sdr – I find it in poor taste to display the names of a realtor’s clients on a blog. It also shows a lack of research skills and sexism to assume that a female putting down 20% on a home got the money from her rich dad. What if she got it from the sale of a prior home? Shouldn’t the realtor have access to that information?
The 80% figure comes from the NAR, I think. They found that when someone buys a home, 80% of the time, they saw it first on the internet. The rise of realtor.com and RE portals and their rise in traffic is proof.
equalizer – When I listed my home, I got a weekly e-mail from HelpUSell with the number of people who viewed my home on the web, along with the referring website, and some nice charts. I had about 200-300 hits/week. Pretty cool. I know of at least 2 people who came to see my house because they found it on the web. I didn’t ask the others. Your knowledge of RE is limited by your most recent experience. I speak regularly with several realtors and a loan officer, and I feel each conversation enlarges my understanding of what is happening. I disagree with your assessment completely, and stand by my story.
As I wrote before, Bob generates his leads completely off his website, where he gets potential buyers that sign up for his monthly newsletter. He attracts buyers who like his consulting style. I don’t know how they get to this website. Maybe the same way I found him?? Maybe the same way the housing industry analyst at Credit Suiss First Boston found him? (They call him for their San Diego updates.) Bob is a savvy businessman. He’s turned around divisions in companies in the US, Europe, and the Middle East. His savvy have led him to approach RE in this way, and he figured this out on his own.
I’m pretty sure that sdr is not jim the realtor. Jim has a love of data and analysis, and sdr is a schmoozer who acts off-the-cuff and skims the threads he responds to. Completely different personalities/skills.
