No pesky real estate agents required

This is what you see when you click on Trulia from the Google results for "Savannah Ga Homes".

It's free—no personal info or agent required
It's comprehensive—listings, comps, stats, trends & advice
It's easy—so you can make sense of it all

Why was it necessary to put "no....agent required"?

If Trulia is really concerned about my ROI they shouldn't put these negative messages about agents on their site prominently displayed when you first click. How about if you add  -- (although agents can be very helpful in the process)

How about it Rudy? Help a brother out. You make it look like a good thing that you are agentless. You are propagating the negative perception of agents as being a hindrance and a pain in the ass rather than being a helpful partner trying to help agents improve their ROI.

Run it by your COO, I'm sure he will agree that it's not helpful. He might say that you are merely informing users that that they don't have to have an agent to use your site -- but why would they think that in the first place? You are bringing up something that hasn't even occurred to them to make a point that agents are unnecessary -- that's the way I see it.

I think I will put this across my site:

Trulia Free Site

You don't have to have Trulia's approval to use this site!

Real Estate Enlightenment

The following is taken from The Intellectual Heritage Program of Temple.

"The Natural Rights philosophy that we study in Intellectual Heritage reflects the central ideals of the Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason (1660-1798). John Locke and Thomas Jefferson are just two of the many notable thinkers and writers who share Enlightenment values.

A basic list of these values would include the following:

• a deep commitment to reason,
• a trust in the emerging modern sciences to solve problems and provide control over nature,
• a commitment to the idea of progress in material wealth and in human civility,
• a belief in the essential goodness of human nature,
• an emphasis upon the individual as master of his fate and fortune, and
• an engagement with the public sphere of discussion and action.

In short, the Enlightenment thinkers believed in the powers of humankind and saw themselves as part of a revolutionary development in history that would replace superstition and tired rituals and corrupt traditions with reason and productive energy."

In many ways, web 2.0 is akin to The Enlightenment, at least the concepts and promises. We have to tweak a bit because I'm not sure many people understand "reason" like the Enlightenment thinkers understood reason, and as for science controlling nature, well, maybe technology controlling cyber-nature . Yet, as an eternal optimist, I believe reason is making a comeback -- merely because transparency forces an acceptance of "what is, is", independent of  definitions proffered by presidents before grand juries. Nature is another story, but we learn about what "is" and "isn't" as we go forward and allow all science to have a voice.

The internet gives voice to reason and presents scientific facts, so the answers are there for those who search, even if you have to wade  through  gobs of misinformation, which brings us to an "emphasis upon the individual as master of his fate and fortune".

On a smaller, more mundane scale there is an enlightenment process going on in the real estate industry. I read yesterday where Gen Y (or was it X) is changing everything by questioning traditional methods. This is not particularly new -- new generations have been questioning the older generation for....well, for generations. But now there is more information to absorb and too many ways to unclothe emperors. Getting past the article's unintentional portrayal of paranoid isolationism applied to a whole generation, it made some good points about change. It's not just people born between designated years, the whole nation is rethinking the way business is done and how we interact with one another socially. (The article said this generation will not read much, so I've lost them at this point -- old fogeys, please follow along)

I have a sense that the whole nation is tired of hype and pressure. We want more control over our "fate and fortune" without being badgered to conform to marketing plans. It's getting harder and harder to fool people. With the great conversation going on around the world via the internet, gullibility is being replaced by savvy intelligence strengthened by a widespread and effective learning enviroment with classes running 24/7 across the net.

Be real or die! Still, there is hype, but the hypesters must live up to the hype because too many eyes are watching. One recent change I sense, and wholeheartedly embrace, from many agents online is the understanding that consumers want room to search and gather information in peace. If this trend and understanding increases then perhaps perceptions of real estate agents will change.

"Productive energy" is what's needed to provide real estate consumers with a useful, efficient experience, sans hype and pressure. There is a big difference between productive energy and hype and pressure -- there is energy in both, but the difference is in the application. Productive energy applied to the internet is powerful in its reach and the potential to inform. All energy should mostly be directed at informing. According to Dictionary.net,  to inform is:

1. To give form or shape to; to give vital organizing power to; to give life to; to imbue and actuate with vitality; to animate; to mold; to figure; to fashion.

Energetic learning, to form, fashion, to give vital organizing power -- these are much different than hype and pressure. It's up to those who work in the real estate industry to give vital organizing power, and we can't let others shape our fate and fortunes. We've started the conversation, now, at least for me, it's time for more action. From Bloodhound to Bigger Pockets to Homegain to Agent Genius to Sellius to Zillow to Redfin to Trulia to NAR to all the others playing in the industry, I learn and grow and see lines shifting, or disappearing, as the whole industry re-groups to meet the future.

What a grand adventure this should be as we inform, change, fashion, mold and organize. For such a mundane process as buying or selling a house, there is a lot of productive energy that can make the process exciting -- after all, underneath it all is a huge lifestyle creation which is important to people -- hopefully, the service provided to help create that piece of the lifestyle can be an excellent experience.  This is Mike from Savannah, committed, enlightened and ready to serve. :)

Thanks to you all.

This is too important an issue to take lightly

I am somewhat surprised at the mindset that diminishes the importance of Google search to local real estate agents. No one is deying there are many avenues to marketing success, and Google search in some areas may not be important to marketing, but in Savannah Ga, and in many many other cities, I suspect, it's critically important.

I can only speak to Savannah Ga and my business with authority, but here and in my business I KNOW what's happening. I don't have to do any consumer polling, it's what I do everyday. Aside from my investment deals and the few listings I take, my main business is buyer representation. I get 5-7 leads a day from Google search -- some days it's 2, some 8, but most days it's around 5. I get none from Zillow and Trulia. I get 5 or so a month through my website. I don't know of any direct leads I've received from magazine ads. I have not received any leads from Facebook, Activerain, Myspace or any of the social media avenues -- but I haven't utilized them fully, either. I have utilized Zillow and Trulia the best I know how.

I get about 5-7 referrals every year from past business and associates. No much, I know, but I had a two year absence from direct real estate business a while back and I've had to build over. 

Google is my lead generator. I get 80% of my business through Google. Could I put more energy into other forms of marketing and replace the Google business -- perhaps so, but it would be expensive -- Google is not expensive -- it's time consuming to work all the SEO, but it fits a small company budget.

I totally disagree with David G. that Google search is not important and used only by first-time buyers or buyers who are not knowledgable. I've met the buyers coming through Google to my business -- I know. They are experienced buyers and the average home price of the sales is over $300,000.

I state all this again because I'm perplexed by the denigration by some of Google home-buyers and the role they play in my success as a real estate agent. How David described Google buyers and Google's role in my business is totally foreign to the reality I deal with day in and day out. If anyone has any insight into this that I'm missing, feel free to jump in.

I KNOW there are other means -- what I'm saying is that it's working for me, and if wasn't working for others there would be no discussion at all -- it would be a dead subject.

Update on Friday, May 16, 2008 at 05:24PM by Mike Farmer

I just received this through Google reader -- http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/05/15/iac-ask-deal-tech-internet-cx_ag_0515techask.html

As companies compete and perfect the complete question market we will all be better off -- I see this is as the way it's going, and once it's perfected the best results will be available to enhance the move toward personalization and context.

The move is toward a consumer realization that real estate services are changing and that spam and pressure are dying modes -- the transparent agent, local and informative, willing to let time take its course will be found through the questions that are most efficient and effective. 

Too easy for mischief makers -- Akismet's Spam Karma 2

According to Rudy, he thinks that if you are reported for spam it's incorporated into the Spam Karma 2's algorithm and is applied to all the plugins used by others. This seems like a pain and easy for mischief makers or idiots to manipulate.

I don't like you so I report you and get a few of my buddies to report you, and all of a sudden you are marked as "spam". It seems like Spam Karma 2 would have to verify the reports to determine if it actually is "spam".

It wouldn't be important if it didn't interfere with the act of commenting on sites. I want my comments to be immediate and to flow with the conversation -- otherwise, I'd just send an email.

The idea of some comments flowing through freely and others being held up for an hour, 3 hours, 24 hours, is offensive and causes me to stop commenting -- this has happened on four different sites and they are all Wordpress (if that matters).

What I can't understand is that this morning I made a comment on BHB and it was held up, yet, when I replied to that a second later, the comment went right through. I guess the bot just grabs at whim?

Tower of Babel: Perhaps 1.0 was more honest

Lately, the cacophony of voices in RE.net is like a duet of knocking rods and mating cats. You have people screaming about selling houses, dammit, and the waste of finger activity on Seinfeld-like "blogs about nothing", you have Trulia widgeting it's way to Google King in every kingdom and hamlet -- even though they are all about agent ROI, transparency and puppy-love. You have Zillow snickering in the corner while no one is looking, moderators filtering the nasty, the low down, the satirical and unsavory.

I'm cocked-eyed with it all, plus I'm guilty of strange, unharmonious  sounds trying to sift out viable foodstuff from the trash. Maybe lines are being re-formed and allegiances are challenged as the center explodes and the falconer gets dizzy.

Who knows? I sell a little here, a little there. But the scene is curious as the intrigue deepens. The problem is that there is a big-ass pie baking and 2.0 hunger is just as needy as 1.0 hunger and everybody wants a big-ass slice.

There is an opportunity to look differently at pies but opportunities are not always realized. I appreciate Trulia's concern for my well being, just as I appreciate Zillow's agent-love and compassion, but there's trouble in River City. I learned as a poor boy growing up in downtown Atlanta to always raise an eyebrow when anyone wants to "help" you. While the softer side of me wants to sigh and submit when I hear the sweet song of partnership and lovey-dovey heart talk, I also have a realistic streak than runs from toe-nails to hair tips -- we're all after something, and I prefer to keep it at the level of what's proven and documented.

Real estate business is a local activity that's been spread thin across the internet through marketing. Marketing has no boundaries -- a little old lady in Pittsburg can read all about a shack in Savannah while she sits at her computer nursing a glass of wine and humming Amazing Grace. Marketing is no less a vicious game just because we give it a modern facade of lightness and vague "partnership". You want to be my partner? The let's talk about shared responsibility -- let's work out a deal that's good for us both. Don't ask me to suspend reason, go on faith and wait for the enlightenment. Show me the deal!

It's becoming clear that the initial hyped promises are tread-bare and it's time for a change. The time has never been more ripe in real estate for true transparency. If we get into a phony rabble in 2.0 where all the masks are removed only to find more masks, consumers will be one step closer to washing their hands of real estate service once and for all.  

Here's the deal about marketing from one small player in one small place -- if it works and is built on principles that withstand long term use, then I'm in -- if it's a gimmick, smoke-and-mirrors, 95% hype, then I'm out.

The fact is that real estate agents can benefit from a company that offers marketing in the cyber-world. Most agents don't have the resources to compete on two fronts -- locally for business and nationally for recognition. Sean Purcell's connected Super Team idea is the closest I can think of to building the power necessary to fight both fronts. Big local companies can do it if they will apply the resources to go cyber, but they are still winning enough battles locally and traditionally. If this means local companies will consolidate to win the local war, then small independents like myself will be forced to go the Super Team route or hook into a company who is REALLY concerned about agent ROI and makes it affordable to buy in for the clout -- a company that announces its purpose and carries through.

Homegain has the opportunity to be that company on a national scale, but I believe there is an opportunity for other companies to build business models that focus more regional and locally -- SEM companies with an excellent focus on real estate, catering to small, independent companies. This would be a true partnership and the Super Team idea could be incorporated by contracting out the SEM portion of the business and allowing agents to focus on providing real estate service. But it has to be affordable. Show me the deal!

Update on Friday, May 16, 2008 at 09:26AM by Mike Farmer

I meant to add: If BIG becomes the trend locally, and if Trulia/Zillow etc. knock the small, independent off the search engine pages and continue to work deals with national real estate companies for their listings, then you have a situation where listing aggregators and large national companies are in partnership and small, independents are squashed -- locally and nationally. This is why a different  kind of partnership is necessary for small independents.