So, I am a big fan of data.  Call me a real estate data nerd if you want; although I don’t see myself as a nerd…one of our developers recently told me that I get to talk to girls, so that immediately disqualifies me from the nerd lable.  But, because of this, I have invested time and money into subscribing to the latest and greatest industry rags and attended conferences all over the country to find new and innovative ways to differentiate myself and my company.  When we started Webdigs.com - my partners and I set out to create a real estate firm that put the consumer first and empowered them to utilize professional real estate brokerage services complemented by leading search technology, delivered by our website - webdigs.com .  Then I read this blog post by Marc Davison from 1000Watt Consulting - an industry expert.  He recently had a very interesting post on his blog…

Real estate search’s finest hour……has not arrived. 

(Click Link to read the full post)

To summarize:

“…Everyone ought to stop for second and ponder this

Humans don’t search by ZIP code.
Humans don’t search homes from space. Or on maps filled with little blue markers.
Human don’t analyze comprehensive census data that pop off listings like a Crayola box of colored graphs, charts and heat maps.
Humans don’t understand the difference between a “Hybrid, Satellite, or List View”.
Humans don’t sift through 12,000 listings that “match my criteria”.
Humans don’t “save searches”.
Humans don’t want to view only 8 crappy pictures of a home.
Humans don’t want their search experience cluttered with advertising.
Human don’t benefit from poorly executed applications that include home value estimates that can never be accurate, no matter how many PhD’s are thrown at them.

All of this…stuff. I applaud it for what it is. But it’s not great. Because in the end it’s very different from how humans actually search for homes. 

I am human and I need to be loved

Humans drive around neighborhoods.
Humans meet neighbors.
Humans ask lots of questions.
Humans like to talk to the seller.
Humans spend time vibing the neighborhood. 
Humans test drive the commute from prospective home to work.
Humans like to look at 6 homes that match their criteria, to a tee.
Humans require affirmation. They like to be gently nudged and influenced.

And most of all, humans like to converse.
They like to tell their agent who they are.
And technology has been making all this harder and harder to do…” - Marc Davison, 1000Watt Consulting

Ok - so I read this and I think to myself…”man, what have we done?”  And for a short moment, I fealt defeated, but then I realize - we have accomplished a great deal in a short period of time at Webdigs.  And, while Marc makes a great point…what he is asking for is years away from being a reality.  As a broker, and an officer of a company that has to answer to shareholders, customers, agents, etc…often we have work within the parameters we are given.  We can certainly push the development envelope, but at what cost?  What Marc is talking about would be very complex and very expensive from a development perspective…and for what benefit?  There are other ways to facilitate the discussion he is referring to. 

One way in which webdigs.com attemepts this is by our “Ask an Agent” tool.  This is an online and real time interactive medium that allows users of our site to have their questions answered by one of our “on-line” agents - which is almost always Larry Olson, our CIO.

However, for this to work, people have to engage…and for the most part…people don’t.  We get thousands of unique visitors a month to our site, and very few of them are using this functionality.  If there was a way in which we could improve the site to make this more inviting to users, I am all ears.  But - at the end of the day, I believe that people want to easily be able to find what they are looking for and the dialogue will take place as a result of establishing credibility, trust and expertise.  And in the end…people still have to like you.  Because if they don’t - none of it matters.

So, the conversation that Marc is referring to between a “human and their agent” is all well and good…but we need to grab the humans and get the opportunity to have the discussion in the first place.  And, all the tools, research data and gizmos on our website is how we aim to do it…because that is what the industry is telling us we need to do…and what the latest and greatest innovators in the idustry are doing.

So, real estate search may not be in its finest hour…but it has come a long way.  And I would like to think that companies like Webdigs & Redfin are leading that change - on the brokerage front. And, while Zillow, Trulia, Cyberhomes and Eppraisal offer great tools for users, I really see them as the next generation of lead generation tools for agents. 

Any suggestions on we can be better are always welcome.

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupity”

“Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.”

“It is a mistake to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.”

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Helen Keller