Real estate and online networks
By Glenn Roberts, Jr., Wednesday, October 24, 2007.Bookmarking Sites
Cribs, a real estate application, launches for members of the Facebook online network.
Inman News reported earlier this month about LivePads, an application that allows buyers to advertise the types of homes they are searching for and for sellers to promote their properties to their personal network and through their extended networks on the Facebook site.
The Cribs application allows Facebook users to post properties and search for properties.
Applications are launching at a rapid-fire rate on Facebook (about 100 per day), which has about 47 million active users.
But how big is the appetite for real estate searches within online communities such as Facebook? There are many property-search Web sites populating the Internet -- do users of social and business networks want to view or post properties as a part of their networking experience or will this be an unwelcome distraction? Do networks run the risk of becoming too crowded by users, and too clouded by competing apps?
Mike Parker, of real estate consulting firm Blackwater Consulting Group, told Inman News he is unconvinced that people will use Facebook to buy homes.
He also references an article in the Oct. 20 edition of The Economist, called "Social Graph-iti: There's less to Facebook and other social networks than meets the eye." That article suggests that "social networks lose value once they go beyond a certain size," and quotes Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley forecaster: "The value of a social network is defined not only by who's on it, but by who's excluded."
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Submitted by Anonymous on October 25, 2007 - 9:01am.
I am inclined to believe that the social networks are just that, a place where people talk to each other. If during the course of other activities one finds time to say, "oh btw I am selling my home, why don't you take the tour?" or "I have just put up the pictures of the house that I am selling, tell me what you think?" the audience, potential buyers, friends, and network buddies know and will talk about the home. Isn't that what it is all about? Getting the information out there that the property is available? I cannot see how it will hurt to have a seller place his home on a social network and generate buzz.
Submitted by Anonymous on October 26, 2007 - 9:47am.
I think building good social networks is no way hurtful. By posting a house out there that you feel may be desirable to some of the viewers, you are simply marketing your product to the audience of your choice.
With the growing importance of social networks, blog, and forums, I think this is a great way to market any product you have.
You know the audience that will buy your product and you simply present it to them. How can you go wrong with this?
Submitted by Anonymous on October 27, 2007 - 9:05am.
Marketing is all about getting your product out to as many people as possible. Social networks could become a viable platform for that. I don't think we are there yet but most of the Facebook crowd will be getting to an age when buying a home will be a consideration. Is this a place they will look - only time will tell.
Submitted by Anonymous on October 27, 2007 - 1:43pm.
I disagree. Marketing isn't about getting out to as many places as possible. Marketing is about being where the "buyers" are at. Direct marketing ( selling a particular house ) is where you market to a specific market of buyers...go where the buyers go. Television commercials, social networks, bus benches and book matches are not direct marketing but brand marketing. Brand marketing works great for the agent but really don't do much for a particular house.
There's a reason why we don't run around in neighborhoods
in jogging suits with for sale signs attached to our backs. It's because they don't work.
Although I agree that any activity can't hurt the selling process, the wrong activity however takes the agent away from concentrating on activities that work; they add cos; and provide a false sense of value to the consumer.
Social networks are becoming like chatrooms for AOL. I've yet to see anyone bought or sold a house from a chatroom.
Submitted by Anonymous on October 30, 2007 - 8:16am.
I've just checked this app: miami,FL - 0 homes, New york, NY - -homes. Is it a joke?
Submitted by Anonymous on October 30, 2007 - 8:43am.
This feature is not working - I've installed this application - write New york - 0 homes found, typed Miami Beach - the same. That is just a fake PR.
Submitted by Anonymous on January 15, 2008 - 1:41am.
Advertising real estate on Facebook is not nearly as effective as on search engines. It may work within your social circle, but at least our experience has been that conversion rates are very low.