Results of the Real Estate Marketing Benchmark Survey

 March 1, 2008

In this issue, we will share with you the results of our Annual iHOUSE Web Solutions Real Estate Marketing Benchmark Survey.

It’s Time For The Annual iHOUSE Web Solutions Real Estate Marketing Benchmark Survey

Last month we conducted our Annual Real Estate Marketing Benchmark Survey. The results are now in and we would like to share how you and agents like you responded. Benchmark surveys let you measure yourself against the standards of your industry. They can be a reassurance for some and a realty check for others. Either way a little objective data can be invaluable. Remember to keep your own marketing strategy in mind while you read. It could be good for your business… Ready? Lets go!

Demographics

All of the respondents were real estate agents from across the United States with about 50% having more than 10 years of experience in real estate.

Eighty-eight percent develop some sort of marketing plan with 20% writing up a formal marketing budget and 68% making a more informal outline and set of goals. This is an overall increase of about 10% since 2007.

98% of the respondents now have an online presence of some sort, up from 91% in 2007. There has been a shift away from agents just having a profile page on their brokers’ site (down to 10% from 25%) and into customized template sites (such as iHOUSE Websites) up to 72% from 51%.

77% of respondents said they are now in Buyer’s Markets (up from 67% in 2007). 21% said they were in a stable market that did not favor buyers or sellers and only 2% said they were in currently in a Seller’s Market.

There’s Always Something New at iHOUSE Web Solutions

iHOUSE CEO Paul Sheng contributes to RISMedia article on How Internet Vendors will Change Real Estate.
iHOUSE CEO Paul Sheng, along with Wiechert Real Estate Affiliates President Martin J. Reuter and Scott Hoen, Executive Vice President and Group Manager for Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions (FNRES) contributed to a Viewpoints article at RISMedia titled, “3 Experts Discuss How Internet Vendors Will Change Real Estate.” Real estate is one of the fastest evolving fields in business, with sometimes major transformations linked to advancing technologies in communication and innovations on the Internet.

iHOUSE Web Solutions working with Fidelity National Title to provide ConnecTel Real Estate Hotlines
iHOUSE Web Solutions is working with certain offices of Fidelity National Title to provide a special promo on ConnecTel Real Estate 800 Numbers. The next time you work with a Fidelity Title Agent ask if they can “Turn Your Yard Signs into 24/7 Lead Generators!”

iHOUSE Web Solutions Attended the February National Real Estate CyberConvention and Exposition
The Cyber Convention is held entirely online and with no entrance fee. Thousands of REALTORS® attended and Joanne Poole of Poole Realty in Glen Burnie, MD won our drawing for an Agent Pro iHOUSE® Website for a year.

IDXPro® MLS Search Solution March Blueprint Special
IDXPro lets you provide the advanced MLS Search buyers are looking for branded with your contact info. Blueprint Subscribers who sign up before 4/7/08 can get their Start Up fees waived. Take a Test Drive today!

Customer Close-Up: Ana Alancastro of Etowah, NC

Ana Alancastro Case Study
Ana Alancastro

This month’s Customer Close-Up features Ana Alancastro and her website www.ncrealestatetoday.com.

Ana Alancastro is the Broker-Owner of Mountainside Realty in Hendersonville, North Carolina. After working 6 years for local brokers in the Hendersonville area, she decided to branch out and become an independent broker. While it was risky, things started to work out fine. Did she plan to open her own company? No it was a last minute, spur of the moment thing. “Since I began my own operation on January the 4th of this year, I have picked up 3 listings within just a few weeks. In addition, I am in the process of picking up another few listings.”

iHOUSE® Tips & Tricks: Using @image#

Did you know that you can add pictures into the text areas on most of the pages of your site using a special format code called @image#? This is one of the best ways to give your iHOUSE website a more personalized feel.

iHOUSE Blueprint Monthly Poll

Last month’s poll was the Annual iHOUSE Web Solutions Real Estate Marketing Benchmark Survey. See the Results.

This month’s survey question is a follow up to the Benchmark Survey.

When business is slower, do you increase the time or the money you spend on lead generation? (Poll is now closed.)

Did you miss an issue? Check out our past issues here.


Robert Warner

By Robert Warner

Robert Warner started with iHOUSEWeb back in 2009 in the Customer Service Department helping over 10,000 clients with all of their Real Estate Website questions. After launching the YouTube training videos for iHOUSEWeb he moved up to the marketing department where he helps design and write marketing materials as well as managing the Social Media side of iHOUSEWeb.