These are generally regarded as the top 3 real estate search sites in terms of the number of property views. All of my listings are syndicated to each of these sites and many others. But does quantity of views measure up to quality of views? I looked at data collected by my brokerage, Summit Sotheby’s International Realty, to take a closer look.
We measured the number of property views and the number of email inquiries. While Zillow had the most property views (more than double Trulia and Realtor.com combined), it had the least number of email inquires. The Sotheby’s International Realty Website, came in at number 4 in terms of number of views, just slightly behind Trulia and Realtor.com; but it had more than twice the number of inquiries as each of those sites and more than 4 times the number of inquiries as Zillow. Our local brokerage website, came in 5th for property views, but third for number of inquires, with almost twice as many inquiries as Zillow.
What conclusions can we make from this data? Quantity does not always equal quality. While it’s nice that hundreds of thousands of people are looking at my listings, the people I care about are the ones who will actually turn into buyers. These are the people who are making email inquiries. The Sotheby’s International Realty website and our local brokerage site are attracting more serious buyers.
Where do Park City buyers come from? It turns out that the number one state for searches was Utah, followed by California, Texas, New York, and Florida. This is no surprise to me, as these states make up the majority of where my clients live. There is no question that it is important for properties to be syndicated to real estate websites, as 92% of buyers use the internet to search for homes. It is even more important for properties to be syndicated to the right real estate websites.
What do you think? Which websites do you use to search for property?
2 Comments
Nancy
A couple of years ago Prudential Utah Real Estate in Park City bought the Zip Realty search engine because of its advanced technology (www.ziprealty.com). I was part of Zip Realty then and still am, though now with the Prudential brand. Zip Realty garners thousands of hits daily and captures buyers and sellers for its affiliated agents. Most of our agents look to the Zip Realty leads for the majority of our business. At least I do. Zip Realty boats on its website that it offers 30 percent more listings than Zillow. That’s because it updates daily, while Zillow does not. Zip Realty says it’s a top site for hits. In your research did you run into Zip Realty or learn anything about it? I was just curious about its presence on the internet from an outside source.
Thanks for your comment on my blog. Sotheby’s doesn’t use Zip Realty, so they were not in the report I use for my research. Perhaps a proprietary system like Zip Realty or Sotheby’s International Realty attract more buyers than lookers. I agree with your comments that Zillow does not update often. In my experience, Zillow’s information is frequently incorrect. Zillow has the most listings, but that is because they frequently show expired or off market listings as “active”.