information, Marketing, Press Releases|0 Comments

Leveraging Business Intelligence and Predictive Analytics

I am a big fan of client servicing portals that leverage full MLS data rather than IDX data. The key here is that the consumer can see the full compliment of business intelligence powered by the MLS. Clearly, days on market, price changes over time, and recent sales history in the area are the fundamental elements of understanding listing price. Market Analytics are really helpful in informing predictions on what will happen in the near term for hyper local markets and hyper refined property attributes. If days on market for a 2 bedroom condominium in a building in San Francisco [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:51-07:00October 1st, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights|5 Comments

Move buys Tigerlead Solutions

Move, operators of Realtor.com, AOL Real Estate, and MSN Real Estate, Listhub, Top Producer, is growing through acquisition as they announce their purchase of Tigerlead. Presumably, Tigerlead will be alternative product with similar functionality to Top Producer. The company was purchased for $22 Million. The executives from TigerLead Solutions will be joining the Move management team, strengthening their already deep bench of experts who understand how to attract, convert, cultivate, and close online home buyers and sellers. Existing Tigerlead customers will benefit from MOVE's consumer traffic that will fill lead funnels. Here is the Move Buys Tigerlead press release. "Move has long [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:24:53-07:00September 4th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Main category, MLS Insights, Press Releases|0 Comments

Move Announces 2x More Revenue than Zillow

Today, there are two front-runners in online property search – Zillow and Move. They are both public companies. Falling in line behind them are two private companies, Homes.com and Trulia. Here is how the revenue stacks up on the public companies. Move, Inc., Operators of Realtor.com who is in partnership with AOL Real Estate and MSN real estate for publishing broker listings reported revenue of $47.7 million today. Move did not report any earnings or losses. Seattle Upstart Zillow has been on a run, increasing traffic to levels comparable with Move and purchasing companies. They reported revenue of $22.8M and [...]

By Victor Lund|2018-05-03T21:25:04-07:00May 4th, 2012|Broker Technology Research, Main category, Marketing, Press Releases|0 Comments