March 20, 2006 – 10:49 pm
Home Buying Rebates and Savings
Recent studies by the National Association of Realtors have revealed that 77% of home buyers begin their home search online. Furthermore, industry insiders have estimated that home buyers do 90% of the research and work to find their next home on their own. Taking that information into consideration, doesn’t it seem like a Buyer Agent is making a little too much in commission. I think so. The average home buyer is taking advantage of the resources offered by the internet assuming control over the transaction by viewing homes online, finding home valuations, conducting CMA’s of their home, and narrowing their search field before enlisting the services of an agent. The average time a consumer spends with an agent before writing a contract has decreased to under 14 days, and less than 40 work hours. This means an agent is making a 3% commission for your hard work. Consumers are making the job of a buyer agent significantly easier without demanding a change in the commission structure. At IHS we think you should see reward for the hard work you have put in, so, if you purchase with an IHS network agent you can receive up to $2,000.00 back at closing. We have also teamed with Charter One Mortgage to provide additional savings in closing costs. We feel if you are willing to put the work in, you should reep the reward, not the buyer agent.
February 23, 2006 – 4:54 pm
How to sell your home when prices start to level off
Reports abound that the real estate market is heading for a slowdown. Depending upon the recent runup in your area, the landing could be hard or soft. Here are some strategies for selling in a level or declining market:
Find a good discount broker - Internet companies now provide services for home sellers that weren’t available just a few years ago. Flat fee MLS listing is now a good option that allows you to keep more of your home equity. Instead of paying a listing commission for inclusion of your property in the Realtor MLS and on Realtor.com, you can pay a flat fee of somewhere between $400 and $500 and get the same exposure as Realtor listed properties.
Get proper pricing assistance - correctly valuing your property is ALWAYS priority #1 when selling your home. Lots of online services provide access to property sales data. You can also get this information yourself with a trip to the local property assessor’s office. If you have a unique or unusual property or have made major upgrades, your best route is a professional appraisal. Although this is a bit more expensive than other alternatives, it truly provides the most accurate valuation. 2 truisms apply: 1) You get what you pay for 2) appraisal isn’t an exact science
February 9, 2006 – 12:19 pm
Another housing valuation site?
With all the hoopla surrounding the launch of Zillow.com, Richard Bartons the founder of Expedia.com’s newest venture, I was expecting something that might revolutionize the real estate industry in the way Expedia helped to transform the travel industry. Instead we get a website providing online home valuations??!! The website launch’s anticipation build-up by the media created a traffic frenzy that apparently took Zillow offline for most of the day yesterday.
I’m sorry, but online Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) just isn’t very exciting. The website looks nice and there’s an easy to use interface, but there are plenty of players already in the market offering similar services, albeit, not for free. For instance, HouseValues.com services come with the baggage that your contact information is fed to hungry real estate agents in your area. They make money off of referrrals, so I guess Zillow represents a step up for consumers in that regard. ElectronicAppraiser.com offers housing sale statistics for consumers for a modest price.
From interviews with Barton, it seems that the goal is web traffic and then turning that traffic into revenue in some form or fashion. The idea of capturing enough online viewers to make SOMETHING happen worked fairly well for Expedia. So what’s the end game here. It’s not apparent how the revenue will be generated except perhaps from advertising.
One is left to believe that there has to be another or two offering still to come from this website. Perhaps the free house valuation is a lead-in to other ventures. Otherwise, I’m not sure what all the excitement was about.
See Also
- Zillow
Founder of Expedia launches home valuation website
