My girlfriend and I have encountered a strange experience trying to work with real estate agents. We had worked with three agents that came directly from zillow, now before I go further I want to make it clear that these agents aren’t exactly working for zillow but they’re paying for leads from them. When someone is interested in a home that they’ve seen on zillow the viewers are able to “connect” to an agent, and that connected agent will than get charged a fee. Is that fee a lot? The reason I bring up this up is because my last agent we’ll call her “Angelica” has specifically said that zillow have been taking her profits, very much made it seem on an attempt to guilt trip my girlfriend and I into purchasing a home.
This is not the only time where I have experienced such scenario, prior to this agent I had worked with “John” that has also came from Zillow, this agent which i’m using an anonymous name for had told my girlfriend that zillow just throws agents “leads” even if they’re not qualified for a loan, wasting the agents time and money.
Why exactly do agents resort to Zillow?
I’m from Southern California, and the number of real estate agents have exploded in the last five years, according to Data Courtesy of the Department of Real Estate they’re about 3 million active real estate license, 106,548 real estate brokerage firms handling real estate, rentals, and Leasing.
More than ever people are purchasing homes through the internet according to data from the National Association of REALTORS®,
- 51% home buyers used the internet to find their home.
- 29% had used real estate agents to find their home.
- 10% coming from friends, relative or even neighbors.
- 5% coming directly from the seller/ knew the seller
Basing off the study its proven that the internet is a large part of realtors success, that is why 90% of agents flop towards Zillow and other similar sites. Increasing the supply of agents and not having enough demand, because of this it creates an incredibly high lead cost and according to listwithclever.com, the average lead price is from $20-$60 depending on the area, sometimes as high as $150.
Agents could go back to old ways and continue cold calling all day every day, however what comes with extreme difficulty because can’t convince your potential client to trust you and oftentimes you’re seen as a “spam caller” showing them no security immediately. Maybe you can drop business cards all over the floor at the shopping mall maybe then you’ll get a lead, my point is that agents have no choice but to resort to Zillow and have no choice but to compete with other agents and causing an increase with high lead prices.
How to get sales without Zillow
Already knowing that zillow is beneficial for many agents, that does not necessarily mean zillow will be a good fit for you in the beginning of your real estate journey. You will first need a good previous history of sales, good team and being a good closer. Building your social media presence is key, in fact I had broken down how exactly I grew an instagram page from zero to 5 million followers in two years. If you really want to know how to grow your presence for absolutely free please feel free to read that article.
After building a professional looking instagram for your personal brand, you need to stand out. The way you do this is by making yourself look like you mean business, maybe have pictures of you with teams, maybe portray yourself as always busy, and don’t be afraid of spending some of your budget for drone footage and professional film of open houses. You need to stand out as much as possible.
Building your own personal website: Nothing is better than having your own personal website dedicated to making yourself look as professional as you can be. If you’re looking to build a website understand that it is not difficult as it use to be decades ago, in fact you could spend $100 and 6 hours of work and you can have a full on operating website. This alone makes you look professional, trustworthy, and overall know what you’re doing.
- Create a website using wordpress and host it with hostgator, buying a domain through them. When trying to figure out what domain you should use, I would recommend something with your first and last name, so if your name is johnadam, maybe purchase a domain name that is “johnadam.com”.
After you have your domain and wordpress login, I recommend using behance.net, they provide a service of transforming your website to a professionally looking one in whichever niche you’re in.
The services Zillow are providing for both parties.
I absolutely love zillow when it comes to the how easy it has become to scout for newly listed properties, open houses, comparing prices in the market, overall analytics at a click of a button, and overall the compatibility of the site.
The features for buyers:
- Property Estimate feature: Zillow really hit the nail with this feature, the website has an automated estimator that figures out the properties worth from gathering information such as square feet, location, the pictures that were posted on the listing, and other various factors. This overall creates the buyer to have confidence and ensuring that they’re paying fair prices.
- Mortgage Calculation: Zillow makes it very simple for you to know what you can qualify for, by providing a in depth mortgage calculation, just type the down payment you’ll like to put, and depending on the information they’ll send back what you qualify for and also providing tips on how you can qualify for more.
- Property Search: The main reason why I love this website more than other competitors such as Realtor.com, and Trulia, is because of how easy they’ve made it to scout homes with the high speed.
The features for Agents:
- Agents Profiles: The beauty of using Zillow as an agent is having the opportunity to build your profile. Making you seem a lot more credible, professional and trustworthy. Including their credentials, clients reviews, and past sales, the awesome thing about all this that it’s absolutely free. If you’re an agent I highly recommend to capitalize off free resources.
- Listing Exposure: Once upon a time, not long ago the ability to grab clients was a lot more difficult. Having to sit at open houses, consistently cold calling potential buyers. Even though it has gotten easier in a technology standpoint, it actually has became more difficult when it comes to competition and how accessible it has become to switch and find new agents. Zillow has 220 million users annually.
- Advertising and Leads: Zillow offers advertising for agents, so agents can list their clients property for more exposure. Agents can also purchase leads that have been generated through Zillow which we’ll discuss in this article on why it may be controversial and not the greatest idea to do so.
Are the agents even truth worthy?
Unfortunately I can’t speak great with all three agents that I have gotten with Zillow. It was going well until I sense unprofessionalism from each and one of them. For example when it comes to “angelica” on our first day of looking at open houses, she had briefly stated that Zillow have been taking her profits away from each deal. The second agent was even worse, when it came to an open house, the property had so many issues that were not talked about in the listing such as new plumbing, new roof, and new fence rather than my agent trying to negotiate for a better price he had told me I should not negotiate and pay asking price so neither of us waste our time.
How to find a good agent? Becoming a agent has gotten easier, you enroll into a 2-5 month class, pay thousands of dollars, and join a realtor group and boom you’re an agent. That being said because it is so easy to become an agent, often times you’ll run into many agents when scouting to purchase a home, how do we find a good agent? If you’re looking to purchase a investment property, than the agent you’re doing business with should be knowledgeable enough in investment properties, knowing about 1031 exchange, great rental ROI locations, and overall low risk.
- Look up what properties that they’ve sold, by inputting there real estate code online.
- They’re nothing but positive when speaking about past clients even about people who didn’t buy.
- Ask questions to see if she’s genuinely looking for your best interest and not herself only.
To Conclude
In conclusion, I really wanted to dive into what may be causing agents to have such hate towards zillow while at the same time deciding to use their service. As I write this I really want to help you finding a good agent on what to look out for, and we had discussed how if you’re an agent how can you get sales without spending all your hard earned money with zillow. We also had gone over the benefits for using zillow and the disadvantages. I hope you have a good experience while looking for your dream home and wish nothing but the best goodluck. Let me know your experience with the agents from Zillow how did that go for you?
