Altos Research is the premier source for real-time real estate research. Our real estate data and local real estate reports are used by financial firms, investors, and thousands of real estate professionals around the country.
This blog is primarily authored by Mike Simonsen, co-founder and CEO of Altos Research. Other ways to be in touch:
Redfin, the discount real estate broker with a bitchin' website and a CEO who goes on 60 Minutes to rail against the industry, has soft-launched an up-sell - and in my opinion business-model-saving - Redfin Select service.
Given Redfin's history, I had to check the date of the Redfin blog post to make sure it wasn't dated April 1. Although Glenn Kelman hinted in a comment here a couple weeks ago that something was coming.
Select is simply a way to let home buyers opt for some hand-holding on as many home tours as they'd like. They pay a little more and get a little more service. Redfin usually refunds two-thirds of the home buyer's commission. For people who opt for Select, they'll get 50% of the commission refunded.
Still a good option for buyers who want to save some cash, but Redfin makes 50% more per transaction. This is huge step towards making Redfin a viable company. Kudos to Glenn and team.
BTW - I mentioned in my December post of 2008 Predictions for the RE.net that Redfin was going to have to make this move. (I've hit two of those so far. We'll see if Rich Barton promotes himself out of Zillow before year's end...) Here's what I said about the Redfin business model at the time:
I've grown less sanguine about the Redfin business model this year. Champion of the discounters, Redfin's gotta scale its revenue. CEO Glenn Kelman posted some of his business metrics on Guy Kawasaki's blog (which took some serious cojones, so kudos to Glenn for stepping up.) In that post, one thing is clear: he needs to marshal Redfin to $100 million in revenue, fast. If you assume that Redfin clears ~$5000 on it's discount home sales transactions, that means they have to scale to 20,000 home sales in the next couple years. In this market.
Glenn also pointed out that they have more people driving around in the field than they originally planned. (i.e. the model scales less efficiently.) But if you introduce premium services and can bring your average-revenue-per-deal closer to $10,000, that's a much more achievable target. Not surprisingly, this was also the path that Zip Realty took several years ago.
In short, it's a smart move. And it's not surprising, because Kelman seems to be no fool. Good for their clients and good for them.
Just spent a couple of fine days in Atlanta with the RE Tech South crew. Brad Nix and Matt "blog from the heart" Fagioli pulled together a great session with just a couple of weeks planning, so kudos to them. All in all a couple hundred people, interactive, interested, motived to improve their internet marketing.
Great conversations on real estate video, blogging, search optimization. I did a panel where we talked about leveraging widgets on your site and in your marketing.
For me the most informative session was on video. I've not previously been a video guy but then I'm not selling houses. But the panel had a chance to dive into some of the great innovations in video that are really exploding the medium for realtors. From cheap easy cameras, to professional videographers, and powerful presentation tools. Rock on.
Rudy proved again why Pete Flint got a steal bringing him on board as Trulia's social media guru. And I always enjoy working with Dustin, Jon, and the maniacs at Domus (who contributed a lot to this day too. golf clap for Pat and Kevin.)
We met some new friends too. Atlanta Real Estate blogger Kathy Drewien is going to be spicing up her market data posts with spiffy AltosCharts. With Michael Fournier, we're growing our reach in the Charlotte market. Michael liked to point out that Charlotte is the only one of the 20 Case Shiller-measured housing markets where median home price is up in the twelve months ending January. Desiree at Bella Web Design sums up the day nicely.
I'm a big fan of the technologies shaking up the real estate industry. Though my perspective differs from the simple-minded view that agents simply make too much money and that technology will only cut the 6% commission to the bone. In fact, I've written previously that innovations in real estate may indeed help agents to charge a premium, to meet a particular need for a home seller -- if they want to sell fast or get a certain price, for example. Further, I've suggested that Redfin can save their business if they admit that some clients want a great internet home buying experience and are willing to pay a premium for a premium service.
Today Prashant Gopal at BusinessWeek has an article citing how these premium relationships are happening, even in this crazy bad market.
... [Seller] McCarty decided a year ago to give real estate agents an added incentive to guide buyers [to his] house about 20 miles outside of Minneapolis. He agreed to pay his agent an 8% commission, which would be split (55%/45%) with the agent representing the buyer.
...
"I wanted more agents to show the property," said McCarty "I was willing to take a little bit more of a hit and pay a higher percentage"
...
Frank D'Angelo, the broker for EXIT Realty Executive who represented McCarty, says he offers customers a transparent, tiered system of payment. For 6%, sellers get the typical menu of services. Sellers who agree to pay 7% get additional benefits, including a guarantee that if the home isn't sold within 39 days, he'll return up to $10,000 of his commission (2% of the sales price). For 8%, buyers also get free home-staging and a "media blitz" of advertisements.
Great stuff. The 6% should be fluid depending on your goals. Discountability is good, if that's what your clients want. Just remember that, especially in a lousy market, some are willing to pay a premium to move a home quickly.
A Look at Minneapolis Real Estate Trends
Just for kicks, let's look at the real estate data for the Minneapolis region to see if McCarty got a good deal. First lets look at the price trends for the Twin Cities.
Median home price in the Minneapolis metro area. Illustrated by quartile. Real Estate Data as of March 14, 2008.
McCarty's house was priced at about $325,000 solidly in the Second Quartile of homes in the Minneapolis region. What about the Days on Market for homes in that price range?
Days on Market trends for homes in the Minneapolis MSA. Illustrated in quartiles so you can see the trend in the sample price range. Data as of March 14 2008.
For homes priced around $300,000 to $400,000 in Minneapolis, the Second Quartile, homes are on the market for 3 - 5 months. McCarty's place went under contract in one. Based on that data, I'd say he got a deal!
Note: We haven't opened the Minneapolis MSA on our free research page yet,
but we're about to, so call us if you want the research report for
anything in the Twin Cities area.UPDATE: Our Minneapolis Real Estate Report is available now.
We've been ramping up with a bunch of partners this spring, and we're hitting the road in support of their programs, so for all you Altos Research groupies out there, here's what the 2008 March-April World Tour looks like:
Next week you can find us in Atlanta at the RETechSouth gig hosted by Brad Nix and Matt Fagiolli. I'll be just one of a really solid panel of real estate technology brains sharing insights. If you're in the real estate technology world and located anywhere close to Atlanta, you'll be at this gig.
The following week, April 2, we're off to the Institute for Luxury Home Marking seminar in Miami. Love the folks at ILHM and we're going to be doing more with this group in the near future. Some great opportunities, especially if you're involved in the high-end housing market.
Then, mid-April we're back in So Cal for Dustin and Jim's second 4Realz Education seminar. The first one was a rousing success, with agents getting really powerful internet marketing insights. This time the session is in Orange County. This is a session for anyone ramping up their internet marketing presence. A must-see event.
As always, give us a buzz if you're coming to any of these events and let's get together.
Since we started our company a couple years ago, we've generally frowned on marketing activities that that require cash. Our marketing consists primarily of this blog, personal referrals, and the press generated by the real estate data content that we provide. (No taxi billboards for us.) So it's a big deal for us to announce a sponsorship of Dustin Luther's 4Realz Education seminars!
Despite our, ahem, frugality, the decision to sponsor 4Realz was an easy one for us. Dustin, of Rain City Guide and late of Move.com, has proven himself to be not only one of the most savvy internet marketers in the real estate world, but also a gifted teacher of those lessons.
Further, Dustin's been a fan of our products and technology for a while. He gets our vision. When he was at Move, subscribers would call to tell me that they'd attended a Top Producer seminar and Dustin Luther was on stage recommending the Altos products! Let me tell you, those kind of unsolicited, un-sponsored endorsements mean so much to an entrepreneur. They also speak volumes for Dustin, in that he's an independent voice that will guide his audience to the best options available no matter who's footing the bill.
Conclusion: Dustin will be hosting a valuable day for real estate professionals - the kind of activity that we want to be associated with. See you there!
I generally try not to stray too far from the real estate topic at hand on this blog, but I want to call your attention this morning to an article by Kevin Kelly (founding editor of Wired Magazine among other literaryaccomplishments). Kelly's the rare "futurist" who deserves the title.
This week he published Better Than Free. The article captures succinctly, why in a world of free and freely copyable information, Altos Research just had another record month in sales.
In fact, Kelly's concepts also capture why our most successful real estate agent clients, in a world of commoditizers and discounters, command a premium, even in this crazy market.
When everything is free on the interwebs, what is it that people really want to pay for? Kelly identifies 8 generatives: uncopyable values generated or cultivated from within. Here's a snippet, do yourself a favor and read the whole article.
Immediacy: Sooner or later you can find a free copy of whatever you want, but getting a copy delivered to your inbox the moment it is released -- or even better, produced -- by its creators is a generative asset.
Personalization: A generic version of a concert recording may be free, but if you want a copy that has been tweaked to sound perfect in your particular living room -- as if it were preformed in your room -- you may be willing to pay a lot.
Interpretation: As the old joke goes: software, free. The manual, $10,000. [The listings? Free. The right neighborhood and home for you? ...]
It turns out while we weren't nearly so articulate about the process, these generatives have been the Altos DNA from day 1. How do we get you great information in real-time, and not just data, but analysis, personalized for you, and leverage-able into your business?
Anyway, to all our clients, readers, subscribers, partners: thanks for being with us. Rock on.
Last week at the Inman Connect conference in NYC, one of the most-talked-about sessions was Brian Boero's "50 Tools and Technologies to Help You Win in a Slow Housing Market."
Brian is a partner at 1000Watt Consulting and a sophisticated marketer. The slides from Brian's rapid-fire presentation are now available at Inman. In it, he gave a nice (and totally unsolicited) plug for Altos Research (p49). Quite simply, "Know more about the market than your competition."
Inman's a marvelous confab for real estate professionals. The great thing about this message is that it applies to all our clients: Realtors, Wall Street traders, home buyers and sellers, investors, lenders, et al., captured in one pithy phrase. This from I guy I'd never met till I thanked him for the mention. Rock on.
This post is written by our client John Keith a real estate broker in Boston, Massachusetts. We first met John when Scott sat next to him at the opening keynote of the Inman Connect conference in San Francisco this summer. At the time, we were just opening up our coverage in Boston and John jumped at the chance to work with us. We're glad he did.
John's blog is excellent. He's been very effective integrating the Altos market analytics information into his posts. So we asked him to write a post for us about how he uses the Altos Research services in his business, his blog, and with his clients.
John also generously included an endorsement, which I'm more than happy to include here. Note: I've done a tiny little bit of editing, and I added the images. Everythig else comes directly from John. Enjoy:
About John Keith
I am a Boston real estate agent. I have a blog devoted to Boston Real Estate, at bostonreb.com.
My blog has a main page with daily updates of news and information about the Boston real estate market. In addition, on this page, visitors can search through all the condos and single-family homes listed for sale in our local Multiple Listing Service. Also, visitors may click through to pages of information I have written that are of specific interest to buyers, sellers, investors, etc.
I signed-up as an Altos Research client several months ago. I thought it would be a great way to provide another much-needed service to my site's visitors. More importantly, I figured it would make me be seen as an "expert" on the Boston real estate market. Therefore, visitors would be more likely to inquire about using me as their real estate agent, increasing my business (and my revenue).
After being an Altos Research client for several months, I have seen very positive results and can say I'm very happy I have made the investment.
How I Leverage Altos Research in My Blog and Business Now that I have access to them, I've tried a couple different ways of using the reports and graphs.
Right now, I have it set up so that there is one main graph on my blog's main page, for the city of Boston as a whole. It updates automatically, once each week's reports are finalized at Altos (every Monday evening).
I also have a link on my blog's main page directing visitors to another page where they can download any of the Altos weekly market reports (I subscribe to eleven Boston ZIP codes).
Banner for John Keith's blog BostonREB.com. Note the MLS Search, Market Reports, and New Developments dedicated pages. These are the three things that everyone wants to know about. The Market Reports, of course, come from Altos.
This past week, I added separate neighborhood-specific pages to my blog. [ed: here's The Fenway, for example.] These pages have blog entries devoted to each major Boston neighborhood. The idea is, visitors to my site will start on the main blog page, then click through to read more about specific neighborhoods.
I have an AltosChart on each of these neighborhood- specific pages, set up to show market data just for that neighborhood, by ZIP code. Probably some time in the near future, I'll be adding a link on these pages to each neighborhood's Altos market report (using each neighborhood's ZIP code).
I'm also about to set up an MLS search, preset by neighborhood, showing just listings in that specific neighborhood.
I expect this to have great results. The majority of visitors will continue to begin their visit on my main page, but then they will want to visit the page focused on just their neighborhood(s) of interest. By having the MLS search and AltosCharts on each neighborhood's page, I'm providing visitors with useful information.
How Strong the Call-To-Action? It's an open question as to how much information and data to provide to everyone - whether or not to have the Altos Research reports available to everyone, or whether I should force visitors to contact me for access to the reports (a "call to action", it's called).
Certainly, by making people contact me, I'm creating a two-way relationship - it encourages communication, which, hopefully, would lead to new business.
However, I also believe in making as much information as possible available to as many people as possible.
Most people visit my website multiple times, over a period of days, weeks, and/or months prior to contacting me to be their real estate agent. They already know me quite well from my blog, before they make an inquiry. So, there may be little to lose by having the reports readily available to the casual visitor.
Each week, I upload all the updated reports (by neighborhood and city-wide) to my servers. I receive reports for eleven ZIP codes, which covers the majority of the "downtown Boston" market.
There are actually 29 ZIP codes in the city of Boston, and I've considered getting reports for each of them. I would like to be "complete", even though I don't handle real estate sales in the other neighborhoods. This would increase traffic to my site, which would increase my exposure to potential clients and make me seen as the expert in ALL of Boston.
Measuring My Return on Investment I think the cost of the reports is easily justified. First, I enjoy reading the reports, myself. It presents data in ways I don't collect, myself. As well, it provides useful information to my existing clients. And, it provides useful information to potential clients.
Again, it makes me become known as an "expert" in Boston real estate - as the primary source for data and information on the Boston real estate market.
As of now, only a couple of other Boston real estate agents offer the Altos Research reports, which is fine by me, but I expect more agents to begin offering the reports to clients, which will increase competition. I'm glad I'm doing it, first.
Over the past couple of years, you’ve probably modified your marketing expenditures by increasing your spending on Internet-based marketing – developing your website and increasing your online presence while retaining your traditional print and snail-mailing activities.
Now that sales are down, you’re taking a look at the most efficient way to spend your marketing budget.The natural reactions is the old – “last on the boat is the first off!” meaning that you're thinking about cutting back on your online spending to rely on the "tried and true" print mediums.
Maybe that’s not the best course of action.
When the real estate marketing was hot, it was easy to pass by some of these great blog posts and news articles comparing print to online real estate advertising. Here are just a few articles that provide mounting evidence with real statistics showing that your advertising and marketing budget is best spent online.
Many of you are not only real estate agents, but your own personal website developer and programmer.(Not that working with clients and finding new ones doesn’t take enough time!)As a way to help with developing and managing your website, we’ve collected a list of helpful online tutorials and websites dedicated to providing you with step-by-step help and hints on HTML.
1. W3Schools is an Internet Developers Portal that is designed to help everyone learn how to develop their website.Their section on HTML provides very basic steps to help you:
2. HTML Code Tutorial is the official website of The Idocs Guide to HTML:
4. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C's mission is “to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web. There is a great introduction to HTML on their website.
With the general slowdown in housing markets, many of are considering ways to maximize your marketing budget. Here are a couple of questions to help you with this exercise:
1. How much of your budget is spent using technology and online marketing tools?Here’s an article published in 2005 that couldn’t be anymore timely if it was published this morning.Real estate information is online. Your customers are online. If you are thinking about cutting back on your marketing budget, be sure that you expenditures match with the behavior of your potential clients.
2. Are you giving people a reason to visit your website?More importantly – are you giving people a reason to visit your website again? You can add fresh content to your site with a weblog. Several sources for free weblogs include:
Blogs are free to set up and operate – you just need to spend 15-30 minutes/day posting an entry. Don’t be intimidated – just start one and let it roll from there.
3. How “findable” are you online? Have you set up a profile on LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, ActiveRain, and other online communities that can link you to potential clients?
4. Finally, here’s a checklist of Real Estate Marketing Tips to consider provided by Arming Your Farming.
For many of the real estate professionals out there, August is the time of year to take a look at your marketing and web/online strategies as you gear up for the Fall season and plan ahead to next Spring. In developing and re-developing your online strategies, a key factor in effective implementation is whether or not you can be found online.One way to increase the number of home buyers & sellers that find you on the web is through “Search Engine Optimization” (SEO).
In short, SEO is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to your websites and blogs. (thanks Wikipedia!) For real estate professionals, this means increasing the number of prospective home buyers and sellers that can find you via a web search on Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and other search engines.
Think of it as the “Findability” of your web site!
The good news is that you don’t have to pay an expense tech consultant to help you with this (though you can if your budget allows!).
So you ask – “What are some quick and easy ways to begin to increase your SEO for your web marketing?”
Ask yourself – “What are the top 10 search terms that a home buyer or seller will use in searching for real estate and/or an agent in your area?” Be sure that these terms are well-integrated into your web site and URL.
Add a catchy title and key phrase to your website that includes key search terms that you developed. (i.e. “Mary Smith, Anytown’s Real Estate Agent”).
If you are not planning to add a Blog to your site, be sure to constantly update your website with new content on a regular basis.This includes information such as real estate market information for you area or maybe a Commentary section to your site where you add new content at least once a week.
Be sure that the “key words” on your site are in TEXT, not in static images like .GIF or .JPEG files.Many website that include an agent’s contact info integrated into a nice looking .GIF or .JPEG file.The problem is that Google and other search engines cannot read this information and the information in a static image will not be found, thus hurting your Google page rank. An easy test is whether or not you can copy and paste text from your web page to a word document, such as your name, areas that you cover, and email address.If you cannot copy and paste, then Google can’t find it.
We recently put together a tour of our product offering for real estate pros. It's yet not as polished as we'd like it, but I thought I'd drop it in here to get some feedback from our regular readers.
If you're a realtor and wonder what the heck Altos does for a living, check out this slidecast. [The presentation is really targeted for real estate professionals. It doesn't contain a lot of details on the market analytics, rather focuses on how our clients use the system in their marketing.] At some point we'll integrate it into our main site for all to see.
Following the postings summarizing the Inman conference's BloggersConnect workshop, we've had requests from many of you for some more information about "widgets."
In short, a widget is a graphical web tool that you can insert into your website or blog. I like to think of it as a "little critter" that sits on your website. It has the ability to "think" because it is programmed to show specific information or behave in a certain way.
In the case of the Altos Charts widget - once you create an Altos Chart, it sits on your site and asks itself - "Am I showing the most up-to-date data available?" Then it runs back to the database to check, then runs back to your site to display any changes.
A more specific definition of a widget and a list of widgets available for real estate marketing and blogs is located at Future of Real Estate.
Realivent lists a series of more specific widget and plug-in types in on their blog.
on 60 Minutes to rail against the industry, has 
from Brian's rapid-fire presentation are now available at 