Thursday, March 21, 2013

UNLIKE SOME COMPANIES, OUR LISTINGS APPEAR ON EVERY WEBSITE!

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=108953075" target="_blank">Home search</a> image via Shutterstock.Most sellers do not know that the largest real estate company in Southeastern WI excludes their listed properties from the top two real estate websites: Zillow and Trulia.

According to aggregate Web visit metrics compiled by Experian Marketing Services (formerly Experian Hitwise) as of 2/13, Zillow and Trulia continue to be the top destinations for real estate.

Rank Website Total visits Visits share
1 Zillow 44.19 million 9.17%
2 Trulia 33.70 million 7.00%
3 Realtor.com 29.32 million 6.09%
4 Yahoo Homes 26.48 million 5.50%
5 FrontDoor Real Estate 26.14 million 5.43%
6 Homes.com 17.98 million 3.73%
7 MSN Real Estate 7.17 million 1.49%
8 Rent.com 7.12 million 1.48%
9 AOL Real Estate 6.56 million 1.36%
10 Apartment Guide 5.89 million 1.22%

The reason this local company and a few others nationwide have decided to not display their listings on the top websites is that they lose buyers to other agents who advertise alongside each property. By doing so though, they compromise their sellers' ability to get maximum exposure for their home and ultimately sell in a timely fashion and for the highest price. BOTTOM LINE, greed trumps ethics.

Home sellers think they're better off signing up with the largest local firm (as their TV commercials promote) but what they don't realize is that company size is irrelevant to the buyers. Latest data shows that almost 95% of the buyers find their eventual home on their own, primarily using any of the real estate sites above. So not having your home show up in the top 2 websites is definitely a disadvantage.

This is another example that Homeowners Concept's Full Service program at 3.9% provides more marketing than having to pay 6%.

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