Sign in? Who do you think you are?
Why would you want to register on a local real estate website?
Realtor.com is an advertising site owned by a company called Homestore and while it's licensed to operate using the Realtor name it is a for profit company that has yet to turn a profit... forever squeezing out pennies and irritating the agents and companies that it is charged with helping. The properties are used to draw you in so that they can build ads around the listings... this makes the site painfully slow. Realtor.com is an opt-in site missing lots of data... it is notoriously out of date and doen't let you know if a property is under contract... creating an unfriendly and tiresome homesearch. MLS systems are starting to pull out of Realtor.com as it has been discovered that eventually almost everybody chooses to find a local connection.
Eventually, as you get more serious in your home search, you will want to "go local".
Most people don't understand why agents ask them to register on their sites to get more information about properties for sale. The truth is that we don't need it for our own listings or even those of our company (unless they have a rule) the problem lies with showing you another companies listings.
In order to address this... two options were developed; IDX and VOW.
IDX stands for Internet Data Exchange. This is an opt in (or opt out... depending where you are) system. No registration is necessary.. the listings that you are looking at should say something about "compliments of" the listing company (probably in really tiny letters) This is kind of like walking into my office, plopping down in a chair and going through the various homes magazines... it's fun, there is great information but it's lacking in depth and missing a bunch.... and you are so close to all of the information.
VOW stands for Virtual Office Website. This means that I can treat you like the person who walked into my office asking about homes... meaning we plug in your criteria and go through the whole Multiple Listing Service so that you don't miss anything, except that you get to do it in
your own sweet time. The great thing about a VOW site is that you get access to all of the properties... there is no "opt out" for the Real Estate companies and you don't have to wait for days to get the updated info. Some of us can also allow access to recent sold properties... The VOW solution is the ultimate in home information, but it comes with a price... just like if you came into my office, I would have some information about you (you could lie... but that's beside the point) The National Association Of Realtors has set a national policy that all VOW sites require registration.
So, there you go....
I currently feature two different VOW systems... one of them WestSuburban Real Estate was the first of its type in Illinois and has been helping people find their homes since the spring of 2000. The other site that I use: NapervilleLuxury Homes offers a different format for home searches. They both offer multiple pictures, virtual tours and e-mailed updates... it's really
more a matter of preference.
It's not a matter of you giving up your anonymity... it's about empowering you with information for you to enjoy some autonomy. The payoff for us is that we hope you grow comfortable with us and our services, that over time you decide we are the "right ones" to help you with this process.
If not... you can always unsubscribe... I promise, I won't hold it against you :)
Posted by Angus at 4:46 PM
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3 Comments
Angus what a good explanation of why we are asked to register.
Carole - Thanks for your comment, I think that most people don't understand the difference in the offerings.. I like to offer both types.
Angus, your summation of the challenges that clients routinely have with Realtor.com is about as accurate a version of the situation as I've heard yet. Almost every client I encounter who is already searching on the net has been doing so under Realtor.com, and how often do we get ready to show them their "favorites" only to find that some of them have been under contract for a week or so, and others are listed at the incorrect price. They are perhaps the worst, yet utterly necessary, vendor to work with on the marketing end of our business.
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