IDX? MLS? RETS? VOW? What in the world of alphabet soup is going on here?
To say my first few months in the real estate industry drowned me in a sea of confusing jargon is an understatement. I transferred to HomeFinder.com from a travel website, Orbitz.com, and vividly remember thinking, “how hard can real estate data be?” Little did I know, the real estate industry holds more confusing rules and terms than a congressional spending bill.
I am a self-confessed geek and still actively write code now and then, so you would think I did some online home schooling to answer my real estate questions. However, I quickly learned the best tutoring I could find walked the halls of HomeFinder.com every day. We employ a number of real estate agents and a host of industry veterans, and I soon quizzed them on a daily basis with questions like, What’s an IDX feed? How do agents and brokers work together? How come Roost and RedFin get to have all of the listings on their sites?
To really understand the ins and outs of the real estate industry, there’s no better resource than a great agent or broker. Even with the plethora of information available online, my wife and I still tapped a local agent when buying our home, since she knew the area and the local neighborhoods better than any website could. After learning this, I found discovering information on home searching much, much easier. If I could give any real estate advice, it would be to do all the research you can online using sites such as HomeFinder.com, that have tons of homes for sale and great information on neighborhoods, schools, rentals and more, and to also find an agent that you enjoy working with and knows the area. The combination of the two is a winning strategy to buying an A+ home and acing the selling and buying process.
We are continually learning here at HomeFinder.com and as the 2012 school year kicks off, we want to offer you the educational resources to help you continue to learn too. Study:
- • Social media 101 for real estate agents
- • First-time buyer 101
- • Best tech tools for agents
- • Why your real estate brand needs a makeover
- • The importance of researching the school district before you buy
- • Ways to avoid surprise costs on moving day
- • What you need to teach your kids about buying a home
Just a few notes on what we did on our summer vacation:
- • We wrapped up the HomeFinder.com Agent Makeover Sweepstakes and have selected the five winning agents that will be joining us in Chicago from September 12-14 for their two-night stay at The James Hotel and a full business and style makeover!
- • Inman News included us in the Top 20 Real Estate Websites in July
- • Chicagoland Real Estate Forum featured our new HomeFinder.com Real Estate Android® App (have you downloaded it yet?)
- • RISMedia’s Real Estate Magazine featured our article, “Is Your Website Equipped for the Mobile Real Estate Revolution”
Visit us next month as we reveal the makeovers from the HomeFinder.com Agent Makeover Sweepstakes and give you a glimpse into the business, marketing and style lessons the winning agents will take away!
Whether you are looking for leads or just wanting to brand yourself, if you aren’t doing it online, you might as well give up. With Google, Yahoo, Bing and the other search engines giving priority to the most interenet savvy Realtors, it’s time to dive in and join the race to the top.