Move aside, agents! Buyers are taking charge of their own home searches. In fact, less than a third of buyers found their homes with the help of a real estate agent. Instead, buyers were twice as likely to use the internet to find their next home.1
Before sites like Realtor.com and Zillow entered the scene, one of a real estate agent’s main jobs was to locate properties for their buyers, and they primarily did this through the MLS. Buyers viewed homes as the agent produced them. But now, buyers are going rogue and finding their own properties.
What does this shift mean for today’s real estate agents? First, it means that seller’s agents need to take control of their listing’s narrative. Buyers are leading the crusade and according to that same study, 95% of them are doing it online. This means that home sellers and their agents can’t get away with simply listing their homes on the MLS and waiting for the inquiries to roll in. Gone are the days of yard signs and the real estate section of the newspaper. Property websites are front and center, and they’re the new tool that every realtor needs to be using.
So, how can a property website help elevate an agent’s listing beyond the MLS?
- A property website tells a home’s story without other listings competing for attention on the same page. Instead of being one listing among many, it is completely in the spotlight.
- Property sites captivate buyers with all of the curated marketing content in one place. You can manage every aspect, from selecting the primary image to choosing where the video tour is located on the site.
- Property websites impress sellers with an experience that’s completely personalized for their home. They can choose a template that perfectly fits the feel of their home, select and organize photos, add important features, and more.
An agent can make sure their listings are getting in front of the right eyes when they add a property website to their toolkit. And when they use Open Homes, they can check out examples of our websites, view different templates, and see everything included with a website order here.
