My boss is interested in providing a service that should appeal to Real-Estate agency's. However, I know nothing about how those agency's work. I'm looking for a little background.
Basically, he wants to provide a service where we take 360 degree photos of property and homes/buildings, and web-host them for the agent. We put the appropriate links on the agent's web-site (or we can host their whole site). This would allow for virtual tours of the homes they are representing.
Would this be something that they agents would find useful?
Who would be the people who would/could make these arrangements? The agents or the agency or some organization?
We are looking at a cost around .1% of the average homes selling value (we have a set price for 10 photo's per house--$150-$200, but this 1% should help keep things in perspective as the cost of homes around the country varies widely). Is this an expense that the agents or the home-owners could swallow easily?
Thanks for any thoughts. Somehow I've gone from Salesman at my job to new market research specialist.
Posted by cmos (Member # 8012) on :
well, I don't have anything directly to contribute, however, you may want to look into the competition for that kind of service. I don't recall the name of the provider, but I have come across quite a few online listings that provided a 360 picture/video tour of the listing.
hope that helps a bit.
(first post btw, so hi to everyone!)
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Thanks Cmos, and welcome aboard. (We've checked on competitors. I was hoping for some inside info on the biz)
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
Dan, you'd need to talk to the brokers in charge. Most metropolitan areas or counties will also have a Board of Realtors or similar organization to which you could pitch the idea. A mass pitch like this is a good idea because no Agency will want to be left out if their competitors are running with it.
Pricing may be the sticker. Although it would be illegal to fix commission rates, most do set their commissions at the 6% range. However, you have to understand how that commission is split. Traditionally, it is split half between the listing and half between the sale of the house. If one agent lists the house and another sells it, the commission is split. But it is also split more than just 50/50. Most brokers will split half of each share with the agents that work with them. Once again, the half mark is a generalization. While a broker might end up with 3% in the end if their agency both listed and sold the house, they get a good chunk of change.
With multiple listings, however, a broker may only get a 1.5% stake in the selling of a house or less, depending on their set commission structure. From that, they have to pay their expenses from office salaries (secretaries, bookkeepers, maintenance) and whatnot. Plus taxes, plus advertising of the properties and the agency itself.
Basically, the broker has a bunch of expenses beyond just listing and selling houses. The trick is to make your product just a wee expense on a home, no more than the cost of a newspaper ad.
The one-tenth of one percent sounds like a good rate, but you need to set in stone whether that is based on the listed price (and initial listed price is the key word, listing prices can drop fast in a dropping marketplace), rather than on the sale price. Sale price can be influenced by quite a bit of creative accounting.
It's a good service to offer and not one that most Realtors will be unfamiliar with. It may be just the service they've been looking for. Some, however, may be of a mind that it's gimmicky. The trick is to show them how well it can work.
Perhaps you should do a test run with one agency that already has a web presence. Offer to set up 10 for free if you can track the web hits, etc... Go with a locally owned agency rather than one of the big chains. Most large chains already have something in house like this or they can be reluctant to move from traditional advertising features.
Also remember, when dealing with Realtors and agencies, you are working with professional bargainers. Don't be afraid to set your price just a bit high to work in a bit of wiggle room during negotiations. Realtors always want a bit more from their money than you might be willing to give.