I just searched for Real Estate on AOL, only to find that Realtor.com is no longer powering the section. I couldn't find any information on what happened to the deal and was wondering if any in the AR community knew? Did Realtor.com just not renew the partnership? If so, why not?
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In November 2005 Realtor.com signed a 2 year deal with AOL to power the Real Estate section of the site. The deal expired on September 30, 2007 (last month). I do not know the exact amount Realtor.com paid for this distribution. I do know in 1998, Realtor.com paid $14 million to AOL for exculsive exposure in the section for 40 months.
In talking with Realtors across the county for the last 9 years, I never once heard anyone rave of leads or listings they had gotten because of exposure on AOL. So maybe it is good our dues are no longer being spent to fund such a deal. However, I find it strange that no news was made of the relationship no longer existing (or did I miss it?). If I were a practicing Real Estate agent, I would have had AOL's name in the list of sites that I give my client exposure on. And if I were a home seller, I would be double checking that I my house was on every site that my agent said it would be. So with no notification from Realtor.com about the ending relationship, I bet there are a lot of listing presentations being given with mis-information and a few home owners scratching their heads when they can't find their home on AOL.
With so many sites that allow Agents and Brokers to upload listings for free (Zillow, Homescape, Craigslist, and Trulia to name a few) I wonder how this change from the way listing content deals were brokered in 1998 changed the dynamics of trying to renew this deal today. In the heyday of the internet bubble in 1998, $14 Million sounded like a lot, but not totally insane. Compared to today's rates of FREE, $14 Million is inconceivable. Of course a premium is still expectable if there is some position of exclusively, such as what Realtor.com had.
AOL traditionally has been about the fourth or fifth most trafficked consumer real estate site. How this lack of content will affect their rankings? The obvious guess is that their numbers will suffer, depending on how quickly AOL can build this content back up from other sources. If I was a major Broker, I would be expecting a call any day now from AOL asking for my listings, which they used to charge millions of dollars to display.
This is obviously a big line item no longer on Realtor.com's balance sheet. Wonder where the money was re-allocated? Is what you were paying for on Realtor.com any less valuable today since a major distribution has been eliminated?
Would love to hear Agent's reaction to this. Will be interesting to see how it plays out and what happens to AOL Real Estate site. AOL's site now says it is in beta, insinuating that they are up to something....
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Aol Real Estate is now powered by Cyberhomes - A Fidelity company
It's right there on the front page
The news came out about a month ago. I knew about 6 months ago (inside informants)
Is it a good thing or a bad thing?
Hard to say.
Loren
Future of Real Estate Tecnology
I'm still able to get good leads from Realtor.com premium service since AOL changed over. I feel like I need to be working every angle when trying to generate leads.
I'm thinking of dropping Realtor.com. In 5 years that I've had it I've gotten maybe 1-2 leads which led to nowhere.
Sara,
This confirms why I left R.com
Has Realtor.com lost touch with it`s clientele? After 4 years I`m waving Goodbye!
Sara- thanks. I missed this one. As with alot of this stuff, I think the value lies more in the listing presentation, rather than the leads themselves.
AOL is the Romper Room of the internet and has been for more than 10 years. Anyone using it as an ISP in this day and age should reconsider.
Realtor.com also is pretty nervy asking for extra money (beyond our dues) for the exposure on their website that should have been included in the first place.
Both could/should go away as far as I'm concerned. Hate to be negative, but these are two sore spots for me.
I haven't been on AOL for years and years. Do people still use them? Judging from my email addresses, I've only got maybe 2 or 3 with the AOL email address. Does anyone else notice this?
Move.com, the guys the run Realtor.com for NAR, did recently drop their affiliation with AOL.
AOL wanted direct access to our listings instead of continuing to use the link to Realtor.com.
Cool! Another new service to dilute the values of third party media real estate information providers.
Quote: "So maybe it is good our dues are no longer being spent to fund such a deal."
"And if I were a home seller, I would be double checking that I my house was on every site that my agent said it would be."
Very interesting post with some interesting statements.
My Sellers expect their listings be in Realtor.com "Showcase". Period, end of story.
John,
What does it cost you per year?
For me paying r.com over $3K per year is no longer an option..I`d rather place the money into more ppc..
Good information on Cyberhomes and AOL. I was not aware of the fallout between Realtor.com and AOL before reading this blog. Thanks!
Hi Scott:
It cost me on average about $1,000 yr. I am not a fan of how they re-rate you each year depending on how many listings you had the previous year of your contract with them.
I hear 'ya...I too would much rather spend these dollars on many other result-oriented marketing pieces. Point taken.
Hi Sara - it looks like you were just hit big time by a spammer named John GIddens of Florida above. I think the delete key is needed on that one.
Anyway, I had not heard about the dropping of the AOL connection. Not sure how much difference that makes, although it was one of those big sites that showed up on the charts and graphs from R.com.
I have the enhanced listings, and I have to say I have gotten buyers from that. The last buyer I got from there bought a listing of my own, and the sale was over $1,000,000. My seller and my buyer - and that buyer did come to me directly from my enhanced listing on R.com. I've also gotten other leads from that, as well as helping to get listings, too.
I did renew again this year, and whether I renew next year remains to be seen. I guess I'll wait to see what their fees turn out to be at that point.
Ann
Realtor.com has worked WONDERS for me. I get AT LEAST 2 Buyers a year and 3-4 Listings a year because of my R.Com enhanced listings. Here's why... My SUPER DUPER SECRET......
1. Put your phone number in the highlighted banner.
2. Put your phone number in the scrolling text.
3. Add the maximum number of pictures.
4. Add more text.
5. Add a virtual tour.
That's it. That's all. I pay approx $750/year for my enhancements. I get 5-6 deals a year from it. (around 35K-45K in gross commissions. I guess it all works out!
Yes, Realtor.com and AOL did not renew their relationship, which expires at the end of September. The reason for this seems to vary depending on whom you ask. This has been discussed on the web for months, but it does not appear that Move made any specific effort to inform its customers of this change.
Cyberhomes, instead, will be powering AOL Real Estate. This is additionally interesting, as the Cyberhomes General Manager is someone who used to be an exec at Homestore. (Gotta wonder what else is going on there.)
AOL's contribution to Realtor.com's traffic was significant, but certainly not a majority of their traffic. They'll likely feel the difference, but it won't be what kills them.
@Sara Bonert,
As far as I know, no part of your NAR dues goes to Move. NAR owns the domain, licenses the domain to Move, and exerts a large degree of oversight control over what is done under that domain, but it's up to Move to make the experience profitable for themselves (into which they certainly put a lot of effort).
@Spencer Rascoff,
The 'beta' monicker is bit odd, but probably because the old Realtor.com-powered AOL Real Estate site suddenly vanished, replaced by an entirely new site powered by Cyberhomes, and the new one's considered a beta for now.
Really now.... does a buyer need to be aware of R.com through third party sites? R.com does not need to pay a third party site $14,000,000 plus. A consumer is going to type Realtor.com right into their browser if they want to search all properties available for sale. Does Wal-Mart need to pay e-bay $14,000,000 a year to have users visit Walmart.com? In 1998, R.com paid for name recognition. Companies EVENTUALLY do not need to pay for name recognition if they have a clue about advertising.
Better yet, the consumer can just go local and use web/marketing savvy real estate agents that offer full MLS searches on personal websites. There is zero need for third party websites except for gimmicky tools.
Who uses AOL anyways?