Comments on: NWMLS stops feed to Realtor.com (still) http://360digest.com/2006/12/04/nwmls-stops-feed-to-realtorcom-still/ Seattle Real Estate Blog for those interested in Seattle real estate, popular culture, tech, news and opinion. Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:47:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: David Losh http://360digest.com/2006/12/04/nwmls-stops-feed-to-realtorcom-still/comment-page-1/#comment-9877 David Losh Tue, 05 Dec 2006 17:36:57 +0000 http://360digest.com/2006/12/04/nwmls-stops-feed-to-realtorcom-still/#comment-9877 OK... Let's start with the John L. Scott site which has the home search function on thier web site that improves constantly. As I understand it Lennox Scott is attending every board meeting that will let him in. I don't know that for a fact, that's just a rumor. The Windermere site changes regularly and they are now googling thier listings. The national companies have hundreds of individual web sites that they help create for thier agents to help them have an internet presence. In that regard the content does change. They are also household names that naturally draw in searches by name recognition. You are right any individual or small company can develop an internet presence to generate leads. Redfin comes to mind immediately. Redfin in my opinion has nothing to do with Real Estate or the Real Estate business, but they are taking a market share. Redfin is an internet based business model. They used some of the cheapest advertising imaginable to gain notarity. That little company hired a guy to go to our government with some complaint I have yet to figure out. The reality is that the company is a discount brokerage who pays the customer so they can fill out forms. Brilliant business model that focuses on a small segment of our work as Real Estate agents. In the mix of all of this is, again my opinion, that Lake and Company is a fine company that I think does a very good job. How is the owner of a little company like that going to acheive an internet presence without spending a considerable amount of time? I would think it would be much cheaper to just buy into an internet presence even if you didn't generate leads. It's something that your agents can point to as a marketing tool. I would think that an affiliation with an internet presence is better than no presence at all. OK…
Let’s start with the John L. Scott site which has the home search function on thier web site that improves constantly. As I understand it Lennox Scott is attending every board meeting that will let him in. I don’t know that for a fact, that’s just a rumor. The Windermere site changes regularly and they are now googling thier listings.
The national companies have hundreds of individual web sites that they help create for thier agents to help them have an internet presence. In that regard the content does change. They are also household names that naturally draw in searches by name recognition.
You are right any individual or small company can develop an internet presence to generate leads. Redfin comes to mind immediately. Redfin in my opinion has nothing to do with Real Estate or the Real Estate business, but they are taking a market share. Redfin is an internet based business model. They used some of the cheapest advertising imaginable to gain notarity. That little company hired a guy to go to our government with some complaint I have yet to figure out. The reality is that the company is a discount brokerage who pays the customer so they can fill out forms. Brilliant business model that focuses on a small segment of our work as Real Estate agents.
In the mix of all of this is, again my opinion, that Lake and Company is a fine company that I think does a very good job. How is the owner of a little company like that going to acheive an internet presence without spending a considerable amount of time? I would think it would be much cheaper to just buy into an internet presence even if you didn’t generate leads. It’s something that your agents can point to as a marketing tool. I would think that an affiliation with an internet presence is better than no presence at all.

]]> By: Drew Meyers http://360digest.com/2006/12/04/nwmls-stops-feed-to-realtorcom-still/comment-page-1/#comment-9864 Drew Meyers Tue, 05 Dec 2006 07:59:22 +0000 http://360digest.com/2006/12/04/nwmls-stops-feed-to-realtorcom-still/#comment-9864 Marlow- Great post (I agree with Joel). From a business perspective, I'm almost always in favor of controlling your own destiny if at all possible (in this case-a broker controlling their own website). Marlow-
Great post (I agree with Joel). From a business perspective, I’m almost always in favor of controlling your own destiny if at all possible (in this case-a broker controlling their own website).

]]> By: Marlow Harris http://360digest.com/2006/12/04/nwmls-stops-feed-to-realtorcom-still/comment-page-1/#comment-9845 Marlow Harris Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:34:07 +0000 http://360digest.com/2006/12/04/nwmls-stops-feed-to-realtorcom-still/#comment-9845 Dave, I love ya, but you're wrong. Once you get the site set up, it takes a minimal amount of time to maintain it. On the big local sites (Windermere, et al) nothing ever changes except the listings, and that's fed by a feed. It is basically a static site. The reason I'm always adding content to my little site is because #1 It's mine, #2. I can, #3 I need to add content to differentiate it from everyone else's site and #4 It's a reflection of ME, that is constantly changing, thinking, doing, being. What I do with my own personal website is NOT what a large brokerage should do. It's apples and oranges. Anyway, go ahead and use your company's feed. The "feed" doesn't suck, just the implementation. Your tech guys from India (or wherever) should be able to take the feed and turn it in to whatever you want. Anyway, you don't have any choice, you HAVE to use your brokers feed. MLS rules. End of story. Read what I wrote in the post. YOU CAN HAVE A DECENT SITE FOR LESS THAN $100 A MONTH. Windermere has the most money because it has the most AGENTS and the agents make the money for them. It doesn't make the money because it has the best website. It's the agents who come first and the money follows. Basic chicken-or-the-egg stuff here. Trust me on that. Dave, I love ya, but you’re wrong. Once you get the site set up, it takes a minimal amount of time to maintain it. On the big local sites (Windermere, et al) nothing ever changes except the listings, and that’s fed by a feed. It is basically a static site. The reason I’m always adding content to my little site is because #1 It’s mine, #2. I can, #3 I need to add content to differentiate it from everyone else’s site and #4 It’s a reflection of ME, that is constantly changing, thinking, doing, being. What I do with my own personal website is NOT what a large brokerage should do. It’s apples and oranges.

Anyway, go ahead and use your company’s feed. The “feed” doesn’t suck, just the implementation. Your tech guys from India (or wherever) should be able to take the feed and turn it in to whatever you want. Anyway, you don’t have any choice, you HAVE to use your brokers feed. MLS rules. End of story. Read what I wrote in the post. YOU CAN HAVE A DECENT SITE FOR LESS THAN $100 A MONTH.

Windermere has the most money because it has the most AGENTS and the agents make the money for them. It doesn’t make the money because it has the best website. It’s the agents who come first and the money follows. Basic chicken-or-the-egg stuff here. Trust me on that.

]]> By: David Losh http://360digest.com/2006/12/04/nwmls-stops-feed-to-realtorcom-still/comment-page-1/#comment-9844 David Losh Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:03:15 +0000 http://360digest.com/2006/12/04/nwmls-stops-feed-to-realtorcom-still/#comment-9844 OK... The problem is the time it takes to maintain the site once you own it. The ramp up time from my own little experiment is between three to six months. In your case, from the amount of content you have, it had to have taken years. Lake and Company has been fighting the good fight for many years now. They have a tight knit group of good agents, in my opinion. Now they are faced with a whole new set of marketing tools that they may not have the time to implement. The money is one thing, but the technology changes and moves so rapidly it's hard to keep track. A large company or group of large companies can dedicate a staff or even a couple of people to keeping up with technology. On my new site the people working on it are asking for an IDX link. I don't want to use my company's link because it sucks. I want new interactive top of the line searches. The problem isn't finding a link it's choosing which link to use. A year ago I would use what I could get, today I have to find a way to stay ahead of the curve. I'm no longer asking if it's all worth it. You are right this is the business as it is today. The internet is by far the thing people use to get Real Estate information. The problem, as I see it, is if people are looking beyond the big household names for that information. A large company can easily dominate the internet with an allocation of resources. Once they do that what chance does a Lake and Company have when they maybe telling buyers and sellers a different message than what the internet dominate companies are telling the public? OK…
The problem is the time it takes to maintain the site once you own it. The ramp up time from my own little experiment is between three to six months. In your case, from the amount of content you have, it had to have taken years.
Lake and Company has been fighting the good fight for many years now. They have a tight knit group of good agents, in my opinion. Now they are faced with a whole new set of marketing tools that they may not have the time to implement. The money is one thing, but the technology changes and moves so rapidly it’s hard to keep track. A large company or group of large companies can dedicate a staff or even a couple of people to keeping up with technology. On my new site the people working on it are asking for an IDX link. I don’t want to use my company’s link because it sucks. I want new interactive top of the line searches. The problem isn’t finding a link it’s choosing which link to use. A year ago I would use what I could get, today I have to find a way to stay ahead of the curve.
I’m no longer asking if it’s all worth it. You are right this is the business as it is today. The internet is by far the thing people use to get Real Estate information. The problem, as I see it, is if people are looking beyond the big household names for that information. A large company can easily dominate the internet with an allocation of resources. Once they do that what chance does a Lake and Company have when they maybe telling buyers and sellers a different message than what the internet dominate companies are telling the public?

]]> By: Joel Burslem http://360digest.com/2006/12/04/nwmls-stops-feed-to-realtorcom-still/comment-page-1/#comment-9841 Joel Burslem Mon, 04 Dec 2006 16:20:02 +0000 http://360digest.com/2006/12/04/nwmls-stops-feed-to-realtorcom-still/#comment-9841 Great post Marlow. I couldn't have said it better myself. Great post Marlow. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

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