A Real Estate Discussion Blog

My husband works at Yahoo and these days he is constantly getting asked "what do you think about Microsoft's bid to buy Yahoo"?  There has been so much speculation and so many rumors, that it has been hard to have an opinion.  Amid all the late nights of negotiations and legal maneuvers, it looks like Microsoft took some time off to have some fun.  Hopefully Microsoft will be this good-natured throughout the merger process!  Enjoy!

I got a kick out of reading someone call Spencer (Zillow CFO/CMO) out for not having a tie on when being interviewed the other day.  Then he got called out again on our corporate blog.  Guess he won't make that mistake again...

But it does bring up a question that we often internally discuss- what is the right male attire when representing a dot com company at real estate conventions?  It can be challenging because the audience is usually dressed so diversely, from cowboy boots to full suits.

I would love to hear your thoughts as to what you think is appropiate in these three scenerios:  

If you are not familiar with the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Spencer just did a great recap of the program here.  This is a great place to start learning about how to use the service. 

If you are a ZMM old-timer (being that it is all of 3 weeks old now), here are some highlights of things we have recently added to the site:

1) Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is now more transparent than ever.  A week ago, we added functionality where users can search and view all of the annoymous quotes in the database.  They can filter their search to quotes that were just created, or quotes in a specific area. 

2) The main Mortgage page was enhanced with a scrolling quote box - When you log onto Zillow and click on the Mortgage tab, there is a new area on the page that will scroll through highlights of recently submitted quotes.  

3) Also, this new box features the average APR that the 30 year and 15 year fixed mortgages are currently being quoted at by the community.  This helps people quickly determine what average rates are and it could help them more easier spot a bogus rate by knowing what the averages are.  

We are looking forward to hearing about some loans closing soon.  I loved seeing this comment on Spencer's post mentioned above: 

Spencer - I will probably close my first loan through this in about 30 days (Purchase Money).  The borrower saw my quote and then googled my name and came across my blog here.  He did his homework and decided he wanted to work with me.  What is impressive to me is that he's an extrememly intelligent in regards to Mortgages and the whole process.  He liked the idea of being able to 'shop' anonymously and then do his own legwork from there. 

Best of luck to Jason and to the other 1,300 lenders that have now signed up!

Update- We also added a link into the mortgage center with a module on every Home Detail Page in the right hand column. 

I have said Web 2.0 websites (sites where users can actively post and contribute) have a sort of "give a penny, take a penny" philosophy.  For the most part, there are so many people out there that want to help (by giving a penny or writing a cool blog post) than hurt (taking all the pennies or leaving malicious comments).  

Because I work for a company that allows people to write to the site, people often say "Zillow should manually police this or that".  Of course we do our best to catch any scandalous behavior, but really we leave it up to the community to catch and call out these perpetrators.  Truth is, the community can do a better job policing itself than if we went out and hired 100 people to just look for missteps.  The same is true here on Active Rain.

This morning, the Web 2.0 police was out in full force and rightfully "caught" someone who has now been "sentenced" to Internet purgatory as her online reputation is now ruined.  

Time line of the community at work:

6:22am -  A really stupid post is made that attacked someone personally that didn't deserve it (really, not worth reading, although the comments are good)

7:03am - The first comment is made by Jay Thomson which calls the author out. 

7:22am -  A Twitter goes out to several real estate bloggers - “Wow, My respect for Redfin and Carol D Hian, has gone down signficanty. Good thing these post come back to bite the author, hard.”

9:23am -  Jay Thompson writes his own post about how ridiculous this author's post was on his blog. By now there are 9 comments on the original post disagreeing with the author. 

10:33am -  The Real Estate Zebra is using this as an example of what not to do in the blogosphere. 

10:47am -  The owner of the website in which the post was made, Glenn Kelman, chimes in to apologize and insinuates author has now lost her job.  

Later - Another post about it by Jay at Agent Genius and Sellsius gets in on the action on his blog. 

11:25 am - Mummy Dogs is reporting. 

11:36am  -  The Real Estate Coach's Weblog chimes in.

Later- 46 comments later on the original post, and Geek Estate expresses an opinion. 

Now this is a pretty extreme example, but an example none-the-less how fast the community catches and calls out wrong-doers.  All reputable 2.0 websites make every effort for the community to make such judgment calls.  

Zillow :               

ActiveRain:  

Craigslist:   

Trulia Voices:  

 Tripadvisor: 

As a community we can police and make sure that information being disseminated is appropriate.  We have the power to flag and remove that which is not.  And conversely, we have the power to reward that which is particular helpful by Digging It or linking to it.  

As a community we can all work to make this Blogosphere a better place!  

BIGresearch Simultaneous Media Survey recently released very interesting statistics on just who is blogging.  These statistics pertain to the blogosphere as a whole.  I wonder what the demographics would look like if you boiled it down to just real estate?

This information was released by Media Post, which is a subscription site, so I can't link to it.  But here are the juicy highlights:

Who Is Blogging? 

Of the survey participants who said they regularly blog:

• 53.7% were male
• 44.7% were married
• 28.4% had a professional or managerial position (good group to sell houses to!)
• 10.4% were students
• Average age was 37.6 years old (the average 18+ adult populace is 44.8 years old and the average Realtor is 51)

Interestly, Bloggers report having a lower income than the average population, $55,819 vs.$56,811.  However they are better educated 14.3 years of education vs 14.2 year.  Maybe if they got away from behind the computer screen they would be out selling more.  Ha-ha!  My guess is this has more to do with the average age being lower, and thus not quite earning as much yet.  

Blogs and Politics 

Blogs are playing a huge roll in the election campaigns this year.  24.6% of registered voters said that "regularly or occasionally" read a blog.  Looks like it going to be much more important for Hillary and Obama to get on the bandwagon than it will be for McCain.  

• 37.6% of Libertarians regularly/occasionally blog
• 26.9% of Democrats
• 25.7 of Independents
  
• 22.9% of Republicans 

Bloggers Love Being In Touch:

When  the average Blogger's use of communication tools was compared to that of an average American adult, it was found that Bloggers are much more in touch with being in touch. 

Of course Bloggers are using the Internet to find information, but what triggers their searches?  This is interesting data to consider when putting together a multi media ad campaign.  Media sources that trigger an Internet search are:

• 51.6% Magazine
• 48.8% reading an article
• 46.1%cable TV
• 42.5% face-to-face communication
• 39.7% newspaper 
  

Here are some numbers after the first full week of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace being live on the site. 

Interesting to see where the most quotes are coming in geographically and to see which states are getting the most quotes per loan. 

If you have recently requested to participate in ZMM, please know that it typically takes about three days to get the verification process completed.  We did receive a surge of applications upon the program's launch, so it might be a little longer than that right now.  If it has been significantly longer than that, shoot me an email I will look into it and see I if can't help move things along. 

Thank you to everyone that has submitted feedback or found bugs this week.  Many of the things you have found have already been fixed, or will be so soon.  Overall, it was a very successful launch, but there will always be things we can improve on, and you guys are the experts out there, so we need appreciate your voice. 

Hitwise recently released their March 2008 numbers, measuring the traffic delivered to real estate websites as a percentage of market share. 

Hitwise Real Estate Web Site Report, March 2008

What is interesting to me is what a small percent of the overall market share the top sites actually command. 

When you talk to someone in the real estate industry, they say something along the lines of 'of course everyone knows about realtor.com".  Do they?  The very top site which has now been in this position for years only has a market share of 4.75% this month.  In fact, collectively the top 5 sites only represent 14.28%. 

What other industry's top player(s) have such a small stake?  When you think of soda, Coke and Pepsi dominant.  When you think of online auction, you immediately think of Ebay.  When you think of domestic cars, Ford or GM immediately comes to mind. 

You know what the difference is?  Real Estate is local, these categories are not.  So while these large portals are great for introducing people to the idea of real estate, and will keep jockeying for position among the ranks,   the local agent's web presence (whether that be a blog or a website) is still something that is very powerful and useful to today's buyer and seller. 

Of course, the good news is that you don't have to pick local or national, you can leverage both.  So learn how you can be where the biggest majority of people are collectively hanging out online, wondering how they can best buy or sell a house, but don't underestimate the power of good local marketing plan as well.  The two can work great together. 

The coverage continues to roll in today about the new Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.  Overall, the response has been overwhelming positive! 

Consumers seem to like it too.  The service has been available for about 18 hours now and so far there have been 2,205 loan requests!  Only 1,257 of these requests have been responded to, so that leaves 948 leads waiting for someone to help them. 

Coverage:

"Zillow continues its march up the real estate value chain with a new feature that allows house buyers to apply for mortgages. The mortgage service, like everything else on Zillow, is ad-supported and free to both buyers and lenders."    The Kelsey Group    http://blog.kelseygroup.com/index.php/2008/04/03/zillow-extends-to-mortgage/ 

• "Zillow puts the power in the consumer's hands.  Now they can shop from hundreds of offers at their discretion from behind the Zillow wall of privacy which is certainly a step in the right direction; now the question is - will the best in our industry use it?" Blown Mortgage http://blownmortgage.com/2008/04/02/zillow-mortgage-launches-how-do-you-rate/ 

• "Zillow's media business model is ideal for creating a transparent mortgage marketplace because it doesn't rely on any fee-extraction revenue and it's consumer driven. Zillow makes the lead buying models obsolete."  Transparent RE  http://transparentre.com/2008/04/02/zillow-mortgages-is-essentially-a-free-open-marketplace.aspx 

• "I created a thread in my Real Estate Marketing 2.0 groupon Inman.com where lenders and consumers can discuss their experiences with Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. Let's hear what you have to say." FoREM http://www.futureofrealestatemarketing.com/questions-about-new-zillow-mortgage-marketplace

•  "What becomes clear tonight is that Zillow will basically be acting as a hands-off intermediary between mortgage-seeking clients and loan originators." Bloodhound http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog/?p=2884

• A post about Zillow's ability to "deliver highly-targeted advertising to its users, zeroing in on products and services that would be most appealing to that user."  Bloodhound  http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog/?p=2885 

• "I applaud them for bringing transparency and reputation management to an industry that needs both. Bloodhound  http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog/?p=2886 

•  "But consumers - and lenders! - have choices today they didn't have yesterday."  Bloodhound  http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/BloodhoundBlog/?p=2887 

• "It's an interesting, yet very basic approach to mortgage shopping, and could make lead generation services offered by companies like LendingTree and NexTag a thing of the past."  The Truth About Mortgage  http://www.thetruthaboutmortgage.com/zillow-launches-free-mortgage-comparison-shopping/

• Dustin lists out his views on the positives and negatives of ZMM.  4Realz  http://4realz.net/2008/04/03/zillow-took-the-fun-out-of-mortgages/ 

• "But at the end of the day, there are more choices to be had for those looking for financing to help them buy a home and that's a good thing."  Phoenix Arizona Real Estate  http://www.daltonsazhomes.com/blog/04032008/zillow-launches-mortgage-marketplace/

• "No name. No e-mail address. No Social Security Numbers. No names of your dearest pets."  Agent Genius http://agentgenius.com/?p=1570

Unfortunately I was on a plane this morning which allowed Spencer to beat me to the punch on announcing the opening of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace today and coverage is already spreading like crazy in the RE Net. 

So instead of talking about HOW to use Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, I'll highlight a story of WHY you should. 

I just got this email from a Zillow co-worker:

"My wife and I are refinancing.  I submitted my request and within about 15 minutes I had received a few quotes.  I chose to call  someone at Countrywide in Edmunds.  He mentioned that it has been crazy this morning.  That the Mortgage Market has only been live for 15 hours and he has been getting calls left and right. 

From the quote side, the Lender did not ask me if I could verify my income, how long I worked at my current job or anything else.  He didn't even ask for my Request ID.  I gave him the same details I gave him in my request over the phone and we spoke about options for around 10 minutes.  He is emailing me an application and we have a meeting setup for Saturday.  I choose this particular Lender because he had no application fee - and I verified that on the phone.  We had been working with Wells Fargo on our refinance, paid a 600 dollar application fee and when they started tacking on additional fees near closing we decided to cancel."

The good news is, the public and lenders are connecting like never before.  Also, you can tell that there is still a learning curve for Lenders in how to react to these new leads.  But I am sure that will work itself out over time. 

So if you would like to be that "someone at Countrywide in Edmunds", make sure you sign up at Zillow HERE.

Zillow Mortgage Marketplace coverage:  

• Spencer's Recap- http://activerain.com/blogsview/452039/Zillow-Mortgage-Marketplace-Launches
• Todd Carpenter writes "Zillow Mortgage Marketplace launches. What it means to consumers and loan originators."
• Mark Hendrickson at TechCrunch wrote "Zillow Disrupts Lending Market With Mortgage Marketplace."
• The OC Register's Matt Padilla posts "Zillow takes on mortgage industry."
• Rhonda Porter posts "Zillow Launches On-Line Mortgage Rate Quotes" at Rain City Guide.
• Greg Swann writes "Zillow.com takes advertising demographics to never-before-seen places" and "Zillow.com's long-awaited mortgage lending service offers anonymous customized loan quotes to consumers, affording loan originators the opportunity to compete transparently for free mortgage leads."
• John Cook at the Seattlepi writes "Zillow unveils new mortgage marketplace."
• Elinor Mills at CNET reports "Zillow Launches'Mortgage Marketplace'."
• The Daily News Tribune writes "Real estate Web site Zillow launches mortgage site."
• Joel Burslem at FOREM posts "Questions About New Zillow Mortgage Marketplace."
• Kevin Boer over at 3Oceans posts "Irony Of Ironies: The Mechanical Turk Behind The "Zestimate of Mortgages" Turns Out To Be Not An Algorithm ... But A Real Live Mortgage Person!"
• Jay Thompson posts "Zillow.com Releases Mortgage Marketplace."

I was in a meeting this week discussing general Web 2.0 principles and how people are using the web.  The statement was made "Everything that can be rated will be".  Meaning that the collective consumer voice is going to creep into every industry where free markets exist. 

That got me thinking about how I ultimately make decisions.  I know that I use the internet a lot, but I surprised myself by how much I rely on other people's opinions when making a purchasing decision.  Here are some examples of my purchasing behaviors in just the last three months:

• Got a new dentist this year, whom I have spent about $2000 with so far.  He had the most and the best reviews on Yelp in my zip code.
• Need to pick a restaurant to go out to eat?  Never go anywhere new with first checking Yelp and then reading more reviews at metromix.com.
• Movie reviews on RottenTomatos.com before seeing anything, rental or theatre.
• Read countless reviews of tour guides, hotels, and things to do for our vacation on TripAdvisor.  Every activity we did was because we learned about it on TripAdvisor.
• Just booked a Facial, researched different Spas on Yelp and SpaFinder.com.  I also consulted RealSelf.com to compare the different types of facials I was considering.
• Bought a new lamp shade today on Amazon and picked one company over another because of one negative review a vendor had received. 
• There is a particular kind of gum I am addicted to and you can only get online, about 5 people sell it on Ebay for about the same price.  I bought it from the person with the best Seller rating.
• I am in the market for a new patio furniture set.  I almost bought one on Target.com, but then read the negative reviews on their site that previous customers had written. I kept looking.
• My pipes froze and burst this year, Angieslist.com to find a contractor.
• Always looking for something to do on the weekends so I subscribe to the GoldStar.com newsletter and read what are the most popular events in town and what people are saying about them.
• We got a new digital video camera recorder and MP3 player, read all sorts of reviews about both at cnet.com.
• When I simply can't find an answer to a question on the Internet, I post it at answers.yahoo.com. 
• Needed a recipe for a dinner party, found one at recipes.com.  Didn't consider anything that didn't have at least 50 4 star ratings.  Many times you'll find substitutions in the comments section. 
• Bought some hair products on Drugstore.com.  Consumer reviews guided me to my ultimate purchase. 
• Plus, all the insight I have gained from reading various blogs!

When people wonder if Web 2.0 is actually making anyone money- I say YES!  It may not always be directly tracable to a particular site or post, but it is definitely part of the decision making process. 

Then I thought about contrasting this list with purchasing decisions I have made based on information FROM PEOPLE I KNOW.  Only one thing came to mind.  I needed to hire a new accountant this year and I got a referral from my husband's co-worker.  I guess I figured good accounts shouldn't need to advertise.  This is HUGELY opposite of how my parents make decisions (who are you trying to target and are you using the appropiate methods to reach them?). 

Almost every time I ask a real estate agent what is the best form advertising for them, I get the same answer - Word of mouth and referrals.  If you truly are a good agent, all this should excite you.  If you are a less-than-stellar agent, this should make you nervous.  Whatever people are saying about you in your sphere can be extended to limitless circles online.  Sometimes you will be able to control it, sometimes you can not. 

But there are people (like me) out there that find tremendous value in public opinion and are using consumer generated content to make decisions ranging from buying a book to hiring a Realtor. 

Where is your next client "hanging out"?  Chances are good it is somewhere online.  Make sure you know where these places are and you are entering the conversation, demonstrating your expertise.  Also, you need to leverage those you know to not only say nice things about you at the next church event, but be willing to be consumer advocates for you online.  Their opinion can be more valuable than any piece of advertising you might run.