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House.com - Real Estate Marketing Gone Awry?
By djelliott999 | January 21, 2008
The real estate market has been evolving over the past few years. Many things have changed - the amount of commissions, discount brokers, and most conspicuously Internet marketing. It has been widely reported that most people searching for new homes begin their search via the internet. While many real estate brokers have been a little slow on picking up on this change, many have also adopted this new marketing format full force.
Our company, IBA Mountain Homes, located in the North Georgia community of Big Canoe utilizes heavy internet marketing in conjunction with conventional print advertising. A simple Google or Yahoo search shows multiple results for our company, IBA. So back to the original point, what does this have to do with http://www.house.com/?
House.com is an internet advertising company that has been contacting IBA Mountain Homes for 2 days now on our home line. Normally, I would just tell these folks that we are on the no-call list and to please remove us from their call list. I answered their call today, and the call went something like this:
Me - “Hello?” House.com - “Hello - is Karin available?”
Me - “No, who’s calling please?” (although I could see it was house.com on the caller ID)
House.com - “This is Rep X calling from Home.com, Karin told me to call her back today.” (No, she didnt.)
Me - “You know we are on the no-call list? Would you please remove..”
House.com - “Hey, she has her number plastered all over Active Rain, that’s where I got her number from.”
Me - “Uhhhhhh” (an incredibly witty response from me)
House.com - “These zip codes are hot commodities. If she doesnt want to do this, I have plenty of other agents I can call.”
Me - “Yeah well, I think maybe you should give those other agents an opportunity.” (All the while wondering why they need to cold call if the sales are so strong)
House.com - “*click*”
While the above is not verbatim, it is pretty close as I remember it. The only part I could not accurately reproduce in writing was the tone of arrogance and rudeness on the part of the House.com sales rep. Like I said, I wouldnt normally write a blog about a company’s mis-behaviour, but the House.com rep that called us hit a new low.
It irritated me enough I did a Google search on “House.com, rude” and guess what? I’m not the only one that feels this way apparently. Here’s a short list of links to check it out for yourself:
- My 3 Cents - More House.com complaints
- House.com Haters Blog - http://housedotcomhater.wordpress.com/
- Pissed Consumer - http://house.pissedconsumer.com/
I can’t vouch for the veracity of these sites and their respective complaints against house.com, but I can tell you I hope house.com never calls me again. My understanding is that they solicit both agents and buyers, and my strong personal recommendation would be to do your homework before dealing with these folks. Among the many Internet companies providing real estate services, there are several that I do like:
- Any of the major brokerages provide good data and listings. Our broker happens to be Coldwell-Banker, so I’ll plug them.
- Most any local broker will supply a link to their listing service’s version of IDX. IDX is a public version of the same database that brokers and agents use to search listings. Brokers and Sellers do not have to supply their listing data to IDX for sharing but most do. For example, you can use IBA Mountain Homes IDX tool here.
- While I know some brokers do not like these guys because they view them as competition to real estate agents and brokers, I think these sites provide a good service to the general public: Trulia - http://www.trulia.com/ and Zillow http://www.zillow.com/. Sure, they compete in a very general sense with real estate agents, but there will always be room for the agent or brokerage that can provide real-time data and local knowledge.
- Last but not least, what I refer to as “boutique” or “mom and pop” real estate companies can not be beat for information when you have narrowed your search down to a particular market. Many of these companies have good websites with local listings and information you won’t find elsewhere. For example, our web site at IBA Mountain Homes is pretty much exclusively devoted to listings for the Big Canoe real estate market (located in the North Georgia Mountains). We are not experts on the Atlanta market, but when it comes to real estate in Big Canoe, we attempt to be the consummate experts in the market.
So, what started out as a complaint with a real estate marketing company has changed focus to what is good about real estate marketing on the web. There is a lot of info out there, and it can be tough to sift through, but if you perform your due diligence, and take the time to locate a good broker with local knowledge, your chances of making a real estate mistake greatly decrease, and the potential for making that sweetheart deal of lifetime go way up!
Topics: All Posts, Real Estate Marketing |
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:42 am
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