Richard Nacht of Real Blogging asks “Where are da blogs?” in his discussion regarding internet lead generation.
I thank him for the segway to a post I was preparing to write today.
Back in February I wrote three posts: Bottom Feeder Sites, Using the Internet to Buy Your New Home and Redfin-Something to Thing About. Since January, when I began “writing for” Rain City Guide, I have been running an experiment based primarily on these three posts.
A) Bottom Feeder Sites – My contention was/is that if an agent didn’t pay for leads to a Bottom Feeder Site, there would be more monies at play into the transaction for the benefit of the consumer. I am pleased to report that at present, the consumer direct benefit, so far, is running at 3.43 times what I would have paid to House Values during that same period of time. That is with only 4 closed transactions of participants in the experiment. Clearly the consumer is winning as of this date.
Bottom Feeder Sites $0 – Consumer $3.43 X total 5 mo. cost of HouseValues (plus $29,500 in direct seller to buyer concessions.)
B) Using the Internet to Buy Your New Home – In a stellar example, see As Good As It Gets post, the consumer hit a trifecta!
1. Using the “STI method” noted in that post, I found the house within hours, using the STI as the bogey and going one stroke over par.
2. Using the “peek over the price” method noted in that post, I found a house he had missed using the internet as a home search tool, and he saved $25,000 at the same time, at least $10,000 of which was money “the seller left on the table”. Clearly a rarity in this market.
3. He also participated in the $3.43 x the 5 month cost of HouseValues benefits noted in A) above, his single cash to close benefits exceeding the entire cost of 5 months of House Values alone.
C) Redfin-Something to Think About – for me this was the most exciting of all, in that it accomplished something I have been working on since 1998. A meeting with a buyer that replicates meetings agents have been having with sellers since the beginning of time. This one is hard to explain, since it is still “playing out”. The meeting I had yesterday with a buyer consumer, was as close to being the same as “a listing appointment” as I have ever had. Buyers and Sellers having equal footing in the marketplace, has been my “Crusade” for so long, I can barely contain my elation!
So to Inman, and our nomination for “Most Innovative Blog”, I would like to point out my contribution to the Innovation of Rain City Guide. That is to utilize the zero cost (in dollars) component of blogging, to directly benefit the consumer and promote TRUE buyer empowerment as opposed to PERCEIVED buyer empowerment.
Clearly breakthrough stuff going on here at Rain City Guide…the experiment continues.
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I find your Blog site fascinating, although I am in Texas I believe your site is a great example for any group interested in creating their own Blog site.
Marcus Holliman
http://www.metrocr.com
Hi Ardell,
Excellent post. I took this opportunity to re-read the Redfin post and I have to say thought that I disagree with your premise. The 3% fee for buyer’s agents is a lot more cemented into the current market structure than you realize. I bought my house in Greenlake about 6 months before Redfin came along. I used a Windermere agent to sell my current house and then buy my next. He got both ends of the deal and was completely unwilling to alter the fee structure, saying that Windermere would fire him for doing anything out of the ordinary. I found my new house online and sold my other one via a buyer I found at work. I did a huge percentage of the work (my agent golfed in Portland all week and had someone else run his broker’s open,) and still feel like my experience is more ordinary than extraordinary. If Redfin had been around at the time I bought my house, I would certainly have used them (and would today.)
Jen, I appreciate your comments and thank you for taking the time to read back through the older posts.
I have never in 16 years in 5 states worked for a company that dictated what I could charge or what concessions I could make.
Negotiating from the seller side is nothing new and it is pretty easy to do a 3% reduced to 2% if the seller purchases their next home and 1% if the buyer comes sans agent, by using an addendum to the listing contract from day one.
What I have seen in the industry nationally, if not locally, is that Brokers don’t get involved in commission negotiations, but draw the line when an agent “advertises” that a commission is “negotiable”. Even though it is my understanding, that in every state, legally there can be no “set” fee and that each fee is negotiated with the client on a case by case basis.
I think your case was somewhat unusual, given you found the buyer for your house yourself and the agent was out of town. At least I hope it was somewhat unusual. I’ve never had a seller find their own buyer. In fact, if they even think they know someone who might buy it, I exclude that buyer from the contract altogether. Though I did once hear of an agent who charged someone who sold their home in the end to their own daughter…pretty creepy.
Jen, I appreciate your comments and thank you for taking the time to read back through the older posts.
I have never in 16 years in 5 states worked for a company that dictated what I could charge or what concessions I could make.
Negotiating from the seller side is nothing new and it is pretty easy to do a 3% reduced to 2% if the seller purchases their next home and 1% if the buyer comes sans agent, by using an addendum to the listing contract from day one.
What I have seen in the industry nationally, if not locally, is that Brokers don’t get involved in commission negotiations, but draw the line when an agent “advertises” that a commission is “negotiable”. Even though it is my understanding, that in every state, legally there can be no “set” fee and that each fee is negotiated with the client on a case by case basis.
I think your case was somewhat unusual, given you found the buyer for your house yourself and the agent was out of town. At least I hope it was somewhat unusual. I’ve never had a seller find their own buyer. In fact, if they even think they know someone who might buy it, I exclude that buyer from the contract altogether. Though I did once hear of an agent who charged someone who sold their home in the end to their own daughter…pretty creepy.