VOW as Broker Strategy for Competing with Portals

Where is the first place consumers go when looking to learn more about their local housing market? Brokers would like to say that curious searchers visit their firm's website, but that is not often the case.

Instead, prospects end up on third party portals, time and again. Why? There are many reasons, ranging from SEO considerations to the power of portals' brand recognition.

A bigger reason, however, may be the lackluster data offered by agent and broker IDX sites. "I've worked with three third-party IDX products," says Florida broker Richard Eimers. "They were all working fine, but I always felt there was something missing because, really, the only question they were addressing was what's for sale. I found that the needs and the desires of the buyers as we spoke to them after they came into the office is that they wanted more information."

Even though listing data on portals is often inaccurate, consumers flock to them because they provide a more complete picture than IDX sites do. If brokerages want to compete with portals, they need to up the ante on the property information they offer.

One way to do this is by implementing Virtual Office Websites (VOW). VOWs allow the consumers to create an account in order access comprehensive listing data from the MLS.

This includes information on active, pending, sold, and even expired listings. For any property, a VOW can provide complete data, including when the seller came on the market, at what price, how many times they have listed, and more.