Joseph Ferrara of Sellsius points out in a great post today that Realogy will be syndicating all of its listings across the Internet. Realogy, a super-brokerage that has it’s hands in many of the top real estate companies in the Country is going to utilize the resources of major Internet players like Google, Cyberhomes, AOL, Homescape, HGTV’s Frontdoor, Zillow, and Trulia.
Ferrara aptly states that “Eventually, every real estate home listing will be available on every real estate website, large or small. With property listings everywhere, how will all these websites survive?”
Controlling a major portion of the US real estate sales market and with tens of thousands of agents under its umbrella, how will the independent agency compete. As Ferrara states, we could be seeing the beginning of a mad rush of large brokerages following suit [can Prudential and ReMax be far behind?] and a true freetrade game of Survival of the Fittest being played out.
In a recent press release, Realogy said: “Beyond our individual brand Web sites, we are actively placing our brands’ property listings with the most trusted and relevant Internet sites used by today’s homebuyers and sellers. We are pleased to welcome these companies into our group of marketing partners that serve our vast audience in such a comprehensive way. Having some of the most highly trafficked online search engines and portal sites involved in our marketing platform supports our efforts to bring more information to homebuyers and sellers, and it also provides increased value to our brokers and agents.”
As the Web 2.0 world evolves, why is it that it seems the heads of these organizations are moving to embrace technology while it’s rank and file members seem slow to change?
Is it possible that big brokerages like Realogy are hedging their bets as to the adjudication of the DOJ v. NAR Anti-trust lawsuit? With a decision due sometime in July, one has to wonder if the major forces in real estate are seeing the writing on the wall.
We’ll have to wait and see. what do you think?
As an agent that works under the Realogy umbrella I know that my local company in Dallas, TX is steering their money towards the internet instead of the overly expensive newpsaper ads. They know agents don’t know how to utilize the internet so they do it for them…and tack on a little referral fee for their efforts. i.e. someone clicks on a Trulia ad to get more information on a listing and our corporate office hands it out to a local agent and tacks on a 40% referral fee. It’s always about money baby!
40%??? Did You say 40%??? OMG!! That’s unreal!
Stunning. Why doesn’t Realogy just create their own Trulia? and why doesn’t Jeff protest the 40% referral fee?
Working referrals from the company is strictly voluntary. If an agent protests the 40% then they won’t get the referral. Simple as that.
The big companies are hoping that they can aggregate more agents by controling their data. As a Broker who owns a smaller company, 8 years ago I created a website where any listing agent’s website can be found free. (REindex.com)
The Realogy type companies are hoping that they can make everyone think that the Internet can’t level the playing field for agents. The aggregators like the big Z, T and R, want everyone to think we have to give them our data or we won’t be able to work anymore.
If brokers stop feeding their listing data to sites that compete with them for search engine traffic, their sites would get found more easily. If an agent paying a 40% referal moves to a company that doesn’t charge that, the agent can get an automatic raise. Of course the large referring company will scare them with the idea that they’ll do less transactions. Hmmm, less stress for at least the same money? Might work for some.
40% !!!!! WHAAAAAATTTTTT!
When i get my short sale referrals – i tell them if you give it to me – this phone call will pay you $500…yes i said $500…not bad for 5 minute phone call…I tell ‘em it’s worth $20,000 an hour …not bad cash in the grand scheme of things…
If they WANT to learn I’ll CONSULT with them and they can pay me 25% when it closes.
40% – yeah right!
I don’t believe that is the guiding force here. It’s about control of listings and broker profitability. If you are a listing agent, you don’t care. If you are a buyer agent, then you are in trouble or content to be fed business for a 30-40% fee. I’m sure there is no shortage of agents lining up at the door of company online referral soup kitchen or bread line.
By being creative, along with help from the DOJ here.