Going the solo route without a property portal?

Post image for Company Says ‘No’ to 3rd Party AggregatorsProperty portals assist real estate organisations in marketing their property listings on more websites and therefore get more exposure and leads.

This is an interesting story from Edina Realty, a USA based agency who is going the solo route and pulling their property listings from 3rd party portals like Trulia. 

According to Edina Realty:

“…Third party aggregators are not brokers. They get listings for free from brokers around the country and then display them online, collecting and distributing leads for profit.  We believe it makes the best business sense for our agents and Edina Realty to control our own listings in order to ensure that:

• Our agents don’t lose future business opportunities because a non-listing competitor pays to present themselves as the contact for your listing.
• Our agents don’t have to pay – directly or indirectly – for leads on their own listings.
• Our sellers can be assured that leads on their listing are being handled by an expert – The quality and accuracy of your listing data is assured.
• Potential buyers are provided with fast, knowledgeable responses via the listing agent or our seven-day-a-week customer service department…”

This is certainly a very brave step and the question is whether the savings in subscriptions to portals and the elimination of issues such as outdated listings advertised is enough to keep this company going and increase it online lead generation. Effectively they are saying that they would rather invest in their own brand and build long term traffic to their own website. Will it work? Time will tell.

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