BidEup, a newly launched website, claims to bring innovation to real estate industry, through “patent-pending methodology” (or did they mean technology?). Only real estate agents are welcomed to list properties on the website- at a minimum rate of $120 per 30 day listing. If you would like to list your property with all possible bells and whistles, it will set you back by about $300.
The innovation apparently lies in, as claimed by the website, being “first legally binding virtual market place”. However it is not clear what exactly this “legally binding virtual marketplace” is.
It may very well be that bidEup.com has some outstanding marketing plan in place. However, from a quick glimpse it looks like another “lead generating” website.
Is New Jersey Association of Realtors behind the times? Or is trying to protect both customers and real estate agents? The Inman News had a story today about possible legislation by the New Jersey Real Estate Commission:
The New Jersey Association of Realtors is opposing legislation that would allow real estate brokers and agents to provide cash rebates or other gifts to buyers and sellers.
Members of the state’s Real Estate Commission, a regulatory agency that enforces licensing law in the state, has considered the legislation but hasn’t yet announced a position….
….While officials at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division have taken action to oppose bans on rebates in several states, New Jersey Association of Realtors officials contend that the offer of rebates can actually be harmful to consumers.
As of now, cash rebates by real estate brokers is against the law in NJ. But New Jersey is not the only state prohibiting cash rebates. There are 10 other states that do not allow real estate brokers to offer cash rebates to customers.
UPDATE: Click here for the “up to date” version of the “top 100 Real Estate Blogs”.
The idea to compile such a list was born a few months ago. Just as other similar top lists where appearing. After talking to Mark from 45n5- who is an outstanding programmer and internet marketer, a decision was made to bring the idea to fruition. Mark was in charge of programing the list, while my job was to find the blogs to be placed in the list- an easy job I should say for a former real estate agent.
So I present you today with GeerRealtors Top 100 Real Estate Blogs. It is a must bookmark page for many reasons. Not only will you be able to see who is who among real estate bloggers. You can also see the latest posts from the blogs featured on the list. If you are on the list this will give you an opportunity to see how your blog compares to your colleagues and/or competitors. Visit those blogs and see what are they doing that makes them more popular than yours.
If you visit the list, you will notice that there are actually more than 100 blogs.This means that you also can submit your blog, and then work your way to the top. If I have missed your blog feel free to submit your blog, and depending to the rankings elsewhere (Google Page Rank, Alexa Rankings, Technorati Rank) you may very well end up in the top 100. If not, you have some work to do.
The list will be updated once a week, so if you see N/A next to your blog, it means it was added after the last update. Just bookmark the Top 100 Real Estate Blogs and come to look at it one week from now. Finally I hope the list itself will bring you a visitor or two.
And now, without further ado, I present you with the first edition of Top 100 Real Estate Blogs:
Real Estate Blogs Top 100
* GeekReltors Rank
Most of the real estate agents in the United States work for a commission- which means they do not get paid unless a property is sold. This of course can translate in endless hours of showing properties to clients who are not serious in purchasing a house. The work that real estate agents perform, in other industries can translate into $100 per hour or more. How do you think real estate industry would look if there was some sort of “hourly fee agreement” for using your services? People have no problem paying their doctors, accountants, lawyers and other professionals hourly fee. Why is real estate different?
I personally think an hourly fee agreement would accomplish two very important things:
- It would change the attitude of clients. People tend to value more the services they pay for.
- It would filter out serious buyers or sellers from those who are “just shopping around”.
What do you think? Feel free to leave comments as well as participating in the poll:
[poll=5]
If you are not an real estate agent, you are welcomed to participate in the above poll as well. It would be great to know your feedback.
Pay per click advertising for real estate website may be the quickest way to bring visitors. It also maybe the quickest way to loose money. Bidding on keywords in real estate can be very competitive and may cost you $20 or more . If you think you are spending way to much money on the pay per click campaigns, this article may just give you some useful tips.
One of the major reason why the prices for particular keywords are so high has nothing to do with the actual “demand” for that keyword. Rather it has to do with website design itself. If we were to look what kind of websites occupying top positions for some of the most desirable keywords in the Google sponsored search results, you may notice that many of those websites are designed in flash. It is hard to imagine that such a website can pass Google’s scrutiny when it comes to the “landing page” quality.
Whenever you start a pay per click campaign, Google releases a bot that checks your page. As part of of that check up Google looks whether or not your lading page contains the keywords on which you are about to bid.
If you are a real estate agent or broker and have outsourced the maintenance of your website to some one, ask them if your website is created in flash or if there is extensive use of java-scripts in your website. If the answer is yes, you probably need to look for some one else to manage your website.
Another obstacle that you as advertiser can face is that in real estate transaction do not take place right on your website. Therefore there is no simple way to calculate your ROI (return on investment). If you have to way to capture your visitors by offering the a sign up for your newsletter.
Well, you might say, I am not sending any newsletters via e-mail. If it is true you maybe giving away leads to some one else. Most Realtors get into a habit of sending out quarterly or monthly newsletters. It is not so difficult these days to turn those newsletters into a format deliverable via e-mail. If you think that is a good idea, then you should incorporate some sort of sign up form on your website, and even place that form on every single landing page that you are driving traffic to via pay per click campaigns.
However managing big e-mail lists can be a task on its own, but that is a subject for another post.
Some times paying a higher price for the keywords is a “necessary evil” and there may not be a way around it. However if you pay the price without attempting to capture your visitors, you indeed maybe spending your money foolishly.
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