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The Real Estate King Takes A Gabby Queen

Published by Joseph Ferrara (2) May 23rd, 2007 in Real Estate Technology. Comments

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The fortunes of online real estate sites were based on the notion that property listings were King —-the more listings, the more traffic, the more success. Every real estate website chased the almighty listing. They didn’t care how they got them—MLS feeds (remember when it was $3 a pop for a listing), affiliate feeds, manual input or scrape job. Soon, there were a dozen sites with the same million listings— a dozen kings vying to rule the internet real estate kingdom. Eventually, everyone will have the same millions of listings. Then what? What will make the home searcher loyal to your real estate site?

It is a well established fact that consumers visit many real estate sites to look at property. But it is also well established that they LEAVE them too. So the question has turned to “How do we make the consumer linger a little longer” and, more importantly, “How do we get them to come back instead of going to our competitors.” Barnes & Noble answered the question by putting comfortable seating and serving coffee to its book lookers. It worked. It brings repeat, lingering traffic. (and occasionally someone will step over the young couple making out behind the self-help books to buy something)

So how do you put lounge chairs and coffee on your website? The answer may be a cozy virtual conversation pit—a place to gab and brag, listen and learn. Sip your Sumatra Siborong-Borong in your jammies from your own comfy chair, conversing with others BEFORE you invest the most money you’re likely to invest in your lifetime. Call it the Real Estate Klatch.

The Conversation as Queen

The Conversation has come, not to dethrone the listing King, but to take a seat beside him as his Queen. But is the conversation worthy? What do people looking for real estate want to talk about?

The House Yack

Zillow thinks people want to gab about their neighbors’ houses. We’re not sure. Does the serious homebuyer or just the curious ask questions online? Does someone without an interest in the property have any interest in answering? Who but the owner or listing agent will throw a red flag and how long does it take to get a ruling? Does the LA or owner want to field questions from every looky-loo in a perpetual online open house hell? (o the agony!) Wethinks too many questions.

The Scholarly Track

Perhaps Trulia Voices has the conversational content its users want—Q&A on local real estate issues. Since Voices rewards the wise for their pearls of wisdom, we think it better serves the interest of the local professional. It may have more value than leaving your calling card on someone else’s home. Zillow’s Q&A may be too narrowly focused on individual houses and it excludes the owner from the conversation if they do not claim the home own a computer or know about Zillow. Trulia’s conversation seems to provide knowledge that consumers can take anywhere. What good is knowing my neighbor got rid of his rat problem or just vulcanized his basement? Maybe it’s better to learn about the “mansion tax” and “flip taxes” in my market.

The Blog Talk Back

And what of the conversation found on blogs? We all know the right post can stimulate heated exchanges. Real Estate Truths are often forged in the furnace of the comment section. Here is where Realtor.com appears headed with its offer of free blogs. A real estate Deep Throat says other major players will also add blog components to their listing sites by year’s end.

Conversational content in any form may be a worthy Queen simply because it is crowned by Google. Consumers, who are looking for real estate information, will be escorted by Google to the klatches. Sites like Active Rain have shown how to entice a Google spider with conversation. So is this the new real estate regime—Listings and Conversation? Only time will tell if there will be loyalty to this royalty.

OK, that’s the monologue, for what it’s worth. Start a dialog if you like. I gotta run and get a white mocha latte, maybe read Seth Godin’s new book. I know just the spot.

Image:Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at the Bal Costume, (Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, 1842, oil on canvas)

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  • Some things bear repeating Roberta ;)
  • When trapped in the spam sewer, I am inclined to repeat myself;-)
  • Good Gab! I finished a small latte reading this.
  • I almost finished a latte reading this. Good gab!
  • You're right Drew. There is no spoon.
  • As David said, yes, it's pretty hard to do anything on Zillow without a computer -- what's your point?
  • Drew--

    BIG BIG difference between offline conversations & online Q&A;

    Offline conversations are verbal & not recorded for all to see.
    Online Q&A; is in print and of some permanence on the website & in cyberspace.

    Offline conversations are words writ on water, online carved in my newly laid concrete sidewalk.

    2 Questions Drew:

    1. If zillow removes flagged content will it also be removed from Google? (this question either stumped David or he did not want to admit Zillow will not remove it from Google)

    2. Isn't it IMPOSSIBLE for a person without a computer to flag inaccurate conversation about their property on Zillow?
  • Conversations about houses are happening with or without Home Q&A; Zillow is just providing an online forum for them to take place. In the offline world, EVERYONE but those directly involved in the conversation are excluded from the conversation (meaning the homeowner is excluded). It is impossible for homeowners to monitor every conversation about their home, but they are happening nonetheless. Surely you can't be arguing that real life conversations about houses can't take place on the basis that the homeowner should be able to monitor all conversation about their homes?
  • The point is if a home seller does not use a computer they are unable to monitor conversations about their home for inaccuracies. Therefore, this seller cannot "flag" anything. Should this owner have the right to say----"You know zillow, since I don't own a computer, I can't oversee a conversation about my home or flag any inaccuracies that could adversely affect my marketing and sale of it--please let me opt-out of the Q&A.;" Make sense?

    In simple terms, a home seller without a computer has no way to flag untrue statements about their home. How do they protect themselves?

    BTW, is content that is flagged and removed from Zillow still cached by Google?
  • Thanks for correcting. That is progress. Note that the majority of QnA participants on Zillow are buyers, sellers and agents. I'd appreciate that correction also.

    Yes, people without internet access probably don't spend much time on the internet. And yes, Zillow can only be "Your Edge In Real Estate" if you use actually the web site. Do you have a point here?
  • Oh David, I almost forgot to ask you. If an answer is flagged and removed from zillow, HOW does zillow remove it from Google? Won't it still float in cyberspace?
  • David --

    We're not suggesting that Zillow Q&A; on a house is worthless--- but we see it as a narrowly focused conversation. And one that requires strict (constant) monitoring by homeowners and LA to police inaccurate information and timely answer questions, lest they be seen as unresponsive. Of the buyers asking questions, we'd venture a guess MOST are not serious buyers---looky-loos are a fact of real estate reality---offline & online (or do you think otherwise?). So IMO, an owner or LA is burdened to answer everyone's questions, indefinitely---thus the analogy to a perpetual open house hell.

    Re: owner exclusion from the conversation. You are correct and we will re-word it. We will change it to owners who do not use a computer or do not know about zillow.com.

    1. You must agree that an owner who does not own a computer CANNOT possibly be part of the conversation, though it be taking place.

    And 2. those that are unaware of zillow will be excluded de facto, though, in theory, they could participate.

    Q&A; and review----it is a thin line between Q&A; and review. If I ask you "Can you describe the items in the house that need repair?" That is a Q. Your A is a review of the home's condition. Do not think (& I'm certain you don't) that just because you call it Q&A;, that no reviews or comments are taking place. Let's not let semantics disguise the truth.

    Just curious--- (if you don't answer we understand)

    What if an owner, who has his home listed for sale, but who does not own a computer, wrote zillow to demand an opt-out of his home from Q&A; on the grounds he is unable to monitor questions and answers or flag inaccuracies? Would zillow honor that owner's request?
    If the answer is NO, then that owner is excluded from the conversation & can't flag inaccuracies that may damage him. True?
  • Not surprised that hits to individual sites are steadily dropping, considering the fact that new sites are coming onto the market every day. More competition for the same number of eyeballs. I would suspect, however, that the number of hits overall is increasing, even though individual sites show a decline.

    (I know your numbers are rough, Christian, but consider that an additional challenge...)

    Last month over at Transparent RE Pat Kitano wrote a post about the blogging plateau. The number of blogs has steadily increased, but is starting to level off as nascent bloggers discover that keeping a blog current and timely is...wait for it...a lot of work!

    Perhaps purveyors of new business models will start to flatten out too, and the survivors might see their traffic start to tick upwards.
  • Interesting post.

    Home QnA has been a huge success on Zillow and most of these discussions on Zillow are between buyers, sellers and their agents.

    Conversations about real estate do take place on many levels but looking back, we made the right decision to start with questions about houses. The other stuff is fascinating (and Zillow should host those discussions too) but homes are where the action (and value) is in the real estate industry.

    FYI - please note these 2 factual corrections:

    1) Owners are not excluded from Home QnA on their homes regardless of whether or not the home is claimed by them.

    2) "Zillow thinks people want to gab about their neighbors’ houses." This statement is obviously incorrect. Home QnA on Zillow is a question and answer interface. It is not a commenting or a review tool. The vast majority of Home QnA relates to conversations between buyers, sellers and their agents.
  • It is tucked away at our central intelligence office :) Honestly, the numbers are too rough around the edges for me to publish them.
  • Would love to see the results of your study Christian. Do you plan to publish it? Even a cursory overview might prove revealing.
  • Very good post guys! I did a very brief, but interesting study over the course of the last few days, and-because I didn't dive deep enough-I will not speak of my findings. Rather, I will simply explain what I was doing.

    Alexa...yes it isn't the best tool on Earth, but it is vaguely correct (vaguely). Here's the deal: most real estate sites are dropping in popularity. To me, this isn't a surprise because of the negative press, and sentiment of the market. However, if you take the number of spots that a site has dropped, and divide that number by the site's three month average, you'll see who is grabbing what amount of market share from who (vaguely). All you have to do is take that number as a percentage and place it next to two, three, four, however many different sites. Interesting study.
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