Following our initial review of ePerks, one of the comments was quiet negative:
I’m a Real Estate agent in Northern Virginia and was duped into buying into this ePerks thing. I bought two zip codes and they have taken the money out of my account and now I can’t find a single ad for them, and they refuse to answer any of my e-mails. I’m afraid this is just another flash in the pan, get rich quick scheme to rob Agents of their hard earned money. Every year new ones pop up with great hype about how they are going to flood you with clients and all you get are large bills and no responses.
And then this YouTube (see below) video showing a Realtor hit by a truck- evidently meant to convey a message that a potential customer will get a better deal using a Realtor listed on ePerks. However Realtors are/were one of the first after whom founders and creators of ePerks “went after”. So what do you think about ePerks? Is it a gem? Is it a scam? Please leave your comments below. Here is the video:
UPDATES:
This post is long overdue for some updates. The Brabus Ventures (now DotNext Inc) lawyer Ron Cook sent me a cease and desist threat on February 13, in which he accused me for having “fabricated” all the negative comments on this post, and of course he was very upset over the fact that I challenged few “positive” comments made most likely by the employees of ePerks. I certainly feel vindicated in this regard, when the astortufrifng on behalf of Brabus/DotNext Inc’s newest startup LeapFish.com became so obvious that the worlds leading technology blog TechCrunch had to block their IPs to stop them from astroturfing.
In June of 2008 Brabus Ventures file a civil claim against me and this blog- the case was settled in October. I have to say a huge thank you to Greg Swan, Andy Beard, Lord Matt, Trace Richardson and hundreds of other bloggers for supporting me during this time. Without you support and spreading the word about my troubles I simply would not have been able to afford an attorney to defend myself.
I have to point out that for over one year comments on this blog post were closed, however the dissatisfied clients continued to express their frustration- out of all websites I would like to point out two in particular – the Ripp Off Report and BBB.org
However, if you hesitant to believe things written on Ripoff Reprot the BBB.org website has updated their rating of ePerks to Unsatisfactory.
In recent days many agents trying to demand a refund are given an answer that ePerks is to file for bankruptcy and offering a 20% discount. It is very likely that many of these dissatisfied agents are not aware that Brabus/DotNexInc have just launched a new startup called “LeapFish.com”.
While purchasing a home is an exciting milestone, it’s also a major investment requiring relevant, accurate and comprehensive information. REALTOR.com, the nation’s most comprehensive real estate network, today announces it has begun updating property listings every 15 minutes, more often than any other real estate search website.
By increasing MLS listing updates from once-a-day to every 15 minutes in participating metro areas, REALTOR.com now offers house hunters up-to-the minute comprehensive data on new listings, price changes and important property details to help them make better decisions on prospective homes.
“Nothing’s more frustrating than going online to research properties and finding you’re basing a decision on old or out-of-date information,” says REALTOR.com President Errol Samuelson. “With 15-minute MLS updates, consumers now have access to comprehensive information on listings in as close to real time as possible. This means a seller’s home will be visible to potential buyers faster and buyers will be able to find new homes or price reductions faster.”
Realtor.com is the official website of the National Association of Realtors.
Florida based eNeighborhoods announced free monthly newsletter for real estate professionals. According to the press release, the newsletter will feature how-to articles, best practices and success stories from top real estate industry professionals and will help agents to:
Take control of prospecting and lead generation to develop an effective slaes pipeline
Learn best practices for effective prospecting and lead conversion
Organize lead generation into a system to prioritize and handle high volumes of leads
Recognize prospects with greater potential
Identify effective business strategies for local markets
BOCA RATON, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Continental Real Estate Group Inc., Hackensack, New Jersey, is the latest real estate company to post its real estate for sale listings on ByOwnerMLS.com, which features an online search engine loaded with virtually every “For Sale By Owner” (FSBO) property.
Continental Real Estate is a licensed real estate brokerage in 11 northeastern states and operates several websites, including MultipleListingSystem.com. According to Derek Eisenberg, e-PRO, Continental will leverage this new outlet to extend its reach in the marketplace.
“Pursuing every possible avenue for connecting our clients with eligible homebuyers is just part of our service,” said Eisenberg. “We are always seeking new opportunities to promote the properties we list. Our clients are selling high quality homes and there are buyers out there looking for properties like these.”
Continental’s listings are already on a number of Internet websites. Unlike many real estate brokers across the country, Eisenberg does not fear the FSBO movement. Rather, he plans to capitalize on it, leveraging sites like ByOwnerMLS.com to get his listings in front of buyers nationwide.
From MSNBC: