Serving Real Estate Professionals Since 1998
December 2007
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The Internet in the 1990's Prior to the advent of the Internet a typical homebuyer would begin to research his purchase of a home by driving neighborhoods looking for for sale signs. He would read the real estate classifieds and eventually visit a real estate office. His primary purpose would be one of learning about homes for sale. He would visit a real estate office and talk to a Realtor who would have access to the MLS listings book. In the late 1990's many MLS's were accessible online and the Realtor would perform an online search based upon the buyer's criteria. At this time the homebuyer could not access the MLS database himself. From the earliest years real estate brokers and Realtors were the source of information on home listings. They held captive the MLS listing information. The real estate industry utilized this control of the MLS listing information as a means of capturing buyers. In the late 1990's as Realtors and real estate brokerages developed websites homebuyers began to research their home purchase on the Internet. The buyers would go to real estate websites to see listings that Realtors had in their websites. Some buyers contacted the Realtors and requested additional listings which the Realtor would send to them via e-mail. In this way a Realtor would develop an on-line farm of potential buyers. The Realtor would build a relationship with these buyers in the course of sending them listings. This interaction between buyers and Realtors continued to expand into 2001 and 2002. 2002 to 2004 The Introduction of Public Access to the MLS As the volume of homebuyers on the Internet expanded it became apparent that the real estate industry needed to change. Slowly but surely multiple listing services around the country began to make the database available to the public through their members. One of the first major brokerages to adopt this concept was the John L Scott company in Washington. They implemented an system utilizing IDX software to allow their website visitor to access the MLS and search the home listings. This company was instrumental in encouraging MLS companies around the country to follow their example. While multiple IDX venders are now involved in providing this service, almost all the multiple listing services now allow an IDX access to their databases. The rules vary from one MLS to another but this access is now almost universally available. Through this period the homebuyers gradually came to know that they could now go on-line and access the MLS home listings themselves. Real estate websites offering the MLS access experienced a growing level of activity through the homebuyer's use of their MLS access. But, often the Realtor found that the homebuyers utilizing their access would not respond to their (the Realtor's) attempts to develop contact. These homebuyers did not want to communicate with a Realtor because they were in an early stage of their home search and were not ready to buy. Since 2004 In recent years access to the MLS home listings has become the byword in Internet real estate marketing. There are Internet companies that are using MLS access to collect homebuyer leads which they then sell to Realtors and brokers. These are not real estate companies or brokerages but rather lead aggregators who have inserted themselves into the real estate market. At the same time Realtors and brokers have upgraded their websites to include the latest versions of the IDX system and have changed the presentation on their site creating a focus on MLS accesses. There is considerable variation in the way this is offered and the success of the presentation also varies. The most productive sites are achieving a 10% to 15% conversion rate. The Homebuyer As Internet real estate marketing has evolved there has been a considerable change in the behavior of the Internet homebuyer. From the time when Realtors held the MLS "book" captive to today's free Internet MLS access the homebuyer has progressively taken control of the home buying process. Today a homebuyer may spend anywhere from several weeks to more than 12 months researching a home purchase. With the current market conditions many buyers have been waiting a long time to sell their existing home. Others have put off their home purchase because they are concerned that they might buy a home and then see its value decline within a year. Almost every buyer who is actively pursuing a purchase is seeking a "deal" and making low-ball offers. The market today is a challenge for every Realtor. It is only the sharpest Realtor who has discovered the successful presentation and sales approach for today's buyer.
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