Yes, that's right! Realtor.com has made a change recently that most agents and sellers may not be aware of, but should!!
Up until about a month ago, when someone went to search Realtor.com, before the search results were displayed, they were given an option:
That is no longer the case!! Now, EVERY search AUTOMATICALLY lists the homes with multiple photos FIRST!!
What does this mean to you, the agent? Well, if you are a subscriber to the Listing Enhancement Package, your homes w/ mulitple photos will be displayed in the first few pages of the search results. If you don't subscribe, your properties will fall to the last of the pages.
Realtor.com has said that since multiple photos are so important to the consumer, they wanted to display those homes first.
I COMPLETELY agree with this move! And, I want to THANK Realtor.com for rewarding those of us who pay more for the extra services!
I just picked up 3 listings from an Investor who had been listed with another agent. He was unhappy with many things, but mostly, he said his showings had dropped off considerably in the last month. When I explained that this change might have something to do with it as his prior agent didn't do extra photos, he disagreed.
So, I listed his properties with all 6 photos and virtual tour. In under a week, 2 of the 3 properties were sold.
As a matter of fact, 3 of my non-REO properties that sold in May were to out-of-town buyers who had seen the home on Realtor.com and asked their agent for a showing.
So, where do your properties rank? Go to Realtor.com and check it out - you may be surprised!!
P.S. I heard that coming soon, we will be able to display up to 25 photos on Realtor.com - WOWZA!! Some of my listings may not even have enough to fill all those slots!!
I am a full service, full time career Realtor. I specialize in Residential resale representing both buyers & sellers. I enjoy assisting and educating my clients to create a fantastic experience!!
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Does your association automatically post ot Realtor.com? Do they post to other services such as Trulia?
I too have signed up for enhancements for the same reason. I just presented to a builder and showed him where his listings were being shown and then showed him that less than 5% of the homes in his area are being showcased. His eyes told the story.
Doug
Thanks for the post... A picture really is worth a thousand words!
Hi Melissa ~ Statistics show the consumer does want to see at least 20 photos of a property. So this is good news for all who use Realtor.com
BTW I was in your office last Friday...missed you. I did get to spend some time with Shorty, tell him I said "hi."
You have some amazing values in your city. I love the quality of construction!
kk
I noticed this myself last weekend. Just one more reason to pay the extra $$ for the featured listing. My beef with it is I feel the money we pay in dues should allow us to have multiple photos on Realtor{dot}com without paying an extra fee.
Prudential Gardner my broker told me that all our listings will have multiple photos in realtor.com for no charge to us. I rarely ever look at realtor.com and have never received a lead from them at any time that I know about. They are rarely mentioned in this market.
Interesting. I will have to check that out. Thanks for the info.
We pay for the enhanced package, but not sure that it's worth the cost. The site's value seems to have lessened in the past few years in consumer perception it seems.
Thanks everyone for the comments. Obviously, if this isn't an issue in your marketplace, it just doesn't apply. Some Brokers do pay for the package for their entire office. Since I'm at a 100% company, we don't have that luxury - we can opt in if we want.
I do track where every single lead comes from and by far, internet has been the leading source for the last 14 months. So, in my market, that's where I spend my dollars.
I wanted to make folks aware of this - being inside the industry, a lot of times we are not aware of what consumers are doing or seeing.
Think of it this way, if you went in search of new new shirt, and found a site online that had a description, but no photos, would you purchase it? Would you even request more info? I wouldn't. I wouldn't even spend anytime reading about the items available - I would go to a site that had lots of photos first.
I don't think I'm unique either....
PS Krystal - I'm so sorry I missed you!! You are one of my Shero's!! :) Next time you're in town, I'd love to have lunch! I jam collecting research on some of the amazing subdivisions in Denver that are newly built bungalow style homes. I am amassing data to take to a builder to pitch ideas about new construction that isn't so cookie cutter and boxy!! I may just have to take a road trip to see it for myself!!
Thanks for the info, these changes have been in the making for a while and I heard more to come.
Thank you fo rht e great information! Since I use www.Realtor.com this is a good thing!
I subscribe to realtor.com too. Didn't know they had made a change. Thanks for the tip.
Melissa: I checked into Realtor.com a while back and was amazed that my association's "official web site" didn't even have a link back to my site. I checked into the enhanced listings package and was dumbfounded at what it would cost me to participate in this package for myself, not to mention for my office.
I've heard mixed reviews on the effectiveness of Realtor.com, but that isn't my biggest question. I question the ethics involved when OUR organization allows a for-profit company to play favorites with it's members based upon which agents pay them for the privilege. It's not Move, Inc.'s web site. It belongs to us as the members. NAR shouldn't allow Move, Inc. to play these games with us.
Putting the enhanced listings first is just another instance of Move, Inc. taking advantage of their position of being our "official site". It's ethically wrong for our association to allow this to happen!
Bob Mitchell
ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.
If anyone is interested, you can see my post, "Is Realtor.com A Rip-off?" here.
Thanks for the information. I didnot know there was a change.
Just wanted you to know that as of earlier this week, I've been able to add up to 25 photos for each of my listings! Check it out! The display still shows just the six photos, but it will say 1 of 22 or however many you have posted.