Here is the REA YouTube Video for the Sydney Market.
Just click on the play link icon!
< 1 minute read
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Agent Websites, Portals
September 8, 2010
The Best (and Worse) Real Estate Portal Features
Written By
Peter J Ricci
Peter Ricci is the Director of Agentpoint.com.au, Business2.com.au, Ginga.com.au and ZooProperty.com and has been involved in designing and developing real estate systems and websites since 1997. In July 2001 Peter founded Business2.com.au to help real estate agents better understand the power of the Internet and the real estate landscape in Australia and New Zealand. Since then he has penned over 300 articles on a variety of subjects in the real estate technology industry. Business2.com.au is now the leading real estate technology site in Australasia.
26 Comments
Paul D
Is that it ???? Is that the best ad that REA can come up with ?? Please tell me it is a joke and the real one will be shown next.
The add is pXXXpoor and they should be asking the ad agency to do another one for free !!!
Robert Simeon
REA – have lost the plot !!
snoop
With the traffic the have why even bother.
They are clearly the NO1 brand.
I think they need to focus in on helping agencies make conversions from the leads they already deliver , and getting the agencies sales forces more effective.
The agency junk mail in my letterbox every week continues to increase,but intelligent responses to queries i post on properties for sale on the portals continues to decrease.
I wonder in any sales office what the ratio of achievers to losers is??
Dave Platter
(I work at realestate.com.au/the REA Group)
Peter, thanks for sharing that ad. I think it’s great, but of course I guess I would.
Still, I’m not the only one. It was reviewed by two different ad industry heavyweights in the 23 March issue of Ad News. Here’s what they said:
Andrew Tinning: I really liked this one…Highly original and totally relevant, and, in that respect, totally rewarding. Well done.
Chris Reid: I love these ads – they intrigue you from the opening frame. They tap right into the insight that we all put up with a lot of crap in our lives that we could probably avoid if we tried a little harder. They do this in a way that is entertaining, eye-catching and provides an immediate call to action – realestate.com.au is positioned as the answer.
Thanks again, Peter.
dave
Robert Simeon
I find it most difficult to begin to understand where REA are today coming from !!
Dave you mention Chris Reid and Andrew Tinning I have never heard of either – so which part of media do they represent ?
On the other hand you run advertising campaigns (waste of shareholders monies) on dumb camapigns where you pay people $10,000 to comment on why MyHome Sucks and then you roll out MyHome is embarrassing ? For what another $10,000.00 !!
Tonight you roll out a campaign which is even funnier and more contradictional of your brand awareness – MORE Exposure, MORE Enquiry and even MORE Value
Over the next 3 months, realestate.com.au will be powering the real estate sections of 120 News Limited websites across Australia. This means that your listings will attract even greater exposure than ever before.
From April 14th 2007, this initiative will be rolled out across Australia when local and state wide audiences will be able to search for properties via the property sections of News Limited metro, Sunday, regional and community newspaper group websites.
So one can only assume that REA is now heading back to the grassroots of newspaper advertising to bulk up consumer traffic – because online is failing them ??
I have always been a staunch (well recorded) supporter of print and despite ongoing debate by REA that print is over valued and not incoming producing I see you now divert your attention to print !!
Obviously REA is feeling a bit fragile – however we all know that when dawn breaks – “you get a dirty finger.”
I am loving this new REA market strategy – and you guys think you new campaign on MyHome is embarrassing LOL
What next !! Simon Baker to become editor of The Belly Laugh 😉
Anthony
This one on youtube – somehow caught my eye
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42V9yQjKitQ
Anthony
This one too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uiLfnIoWPg
Anthony
We also asked two heavyweights for their opinion
Damien From Biggest Loser Said…..
“I nearly P*&^^% my pants at that one”
whilst
Kim Beazley said
“Kevin Rudd never kissed me like that”
Robert Simeon
Anthony, you are either off medication or you need it !!
Those campaigns are an embarrassement to human intelligence. Just like your vendor on Murdoch Street, your corflute sign on two chop sticks remains unsold after five weeks.
I remain unsure what you should keep the REA advertising agency.
Anthony
Actually Robert I have some good news (or bad news)
It’s SOLD
Estimated Commission Savings = $14,500
Estimated Advertising Savings = $6,000
GST savings = $2,050
TOTAL SAVINGS = $22,550
SOLD FOR FULL LIST PRICE
(we had to bite our tongue whilst contracts exchanged 2 weeks ago)
I’ll be sending SOLD BROCHURES AND ESTIMATED SAVINGS to all your Vendors this week….
But you have nothing to fear,
Scorecard Reads
Chopsticks in Tights – 1
Robert – 0
Glenn
Anthony,
There will always be a place for FSBO companies in the market place but whether you like it or not the vast majority of sales will always be made by agents for a number of reasons… one of those being marketing and advertising that works. The ads by zeroagents are proof positive of that very fact as no agent I know would turn out something so embarrassing. That truly has to be one of the worst examples of viral marketing I have seen.
If you want to build your business on the back of bagging agents take a leaf out of Jenmans book. Whilst I loathe the man and his tactics he is at least professional about the way he goes about it. The ads say more about your lack of professionalism that it does about the ethics of agents.
A campaign of negativity will never win in the end. Jenman’s figures are flagging and he makes you look like a raw amatuer when it comes to bagging agents.
We have cowboys in our industry just the same as any other industry. I wish I could find the comparison I once read between solicitors and real estate agents. I think it was for QLD only… It looked at how many practitioners each industry had, how many were found guilty of fraud, misrepresentations etc etc.. and what the fines for each where. The results were very interesting and had solicitors convicted at much higher rates than agents but the sentences carried out where a fraction of that given to agents.
And just in case you had not realised it… SOLD FOR FULL PRICE only means you got what YOU listed it for. Chances are an agent could have obtained substantially more. I purchased my own house through a FSBO company. They had it listed for 5 weeks without a sale. They had a sign up and put it on their website. The property was in an acreage area at the end of a court so had little traffic. Their website would be lucky to get 50-100 visitors a week with maybe 5% of those visitors in the relevant price range. During initial discussions I recommended that they get a valuation and market opinion by some local agents. Both of which they declined to do. I disclosed to them I was an agent and even had them sign an acknowledgement before negotiations of this fact plus that I had never given them an opinion of market value.
Their asking price was under market value but they did not know it and because they were inexperienced negotiators, during discussions they let slip that they needed the sale. I offered $25,000 off the asking price whilst being prepared to pay very close to, if not the asking price. They accepted my first offer without any negotations. After I purchased the home, I had it valued on its merits at more than $100,000 over the original asking price. Now as far as that agent was concerned they saved the owner about $10-15,000 in commission (QLD) and I got what I believe is a good buy.
I am the first to admit that this is not a typical result of a FSBO sale, but neither are the scenarios suggested in your videos. We can all prey on peoples insecurities, I just choose not too. I think many owners need to go through a maturing process to temper their ambitions and time on the market as a FSBO often works wonders. Only then do some of those owners realise that it is not as easy as some of us make it look. If it was then 98% of properties would be sold through FSBO companies rather than real estate agents.
Zeroagents have a place in our industry…. but if you dont want to play nice in the sandbox don’t get upset if someone kicks sand in your face now and then.
Anthony
Damn – what has happened to every ones sense of humour….
And the appropriate response Glen was – well done – that is an excellent result for the owner.
Peter Ricci
Anthony, I think you knew you would get a response like this to your ad. I really do not know who it is directed at, making agents angry or getting new clients?
Sites like Houses Online http://www.housesonline.com.au do a good job of combining agent assisted private selling and they do not upset everyone whilst doing it.
I think ZeroAgents will work well with a low end market, but people who have properties over $500,000 will shy away from Big Kev style marketing.
Good luck to you, I know you are trying to push this a long way and I wish you all the best. I think as your market matures so too will the style of marketing you put forward.
Paul D
Great Job Glenn
Robert Simeon
Anthony,
Congratulations on your sale.
Chopsticks in tights – 1
Robert – 0
Well not exactly as for March – 26 sales and over $800,000 in commission.
Chopsticks in tights – $594.00
Anthony, I much prefer my business plan. And not a single complaint from any vendors. When you know what you are doing it really comes quite easy and we wrote those figures with just four salespeople.
I rest my case !!
Anthony
I have spent 40 minutes writing a reply and then decided to delete it.
I understand why some of the leaders in the industry are not involving themselves in this site now.
Glen. The owner of the above property did get submissions from agents and priced accordingly (plus a valuation)
Peter. It was priced above $500,000
As for my video’s we shot them over a bbq for a laugh – all the actors are real estate agents. And if you can’t see the humour, well I just shake my head.
As for Big Kev Marketing – gotta say i am excited.
(low end market – no way – i am going after prestige – where the skill sets of owners and the money involved highlights the rip off they are experiencing.)
Peter Ricci
Anthony, I was highlighting that fact that the majority of people that would hook into your style of advertising would be low priced. I allow private advertising on one of my sites and I can assure you that the majority of advertisers 90 % are selling between $200k and $400k.
Anthony, I thought parts of it were funny, but i don’t think you were after a laugh on here – more so the reaction you have received.
I think private advertising and agents have to sell their stories better, agents simply saying we could get more will not wash as the private advertising market matures to around 10%. And private selling sites highlighting in their marketing crooks and liars will also phase out and instead they will concentrate on what they can provide (services and products) a seller – not why everyone else is so bad.
Glenn
Anthony,
My humour is perfectly intact thanks. I joke about our industry and its participants all the time. In fact I publish cartoons every week in our e-newsletter looking at the lighter side of real estate. Some of them poking fun at agents, some at buyers, some at sellers. One thing you wont find is nastiness or an attempt to injure with vitriol.
Maybe you should be asking yourself what has happened to your sense of humour?
I would love you to elaborate on your response “And the appropriate response Glen was – well done – that is an excellent result for the owner.”
I have asked two people what they thought you meant by this comment and both gave a different response. To top it off, neither was what I initially thought myself and none of the three are very pretty. So before I jump to any conclusions I would like to hear from you exactly what you meant by that. Don’t beat around the bush and hide behind implied remarks.. come right out and say it.
Anthony
Well Glen – pretty simple
It’s an excellent result for the owner – they have roughly $22,000 more in their pocket selling privately – rather than using an agent.
Not only that – because the property was their Principle place of residence – it’s TAX FREE. Effectively they would have to earn roughly $28,000 Gross to be able to pay $22,000 in agents costs etc.
Plus they got full list price. (Valuation and Agent Submissions)
I can’t help but think thats a good result. Good on the owner. They did it themselves.
Funnily i also asked 3 other people about the responses in here – and they all used adjectives – i would be moderated on.
Peter – our average list price is far higher than what you are getting. Maybe Big Kev Marketing is far more mature than what you have?
And seriously – the video’s were added just for a laugh.
Bye all.
Peter Ricci
I think Anthony you think I am having a go at you. What I am saying is that you provoke all of this yourself.
As for my marketing. I do not market at all, I never have, I have one look that says ‘Advertise your Property’.
I did a deal with all of the agents that I would allow private advertising because I operate a portal and I want the consumer to see all properties for sale in that region. The Agents are happy with what I do because it is not in competition to them, in fact they use a url that shows them what private ads have been on the site for 60 days . Which is how I can tell how successful private advertising is for these people. It comes at about a 30% success rate and 70% are either pulled off market or are eventually sold through an agency.
There is a difference between Advertising a Property and Selling a Property. I provide no services other than support. All I provide is a website where they can advertise their listing. I have around 270 p sellers and about 11,000 agency ads on the site.
Glenn
Ok… so your comment was regarding the owner mentioned in Roberts original post and not the owner mentioned in my post that I purchased the property from. Thanks for clarifying.
Only now have you advised that their list price was equivalent to sworn valuations and agent market opinions. That does put your claims in perspective and clarity that you did not previously provide.
Regardless, after the videos you posted I think your fooling yourself if you think my appropriate response was to congratulate you!! Besides, what did you actually do that was so special and that enabled him to get his price? It looks to me that you got paid extremely well for the actual involvement you appear to have done. You did not give him the market price did you??? No.. agents and valuers did, of course! You did not show the property or negotiate the sale… nope, he did it himself. So all the technical and hard work was done by a valuer, agents and the owner himself. What did you do that you feel you need congratulated on?
If the information you have provided is correct the owner could be congratulated, but not you! It may surprise you but many agents actually provide FSBO as a selling option to owners. Why not… It’s a valid option and it is in everyones best interests to ensure that they are fully informed of the pro’s and con’s of trying to sell it themselves. In 15 years there might have been a handful that have ever gone that route and maybe one or two that actually sold.
As to your empty claim that “some of the leaders in the industry are not involving themselves in this site now”. Some of the leaders? How do you prove that? Honestly, how would you know who reads this site? How do you know who the people posting are?
Robert Simeon
Glenn,
Well said as obviously the zero platform is to “Glen. The owner of the above property did get submissions from agents and priced accordingly (plus a valuation)” Why – because our business has no %^$&ing idea what the property is worth 😉
Zero – can only survive in a bull market and this property is located in exactly this market. No database, restricted advertising content with very limited resources.
I loved this “I understand why some of the leaders in the industry are not involving themselves in this site now.” Well, Anthony there are NO leaders in our industry with private sales. From my experience you have agents that excel and those that fail – the failures open up alternate businesses that are often directed at previous employers who sacked them. Of course I am not suggesting that you failed as an agent.
Rather, I prefer to focus on your comments as to leaders – where no private selling business has ever before rested on that mantle.
As Glenn said that you would not even know – although you have done well by promoting your caped crusaders here.
I did laugh when I read your post that your client called in agents to provide an opinion of value. The question beckons could you do that ? Absolutely not – as you have no idea what is happening in our markets.
A savvy business that sold a property that you had no dialogue, yet you boast a sale and the budget can’t even support a sold sign !!
I hear monkeys – and see peanuts !! However congratulations your business got plenty of air play here.
Anthony – name the leaders of our industry that are not involving themselves here anymore ?
Otherwise, crawl back under your rock !! You made the claim – so back it up.
Adam
(long time lurker, first time poster)
Robert.
Get over yourself.
You even believe your own diatribe, thats what 25 years as a leading agent will do hey ?
You hate that you were shown to be wrong.
Robert Simeon
Oh Adam,
You are marinated in your own misunderstandings. I adore the peanut gallery here > those being the ones that prefer to hide behind lost links. I post and link as an individual that is prepared to stand by my thoughts and commentary.
You decide to hide. Now big fella who has the brain ? What we have here is Neville Nobodies who achieve little in life that post anon . . > you Adam.
As against a canvass that is totally open – long time lurker ? Nah just another dope that hides behind a post that offers a dumber and dumber classification.
Go and grab your Zero cape !!
Adam
No association with zeroagents here old chum, just a common run of the mill agent who likes good information to better my business. I just can’t stand to see you bag someone about their abilities and budgets, to then be proven wrong, with no comeback on you.
Congrats to Peter for allowing these posts to continue. I am sure Mr Zero may temper his posts too and learn from this. And congratulations Anthony and Michael on the first proffessional (backend at least) private system in Australia. I can only see growth in your product.
Anytime anyone has a go at you Robert, you have the same blunt vitriolic comeback, re-read some of your posts and see that. If you are going to stick your head up so high in here, expect someone completely detached from the proceedings to perhaps get annoyed at you occasionally….. you have that manner about you that will attract these things.
Have a lovely day in the ‘upper end of town’ now.
Robert Simeon
Adam,
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Just that I don’t rate yours.
Life is great – cheers !!