Hamlet said the question is “to be or not to be”.
Yeah, well forget Hamlet. To require MLS registration or not: THAT is the question!
(For those that don’t know, MLS means Multiple Listing Service/System. The big giant data base that includes most homes currently for sale)
At last count, there are over 3.2 bazillion real estate web sites out there. Most have an data feed to their MLS that allows web site visitors to search homes on the local MLS. (And those that don’t have it, should).
Some real estate sites require visitors to “register” prior to getting access to the MLS search, some don’t. Registration usually entails providing your name, email address, phone number and occasionally a commitment to give up your first born child.
On our main web site, ThompsonsRealty.com, no registration is required. I’ve tried it with and without registration and I’ve found that my visitor count drops off dramatically when I require registration. And given the names I get with registrations, those that do register all seem to be related to Disney characters. I must have a dozen different email addresses for Mickey Mouse and his friends. Some guy named Ben Dover registers frequently too.
I’ve talked to a lot of people over the years about requiring MLS registration and gotten a plethora of opinions.
Proponents of MLS registration say things like:
- Don’t give everything away for free
- Serious buyers will register
- What’s the point in having a website if you don’t capture visitor information
- You can’t convert visitors to clients if you don’t know who they are
Opponents of MLS registration argue:
- If you require registration, people will just go to the next site that doesn’t
- You get too many bogus registrations
- Internet buyers tend to be a long way off from buying and want to remain anonymous in the beginning
- There are other ways to capture visitor information
- If you provide great service, the serious buyers/sellers will identify themselves
I get visitors to my site every single day that find us using search terms like “Phoenix MLS search no registration”, “Arizona MLS no registration”, or even plain old generic “no registration MLS”. We rank #1 on Google for “Phoenix MLS search no registration”. When I required registration, not one single visitor arrived by searching for a site that requires registration.
*Many* real estate agents have said to me,
Jay, you’re nuts. You HAVE to require registration to capture leads!
To them I say, “fooey”.
First, I don’t believe people inherently WANT to register on any web site. I hate registering on web sites, which is a main reason I have a hard time asking people to do it on my site.
Second, I’m a big fan of the Internet. I’m a bigger fan of free information. A person armed with information is a powerful person. I like to arm my web site visitors with information. I have enough inherent trust in humanity that if I provide a potential home seller or buyer with information then they will appreciate that, see that I’m an all around swell guy, and flock to us to help them buy or sell real estate.
And finally, I know that if you provide great customer service, they will come.
Several of my digital pals have written on the subject of the MLS.
Todd Tarson expounds in I am not a philosopher. Jeff Tomlin has a great piece on the Future of the MLS. Judy Orr talks of MLS’s forbidding agents to use the term MLS on their web sites (!) and how her MLS *forces* her to require registration. (Not all MLS’s are created equal.) And Cathleen Collins over on the Bloodhoundblog opines more eloquently than I could ever dream of.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m in a small market and I think that there shouldn’t be too many restrictions on the Members coming fromt the Association or MLS (sometimes they are one in the same).
I’ve also invested in property in other small markets. One such market was Clovis NM. I was dealing with an agent via phone about a particular property but told her that I’ll go ahead and search on my own on her web-site after she told me she had an IDX feed.
I quickly realized that I had to ‘log in’ to her sight. So I immediately searched for other agents that had a web-site with IDX. That was my initial reaction to having to offer my info. I ran into the same thing with other IDX sites though, so I assumed that it must be an Association driven thing. I thought that sucked.
I did go back to the original agents site and did the register thingy. But I wasn’t happy about it.
To be honest, my blog is way more important to me than anything else on the Internet that I’m associated with. My website for my practice I thought was always sort of stagnate. I mean I have photos of me and some other jive about me and the various programs I offer… I also have a non log in IDX. And when the market was screaming hot I did have buyers head to my site to help ME search for a property or two. Now Greg Tracy and Greg Swann have great sites that are way better than mine (yours too I should add), and that’s great. I know I could do more, but honestly the blog is where its at for me at this time.
I want potential clients to feel free, free is the key word, to interact with me as they see fit. If they use my site to search property, great. If they just want to look at my ugly mug, great. If they want to know what’s going on in Mohave County they can check out the blog. It is totally up to them. I still get local business through many other sources (again, it’s a small community up here and it pays to hold doors open for others and being otherwise nice to folks as they remember who you are, reputation is king in this area).
I would like to get more biz from the Internet and I’m heading in that direction, just at a slower pace than others are… and again, I’m good with that.
So I put my way of doing things up against the way others do things… and let the strong survive. I’m still breathing.
Why would anyone who is serious about buying/selling real estate, and finding someone to
help them do it, want to register - giving their REAL name, email, etc. -
BEFORE they know what you have to offer and if it suits them. Doesn’t make sense.
I fully agree with the above post and comments. People like browsing the Internet for listings because it’s fast, easy, and ANONYMOUS. Forcing people to register to get information that they can easily get elsewhere (like realtor.com) not only drives traffic from your site, but leaves a bad taste in the visitor’s mouth.
I particularly like your statement, “If you provide great service, the serious buyers/sellers will identify themselves.” I’m sick of the idea that a website is just a ‘tool’ for agents to ‘capture leads’. Like somehow you’re out to trick all your potential clients into giving you their contact info (so you can presumably harrass them later). Provide valuable, accurate information for free. The client will remember that and come back to you (most of the time ;).
I think with privacy concerns out there it makes sense users dont want to be giving out their information before they have picked which real estate agent they want to work with.
Very nice website you have.
Some real estate sites require visitors to “register” prior to getting access to the MLS search, some don’t. Registration usually entails providing your name, email address, phone number and occasionally a commitment to give up your first born child.