Holy January! Buyers are lurking…

22 Comments so far

1. Rick Evans on February 5, 2009 12:40 am

   Great to hear the positive trends. In Sandpoint Idaho we are definitely seeing some solid buyer activity, particularly in the mid to high end resort market. Buyers who are willing and able to make offers right now are getting unbelievable values- 2004 type pricing with better interest rates. I also hear from many people who are afraid to do anything with fear that things will get worse. From what I’m seeing, now is definitely the time. Not that a year or two from now still won’t be a buyers market. My advice is if you have continued to put off that lifestyle purchase of your mountain, lake, ski, or beach property, go out and take a look at what is there. Don’t be afraid to make lowball offers- in this market any seller is usually happy to get a conversation going.

2. Zillow Outpacing Trulia in Real Estate Race in Transparent Darkness on February 5, 2009 9:44 am

   [...] to John Cook of TechFlash, Zillow is clobbering Trulia in the traffic stats, hitting an all time high of 7.5 million visitors last month. [...]

3. Alex Lange on February 5, 2009 1:57 pm

   It’s an interesting interpretation that an increase in visits to Zillow correlate to renewed interest in purchases. The principle use of Zillow is home valuation… isn’t it? Refinance activity is up 15% and there has been an increase in 30 day delinquencies. Pile that on the increasing foreclosure rate and I’d think people are scrambling for options (refinance, short sale, etc.). The first piece of information I’d want if I was in that situation would be: what’s my home worth?

4. The $15,000 Conundrum | Zillow® Blog on February 5, 2009 7:39 pm

   [...] and this news created a whole lot of questions. I’m sure we’re not the only ones — Zillow’s January traffic was through the roof — proof that many people are sitting on the sidelines. Being on the PR team of Zillow and [...]

5. Aaron Weber on February 5, 2009 9:00 pm

   A spike in traffic to a house for sale for under seven thousand dollars doesn’t mean there are a lot of buyers out there. Especially given that there’s boilerplate on the page suggesting at least a little fear that borrowers might not get financing.

6. Secretly Ironic » Blog Archive » Got credit? on February 5, 2009 9:00 pm

   [...] from a Zillow blog post, a house which has attracted a lot of interest… but is it the good [...]

7. Rick Evans on February 5, 2009 10:03 pm

   I wouldn’t say that there are a greater number of buyers out there by any means. Supply is ahead of demand right now. But what I do believe is this is a very good time to buy real estate, particularly if it is property that has intrinsic value (i.e. waterfront, ski-in/out, near amenities). For those people who have remained in good financial shape, they are able to get better financing terms than ever. They are in the strongest position in terms of negotiating leverage in years. Why would someone wait for it to get worse at this stage- too many variables including finance costs to try to perfectly time the market. The best way to see the bottom is of course when we are looking back at it, and by that point the buyer is no longer in as strong of a position. A decrease in supply is the first sign, and that has already happened over the past 2 months in North Idaho.

8. Cassandra Stoklosa on February 6, 2009 9:52 am

   We’ve definitely seen an increase in web traffic in Manhattan. Although while it seems like people have started to look, they are still waiting. Sadly, as Rick points out though, buyers often wait until they see the bottom of the market, which is generally too late.

9. Friday Blog Scan: Things we liked from the week that was | Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate on February 6, 2009 2:54 pm

   [...] was interesting to read about the SEO and traffic wars among the big online RE players this week. Lots of drama. But at the end of it all, [...]

10. Ryan West on February 7, 2009 6:24 am

    Stop Sending Traffic to Your Competition

    Agents and Brokers,

    In this new internet there are a handful of super real estate sites we all submit our property listings such as trulia, zillow, google, and realtor.com. These sites are great and they have done outstanding things for our business, but what happened to the good old days when home buyers and sellers would google your city and actually come up with a realtor or agent site for that local area.

    Our entire business is built around lead generation and client management, and I am not convinced that these super real estate sites have the agents or brokers best interest in mind. They are just compiling the largest database of homes so the home buyers can quickly search. The problem is that home buyers and sellers use to come to your site to do this and we would collect that basic information and then we can call these leads and hopefully grab a few clients.

    So my point is that we still need to use these valuable super sites but do not forget about your individual agent site. This should be the catalyst of your online marketing. You should look for sites that drive traffic to your site specifically.

    My view is that even if you are a individual agent or you own your own firm you should want to have a amazing real estate site. This is your site to stay with you as you expand your real estate career. I recommend you make your site reflect your specific name not your company, broker, or office. By branding your name you can take this site with you forever. It is important to offer as much content about your local community, schools, real estate, jobs, traffic, shopping, and of course housing.

    I have had my individual real estate site for 5 years now. I have promoted it on all search engines, blogs, directories, and any service I found compelling. All the traffic comes directly to me. I collect all the leads, and in my opinion I have the best opportunity of acquiring the new client. Immediately when I client comes to my site I am notified on my cell and I call the client.

    As we all know these internet leads can sometimes take 6 months or more to close, but that is a lot better than having no leads at all. Or by having your properties listed on zillow.com and the home buyers just call the first name they find even for your listings.

    So my recommendation is to find services, directories, forums, and more that link directly to your site and promote your personal web site. In today’s internet it is hard to find as most site owners want to keep the traffic, buyers and sellers on their own site, even it is done by using the listings you submitted.

    So in closing it is important for agents to continually market and update their personal site. This is the life blood of your business and it is important for agents to not forget this.

    To learn more about my views and a great ways to market please visit
    http://www.myhomesearches.com/joinournetwork-real.htm

    Thanks,
    Ryan West
    Check out my free newsletter at http://realestatesuccessnewsletter.com

11. Zillow Turns 3 - What Have We Learned? | Property Portal Watch on February 8, 2009 6:06 pm

    [...] this short time, Zillow has almost become a household name in the US and in January, they reported a record number of visitors to the site. It now seems a good time to look at what we can learn from the rapid growth of Zillow. Here are [...]

12. Real estate sites like Trulia see record traffic and revenue » VentureBeat on February 11, 2009 8:26 am

    [...] Zillow says Comscore’s numbers are low, and that internal tracking with Omniture tools shows 7.5 million unique users in January, up 61 percent annua…. By the way, that’s an outrageous difference from Comscore’s data. Granted, Comscore’s latest stats [...]

13. Real estate sites like Trulia see record traffic and revenue » VentureBeat on February 11, 2009 8:26 am

    [...] Zillow says Comscore’s numbers are low, and that internal tracking with Omniture tools shows 7.5 million unique users in January, up 61 percent annua…. By the way, that’s an outrageous difference from Comscore’s data. Granted, Comscore’s latest stats [...]

14. BigDragon on February 11, 2009 11:50 am

    Buyers, sellers, realtors, brokers, media, and more use this site. It’s gotten a lot of attention in the news over the past couple weeks. I found this place via the news. I don’t think the increase in traffic actually translates into more lurking buyers. Ok, so I’m a buyer, but I think the increased traffic is purely based on emerging name-recognition of this site and because real estate is such a hot topic these days.

15. Charlie London on March 25, 2009 8:37 am

    I have found, thanks to findbuyers.com, that it can be a buyers and sellers market even in these tough economic times. Selling my property with a lone agent was proving too difficult with constant encouragement to lower the value of my home, but I was able to take matters into my own hands, and market my property to interested buyers. After posting my “seller” profile on the website, the online company matches my property features with buyer preferences using a simple, private, and easy-to-use messaging system. Whether your a buyer, seller, or agent, I recommend setting up a profile on http://www.findbuyers.com. You have nothing to lose because it’s free!

16. sohbet on July 19, 2009 8:57 am

    was interesting to read about the SEO and traffic wars among the big online RE players this week. Lots of drama. But at the end of it all

17. yonja on July 19, 2009 8:58 am

    A spike in traffic to a house for sale for under seven thousand dollars doesn’t mean there are a lot of buyers out there. Especially given that there’s boilerplate on the page suggesting at least a little fear that borrowers might not get financing.

18. dini sohbet on July 19, 2009 9:00 am

    I wouldn’t say that there are a greater number of buyers out there by any means. Supply is ahead of demand right now. But what I do believe is this is a very good time to buy real estate, particularly if it is property that has intrinsic value (i.e. waterfront, ski-in/out, near amenities). For those people who have remained in good financial shape, they are able to get better financing terms than ever. They are in the strongest position in terms of negotiating leverage in years. Why would someone wait for it to get worse at this stage- too many variables including finance costs to try to perfectly time the market. The best way to see the bottom is of course when we are looking back at it, and by that point the buyer is no longer in as strong of a position. A decrease in supply is the first sign, and that has already happened over the past 2 months in North Idaho.

19. sohpet on July 19, 2009 9:03 am

    to John Cook of TechFlash, Zillow is clobbering Trulia in the traffic stats, hitting an all time high of 7.5 million visitors last month.

20. zillow.com | Property Portal Watch on July 19, 2009 7:14 pm

    [...] website reported 7.5 million unique visitors in January 2009, and stated that 8.8 million unique users visited in [...]

21. 100% Mortgage on August 14, 2009 10:12 am

    Thats amazing, well done chaps!

22. 100mortgage on October 10, 2009 10:59 am

    Looks great, good mortgage stats