the APRIL Luxury Real Estate Panel A panel of our PREMIER luxury San Diego Real Estate professionals answer the question, What have sites like Zillow & Trulia affected your business?
The Luxury Panel is a rotating group of San Diego’s top Real Estate professionals who specialize in the luxury market sharing their expertise on hot topics and home buyer & seller questions.
How has real estate internet technology, like Zillow and Trulia, affected your business?
<<<“Internet technology has affected our business greatly from the standpoint that over 50% of luxury homebuyers start their search online, primarily from a mobile device or home computer, so it allows for us to connect with them in real-time (a huge asset in this super-fast-paced industry!). Additionally, all of our properties receive full (massive) exposure from the numerous real estate platforms that are available today, which is quite powerful. Plus, our team is ultra-responsive!”
Laura Barry
Barry Estates
>>>“These sites have made our listings even more visible and accessible to the public. More importantly, it’s allowed the public to educate themselves on the marketplace prior to viewing our listings. What these sites cannot replace is the true value of working with a knowledgeable agent. It takes more than a “Zestimate” from Zillow to get a firm understanding of the market values. Buyers and Sellers still need someone who understands the intricacies of the local market’s values and opportunities.”
Brett Combs , P.S. Platinum Properties brett@psplatinum.com
<<<<“Over the past few years free internet sites such as Zillow and Trulia have become a powerful resource for potential home buyers and sellers! As a listing agent the high traffic volume of such sites provides great exposure for our clients and if properly leveraged can be a valuable marketing tool in generating new leads for future buyers. Although always important for clients and agents to remember information on such sites may not be 100% accurate.”
Jan Clements, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Jan@janclements.com
>>>“It has put my listings out worldwide which is a benefit to our home sellers. Although Zillow can give incorrect values to the consumer, a good realtor will inform his/her clients of the comparables in their neighborhood which should educate people on their homes value. Hence, the marketing that Zillow and Trulia can offer are wonderful but agents still need to understand and study their markets.”
Marie Jo Atkins, Real Living Lifestyles
<<<“By offering the buying public easy access to our listings, real estate internet technology has made marketing easier while still necessitating professional realtor assistance to consummate a transaction. Since we cannot compete with the SEO power of these search giants, we have embraced them to take full advantage of the enhancements they offer. The mobile traffic from these sites is huge at all hours of the day. Trulia, Zillow, and Realtor.com are an extremely important piece to marketing and selling homes.”
Phil and Pam Reed, Willis Allen Real Estate
preed@willisallen.com
>>>>“Zillow and Trulia offer potential buyers a good place to start their search and sellers a way to keep tabs on neighborhood activity. These groups need to understand that the data found on these, and many other 3rd party websites, is often times old and inaccurate. By now, most people know that Zestimate’s do not factor in the most important aspects of property valuation. The best information can and will always be found with the market experts.”
Brian Connelly, Pacific Real Estate & Development, Inc.
<<<<“Internet technology has helped to align Realtors, buyers and sellers as one. This availability of real-time information has created a new platform for communication. Internet sites now create excitement amongst the industry by acting as a new medium for people to acquire and disseminate information quickly. The only downside? This information is not always reliable so calling a realtor you trust and can talk to “in person” is still imperative. Successful hand to hand negotiation is an art.”
Brennan Hovland, Park Life Real Estate
“Technology is a double edged sword! The Internet housing web sites create short falls without proper data and leave the agents to pick up the pieces. No matter what is said we are in the oldest profession that still requires a belly to belly approach aka face to face!”
Savatore Cefalu, Keller Williams scefalu@kw.com