HouseValues knows the hard sell

A friend of mine contacted HouseValues once to get the scoop on their system and now receives (actually pretty funny) high pressure emails sprinkled with phrases like

“If I don’t hear from you by end of day, I’ll ask the next real estate agent on my list – possibly one in your own office.”

“we have an IMMEDIATE NEED FOR A GO-TO AGENT”

“If you are not planning to be in real estate for the next year, then you are not the right candidate for us”.

The qualifications to work with them are pretty rigorous:

1. You can professionally handle 10 to 20 buyers and sellers every month.
2. Plan to be in real estate for the next 12 months.

Lucklily, they seem to find an additional 10 – 20 customers who need an agent NOW every week or two, so my friend feels like he can start picking these low-hanging fruits when he is good and ready.

32 thoughts on “HouseValues knows the hard sell

  1. Hehe.. I always know when it’s 2:00pm on Friday afternoon because that’s when those calls start rollin’ in. Maybe that’s something that can be worked into a weekly marketing/business plan…

    “Sign up for XYZ service at 2:00pm Friday”.

  2. House Values hits up mortgage lenders as well with this pitch:

    “Don’t you want to send qualified buyers to your real estate agents?”

  3. I’m here in L.A, and received a call from the first person I sold a property to when I moved here. I was only licensed here for a couple of weeks when I met him and found a perfect property for him within 3 days.

    He called me today and asked me to come back and sell it because he needs to live closer to work.

    Reminded me of that House Values email “You don’t have to be GOOD, you just have to be FIRST”. But, when you are GOOD, people keep your number handy for years and call YOU first, and no one else. I’ve always enjoyed that kind of relationship with 80% or so of my clients. Beats constantly meeting strangers for a living.

    Does House Values cater primarily to brand new agents?

  4. That’s the hidden scam in their statistics – the first agent you contact is often one that has been personally recommended to you or one that you have worked wtih before.

    Do they cater to new agents? I think they get a lot of their money from new agents, but I don’t know. I DO know that I would be very wary of an agent that fell for kinds of hard sells they send out.

  5. That’s the hidden scam in their statistics – the first agent you contact is often one that has been personally recommended to you or one that you have worked wtih before.

    Do they cater to new agents? I think they get a lot of their money from new agents, but I don’t know. I DO know that I would be very wary of an agent that fell for kinds of hard sells they send out.

  6. I am currently writing a real estate clock hour class on lead generation companies. The instructor will NOT be a sales representative from ANY lead generation company. The purpose of this class (other than the obvious clock hours) will be to take a look inside the business model of some of the top lead gen systems. Invariably, some people will choose to sign up for something like a HouseValues or HomeGain but only as a way to enhance their marketing mix. The big lead generation companies biggest selling point is the money they spend advertising their site. If they can control eyeballs, they will have the love to share with their subscribers. I recommend that any real estate agent who is thinking about signing up for ANY lead gen site (and there are a plethora out there trolling for dollars) to visit that sight and sign up as an anonymous consumer. See how YOU, the consumer are handled, and then see what happens when you try to cancel the service.

    Signing off from Costa Rica, where there are plenty of second-home buyers from the U.S. staking their claim.

  7. my company sells market research technology to a lot of real estate agents. We’ve been talking with them about the lead-gen business provided by HouseValues and others. While none of my clients are currently subscribers to the web lead services, of those who’ve tried they are reasonably split between new agents (investing to build their business) and long-time agents (sort of defending the turf.) (my sample isn’t necessarily representative of anything, of course. But interesting nonetheless.)

  8. House Values works with new and seasoned agents. Read some testimonials here: http://athousevalues.blogspot.com

    If you don’t want to work with housevaluse, then simply answer your phone when they call and ask the person to not contact you anymore. Don’t be such a coward…sheeshe! They are only calling because you have not set a clear future between the both of you. Consumers are going to JustListed and HouseValues.com every day. Agents can subscribe and receive 6, 10, 20 buyers and sellers for their pipeline. Is that a bad thing to have happen? To research more, a website just for agents: http://www.agentsuccessnetwork.com

    Agents can cold call, prospect, network, and all that takes time from really selling Real Estate. House Values is a viable solution to receive additional prospects. Just another stream of income, not a be all end all get rich quick “scheme.” They are a public company = NASDAQ. The comany was founded by a second generation Windermiere RE Agent. Corporate website here: http://www.housevaluesinc.com.

    Do the research, and then make comments that do not sound ignorant. Some of my friends are subscribers, and they have had success from the service, and intend to continue building their pipelines! Good stuff!

  9. House Values works with new and seasoned agents. Read some testimonials here: http://athousevalues.blogspot.com

    If you don’t want to work with housevaluse, then simply answer your phone when they call and ask the person to not contact you anymore. Don’t be such a coward…sheeshe! They are only calling because you have not set a clear future between the both of you. Consumers are going to JustListed and HouseValues.com every day. Agents can subscribe and receive 6, 10, 20 buyers and sellers for their pipeline. Is that a bad thing to have happen? To research more, a website just for agents: http://www.agentsuccessnetwork.com

    Agents can cold call, prospect, network, and all that takes time from really selling Real Estate. House Values is a viable solution to receive additional prospects. Just another stream of income, not a be all end all get rich quick “scheme.” They are a public company = NASDAQ. The comany was founded by a second generation Windermiere RE Agent. Corporate website here: http://www.housevaluesinc.com.

    Do the research, and then make comments that do not sound ignorant. Some of my friends are subscribers, and they have had success from the service, and intend to continue building their pipelines! Good stuff!

  10. Hey Galen, there is no scam with House Values at all. There are Brokers benefitting from their services. For starters, http://www.homepages.com sure beats the weak link when your name here is clicked. Is that the best you could do? HouseValues is a best in class marketing company. I know for a fact that they will not work with every agent that inquires. Just because an agent has a credit card, that does not ensure that they will work with you to get consumers responding to their multimillion dollar tv advertising campaign on all the major networks like CNN, FOX News Network, HGTV, NBC, ABC, CBS, WB, and others…..

  11. Hey Kristina, I am sure I have not compared my site to HomePages (particularly in a favorable light) nor have I claimed that HouseValues is not a nasdaq company. I’m also pretty sure I didn’t say that HouseValues is a scam or a get rich quick scheme. Thou doth protest too much?

    If you believe that those statements are not a hard sell, I would suggest that you would get along very well with used car salesmen.

  12. You are right Galen, I appologize. I read through all the comments and got excited. My agent freind has increased earnings by 17% for the year.I just wish the same for all agents everywhere. housValues has been a blessing because of their entire service from subscribing. If any agent actually goes to http://www.agentsuccessnetwork.com and does their research, they will see what I am referring to. I have no vested interest with HV. I just know it is working for my freind. Yeah, in reading my posts again, I over reacted. I am truly sorry.

    Peace 🙂

  13. Sorry Kristina,

    My opinion is you probably work for housevalues. Those are the only people that defend them. Your friend increased her income by 17%? That means absolutely nothing. How many deals did she make as a direct result of housevalues? You sound like one of the scam artists at housevalues.

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