BROKER’S INSIDERManagement and sales tools for the residential real estate broker March 15, 2009 Vol. 40 No. 6
Industry Trends
Century 21 pulls plug on national TV ads,RE/MAX still spending
Century 21 was one of the firstreal estate brands to advertise onnational TV.
It hired baseball legend Cal Rip-ken Jr. to appear in its spots for atime, and in 2008 the well-knownbrand spent more on TV ads thanany real estate broker save RE/MAXInternational.
But in 2009, Century 21 pulledthe plug on its national TV ads. TheParsippany, NJ-based broker hasredeployed its $35 million nationalad budget away from the brandbuilding of TV ads and toward moretargeted lead generation online.
Bev Thorne, Century 21’s seniorvice president of marketing, calls themove a smart one at a time whennearly 90 percent of buyers starttheir searches online.
“We’re really moving our adver-tising to the mediums that have thegreatest impact on buyers and sell-ers,” Thorne says.
The TV ads starring Ripkenaimed to build brand awareness, butthat task has been accomplished,Thorne says.
“We’re a brand that sits herewith about 97 percent brand aware-
(Continued on page 2)
Agency Marketing
Broker continually pushes agents to improveweb marketing
Dan Forsman, head of PrudentialGeorgia Realty, remembers whenposting five photos with an onlinelisting was considered the cuttingedge of technology.
Then 10 photos became the stan-dard. Now, 25 photos and a videopresentation are considered the rule.
And Prudential Georgia Realtyhas evolved quickly — so much sothat Realtor.com recently honoredthe brokerage with its Online Mar-
keting Award of Excellence. “Prudential Georgia Realty has
done an exemplary job of developingone of the nation’s top online mar-keting programs for their clients,”says Realtor.com Vice PresidentMax Pigman.
Forsman says part of the onlinemarketing strategy is simply per-suading agents to get on board.
“We had a contest for 60 days toencourage agents to get all listingsup to 25 photos and a virtual tour,”
(Continued on page 3)
NAR’s new approach:Accuracy, not spin
The National Association ofRealtors has launched RealEstate Today, a weekly radioshow designed to “give con-sumers up-to-date real estateinformation, insight, and advice.”
What listeners won’t hear,according to NAR PresidentCharles McMillan, is spin.
“The accent is on accuracy,”McMillan says. ”We recognizethat pushing people to buyhouses for the wrong reasonsdoesn’t help anybody.”
That’s a stark contrast fromNAR’s previous strategy. FormerChief Economist David Lereahhas been reviled for calling themarket bottom too soon. AndNAR’s $40 million ad campaignaimed at persuading consumersto buy was panned.
“Realtors understand theimportance of accurate informa-tion, regardless of whether it’sperceived as good or bad,”McMillan says.
In this issueTo set prices in buyer’s market, broker
relies on wisdom of crowds. . . . . 4
In today’s market, cater to bulls andowls, not lambs and tigers . . . . . 5
Realogy suffers big loss, but commis-sion rates tick upward. . . . . . . . . 6
2 MARCH 15, 2009 www.BrokersInsider.com REAL ESTATE BROKER’S INSIDER
ness,” she notes. “So to shift thatneedle up even higher than 98 wasreally oversaturation.”
Century 21 is still runninglocal TV ads, Thorne says, and ithas made a concerted push intodeeper online marketing. She saysthe change in focus already is pay-ing off. From 2007 to 2008, thevolume of leads Century 21 gener-ated online soared237 percent,and its cost perqualified lead fell62 percent.
“We did atremendous amountof testing of varioussites and activities,”Thorne says.
Thorne won’tdisclose numbers,but TNS MediaIntelligence saysCentury 21 spent$26 million on so-called measuredmedia during thefirst nine months of2008. Of that total, Century 21spent $2.3 million online, accord-ing to TNS Media Intelligence.
For RE/MAX TV still a brand builder
So what about RE/MAX Inter-national, the biggest spender onnational TV ads? The Denver-basedsystem continues its campaign.
In fact, the company seesopportunity in Century 21’s disap-pearance from the national adver-tising landscape.
“RE/MAX agents don’t have tochoose between Internet and televi-sion,” says David Rea, RE/MAX’screative director. “They get both.”
Of course, only a tiny percent-
age of the consumers who see aRE/MAX ad are preparing to buy orsell a home at the moment they viewthe spot. But, Rea says, the TV adsare crucial in generating future list-ing appointments.
“It gives us a tremendous advan-tage in building a rapport withfuture clients,” he says.
RE/MAX and Century 21 werethe only firms doingnational Spanish-lan-guage TV ads. But,Thorne says, Century21 has cut both itsEnglish and Spanishcampaigns.
“Now, it wouldseem we basicallyhave that category toourselves,” Rea says.
Rea acknowl-edges that RE/MAXisn’t spending asmuch this year as itdid during the boom.Still, it thinks ham-mering away at con-sumers’ psyches
makes sense. RE/MAX’s 2009 TVads remind buyers that this is a greatbuyers’ market.
“Even when times are good,people tend to put trust in brandsthey know,” Rea says. “And whentimes are bad, that becomes evenmore important.”
A Nielsen Media report saysRE/MAX leads the real estate indus-try in ad impressions, followed byColdwell Banker, Century 21, andERA. (A Coldwell Banker spokes-woman says that company hasstopped running its 2008 TV ads,but she declined to offer furtherdetails about the company’s adver-tising strategy.)
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Century 21 pulls plug on national TV ads,RE/MAX still spending (Continued from page 1)
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Different philosophiesCentury 21 ended itsnational TV ad campaign,but RE/MAX continues. Whythe different approaches?• Century 21 says online
marketing is a better wayto generate leads.
• RE/MAX says TV ads arean effective way to gener-ate listing appointments.
• Greg Herder says theaudience for TV ads isn’tconsumers — it’s brokersand agents.
REAL ESTATE BROKER’S INSIDER www.BrokersInsider.com MARCH 15, 2009 3
RE/MAX brokers and agentslove the company’s advertising reach,Rea says — and, indeed, brokers andagents might be a more important tar-get for TV ads than consumers.
Agents the real audience
Greg Herder of Hobbs/HerderAdvertising in Newport Beach, CA,says the primary audience fornational TV ads always has beenfranchisees and theiragents.
“I don’t believe itreally drives thatmuch business to theindividual offices,”Herder says. “What it does is driveagent retention and recruiting.”
Even so, Herder says he was“very surprised” to hear Century 21was dropping TV ads. And hethinks Century 21 will suffer forabandoning its campaign.
“I hear it over and over againfrom agents,” Herder says. “‘I loveseeing my company on TV. I wantto be part of something. I want togo to a company I know andrespect.’”
Herder says he wouldn’t be sur-prised to see Keller Williams oranother national brand step into theopening left by Century 21.
Of course, it’s the agents them-selves who ultimately pay the billfor what may be little more than arecruiting tool.
“There is irony in that,” Herdersays.
Bob Ratliff, an agent atRE/MAX Central in Las Vegas, sayshe realizes there has been a “para-digm shift” in the way consumersshop for homes. But he supportsRE/MAX’s heavy investment in TVadvertising.
“It certainly doesn’t hurt,”Ratliff says. “I make a living off theRE/MAX name. That’s really thereason I’m with RE/MAX.”
But there are no sour grapesfrom John Piper, owner of the 120-agent Century 21 Champion in SanJose, CA. He doesn’t miss seeinghis brand on TV.
“I think it’s great,” Piper says.“The timing is perfect. We need togo where the consumers are.”
Century 21’s brand recognitionalready is so high that Piper sees lit-tle value in spending for more televi-
sion advertising. But hedoes see value in usingthe Internet to generateleads and drive businessto his agents.
Century 21’sThorne acknowledges that she hasheard some gripes from franchiseeswho like to see their company on TV.
“I’m not going to kid you,”Thorne says. “Some brokers arecalling me and saying, ‘That’s terri-ble because my granddaughter can’tsee me on TV any more.’”
But Thorne says she’s con-vinced that RE/MAX is only wast-ing its money on national TV ads.
“I’m so confident of the empiri-cal data we’ve collected that I’d bethrilled if they’re still doing it,” shesays. “I don’t think it’s a cost-effec-tive method of marketing, so I’d behappy to have my competitorsspend money on it.”
Contacts: Bev Thorne, Century 21,973-407-5631; David Rea, RE/MAXInternational, 303-770-5531; BobRatliff, RE/MAX Central, 702-807-5528;Greg Herder, Hobbs/Herder Advertising,949-515-5000; John Piper, Century 21Champion, 408-978-8095.
Broker continually pushes agents to improveweb marketing (Continued from page 1)
Who is top of mind?In the first half of 2008,
RE/MAX led in online adimpressions, the number oftimes an ad is actually dis-played online.
“The timing is perfect.We need to go wherethe consumers are.”
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Forsman says. “We evaluate itbranch by branch, and we rigorous-ly restate the advantages of doingthat, so it gets into the culture.”
It seems to be working. About60 percent of Prudential GeorgiaRealty’s listings include 25 photos,Forsman says.
Not every listing lends itself tothe full treatment, he acknowledges.For instance, there’s no point inposting 25 photos of an empty lot.
Forsman also acknowledgesthat he can’t force agents to markettheir listings online.
“My job is to ensure that
agents are working toward an inte-grated technology model,” he says.“But they are independent contrac-tors, so you can herd them, but ifyou push them too hard, they’llpush back.”
Falling costs
Prudential Georgia Realty alsooffers plenty of training and supportfor agents who embrace technology.For instance, the company has anarrangement with a productioncompany to professionally shoot,narrate, and edit audio slideshowsand videos.
4 MARCH 15, 2009 www.BrokersInsider.com REAL ESTATE BROKER’S INSIDER
Pulling out all the technologicalstops makes sense now that videosand audio slide-shows are so muchcheaper to produce,says Tony Floyd,senior vice presi-dent at PrudentialGeorgia Realty.
“What oncecost thousands ifnot many hundredsof dollars, we cannow get for $150,”Floyd says.
But technologywithout training isdangerous.
“We have spenta lot of time teaching our agentshow to discover what’s unique abouta property and to tell that story,”Floyd says.
While agents often balk at thecost of multimedia marketing, Floyddoes his best to convince them thatmarketing makes sense, especiallyin today’s market.
“Agents will tend to look at thecost,” Floyd says. “So we’ll encour-age our agents to figure out who theproperty’s competition is and who
the agent’s competition is, and bebetter than them.”
Floyd says ithasn’t been difficultto persuade agentsthat times havechanged.
“If you’re stilldoing real estate theway you did it 10years ago and it’sworking for you,fine,” Floyd says.“More often thannot, what workedfive or 10 years agoisn’t workingtoday.”
Once PrudentialGeorgia Realty’s online marketinggenerates leads, agents’ work hasjust begun. The company has a pro-gram it calls “rapid response realestate” that aims to quickly respondto leads.
Forsman focuses on sendingleads directly to agents rather thanto a call center. He says call centerconversion rates are too low.
“I’m not a call center junkie — which might not be consistentwith where the rest of the world
wants to be,” Forsman says.Other Prudential Georgia Realty
efforts include:• Listing distribution that syndi-
cates properties to 115 real estatewebsites.
• Listings appear as “showcase”or “featured” listings on major sitesincluding Realtor.com, Yahoo RealEstate, Trulia.com, Frontdoor.com,and AJCHomefinder.com.
• An inventory of stock photog-raphy to help agents provide 25high-quality photos for each listing.
Search engine optimization andsearch engine marketing that movelistings up in results on Google,Yahoo, AOL, and MSN. For phrasessuch as “Atlanta real estate” and“Atlanta new homes,” PrudentialGeorgia Realty appears among thetop five organic results.
A multimedia advertisingapproach that includes banner ads,behavior-targeted online ads, socialnetworking, blogging, TV ads,online videos, and print ads.
Prudential Georgia Realty has23 offices and 1,200 agents.
Contact: Dan Forsman, Tony Floyd,Prudential Georgia Realty, 770-992-4100, www.prudentialgeorgia.com.
Embracing online marketingHow Prudential Georgia Real-ty stays ahead of the market-ing curve:• Encourages agents to post
25 photos for each listing.• Teaches agents how to tell
each listing’s unique storyonline.
• Has an arrangement with amarketing company thatcreates professionally pro-duced photos and video.
Business Strategies
To set prices in buyer’s market, broker relies on wisdom of crowds
When sellers list with Evers &Co. Real Estate, they can expect awhole crowd of agents to traipsethrough the house on the followingTuesday.
That’s because every Tuesday,Evers & Co. owner Donna Eversleads agents on tours of three to sixrecent listings.
“As many as 25 or 30 of us willshow up to price a property,” Everssays.
At one listing visited by a groupof Evers & Co. agents, the pricesuggestions came in between$725,000 and $760,000. For themost part, the suggestions are with-in 5 percent of each other.
If there are strong disagree-ments, Evers says, “We argue itthrough. We talk about it in agroup.”
Putting multiple eyes on oneproperty helps give a seller a realis-
tic and complete picture of the mar-ket, Evers says. One agent might bemore familiar than the listing agentwith a similar property that recentlysold.
And, Evers says, sellers lovethe attention.
“They want to hear what youhave to say,” Evers says. “Theywant to hear the reasons for thehigh number and the low number.”
While sellers ultimately decidethe list price, having two dozenagents put in their two cents letssellers know that the price sugges-tion isn’t simply a number pulledout of the air.
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REAL ESTATE BROKER’S INSIDER www.BrokersInsider.com MARCH 15, 2009 5
“We spend a lot of time withsellers going through their house,”Evers says. “Sellers really appreci-ate that.”
Wise sellers understand thatthey’re not objective about the valueof their property.
“They’re very involved in theirproperty and they have a very per-sonal view of it,” Evers says. “We’relooking at it as we must, which is asa product.”
Evers says she has little troublegetting her 70 agents to participatein the group pricing exercises.
“Everybody is very good aboutdoing their part,” she says. “Whenit’s their turn to price a property, theother agents will pitch in for them.”
The practice helps keep agentsin touch with the market.
“It’s great for us, because welearn so much that way,” she says.“It’s like doctors making rounds,and the house is the patient.”
Team approach
The group-pricing exercise alsogives sellers a feeling that they havemore than just one agent workingfor them.
“We want them to know we’reall here for them,” Evers says.
Groupthink has become trendyin recent years, as evidenced by top-selling books like The Wisdom ofCrowds, Crowdsourcing, and We AreSmarter Than Me.
“We can do better if we all pitchin and pool our resources,” Everssays.
And smarter pricing is crucial intoday’s buyer’s market. A propertythat’s mispriced when it debuts onthe market is marked with a stigma.
“Nobody can risk making a bigmistake these days,” Evers says. “Ifyou come out the door with a pricethat’s too high, you’re going to payfor that mistake.”
The crowdsourcing approach to
pricing is just one creative wayEvers is tackling a difficult market.
She notes the“huge” drop in sales inthe past few years.
“Volume is down42 percent, but we stillhave about as manyreal estate agents,” she says. “Tostay the same, you have to domore. The business isn’t just auto-matically there when you have thatkind of drop in volume.”
So Evers has been trainingagents to contact more prospectiveclients and to spend more time withbuyers and sellers on weekends.
“The experienced agents under-stand that they have to expand,”Evers says. “And we realized wehad to expand to survive.”
While many brokers have cutoverhead, Evers has weathered thedownturn by adding it. The compa-ny grew from 30 agents and twooffices in 2005 to 70 agents andthree offices now.
“We’ve been steadily growing— and consciously growing,”Evers says.
Jumping on the green band-wagon, Evers has been encourag-
ing agents to use the EcoBroker designation.
“The younger peo-ple are very interestedin this,” Evers says.
First-time buyers are especiallyconcerned about how much theirutility bills will be. And Maryland’sMontgomery County recentlyrequired sellers to disclose utilitybills to buyers.
“This really brings the con-sciousness to a new level,” Everssays.
In another effort to keepclients happy, Evers & Co. offerssellers free staging services. Itmoves accessories and furnitureinto houses to create a better firstimpression.
“We’re charging a lot of moneyto sell their home, and we want tooffer the best services we can,”Evers says.
Contact: Donna Evers, Evers & Co. Real Estate, 202-364-1700,[email protected]:
“We can do better ifwe all pitch in andpool our resources.”
Selling
In today’s market, cater to bulls and owls,not lambs and tigers
Miami condo broker CraigStudnicky long has subscribed tothe personality profiling that dividesbuyers into four types of animals —bulls, owls, lambs, and tigers.
During Miami’s condo boom,emotional lambs and tigers ruled.Now, though, deal-driven bulls andowls dominate the market.
“I try to teach my salespeopleto sell everybody as if they’re sell-ing to those two types,” says
Studnicky, president of InternationalSales Group. “Right now, it’s allabout the deal.”
The bulls, owls, lambs, andtigers, or BOLT, theory was devel-oped by sales consultant CharlesClarke. Here’s how the types breakdown:
• Bulls are focused on the bot-tom line and getting to the point.Used to taking charge, bulls seek tocontrol the negotiations. They’re
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6 MARCH 15, 2009 www.BrokersInsider.com REAL ESTATE BROKER’S INSIDER
smart, brand-conscious, and status-conscious.
• Owls are analytical, logical,and detail-oriented. They’re typi-cally professionals such as lawyers,accountants, or engineers. Theylove to fixate on price per squarefoot as a measure of value.
• Lambs are people pleaserswho avoid conflict and make deci-sions slowly. Lambs are very con-cerned about security and theirneighbors. Lambs tend to be older.
• Tigers are expressive, fun-loving, and impulsive. They buybased on lifestyle considerations.They tend to be younger, and inStudnicky’s home market of SouthFlorida, many tigers are Hispanics.
Studnicky’s firm focuses onselling new condos, and in 2004through 2006, International SalesGroup’s marketing focused onlambs and especially tigers.
“We used to throw theseincredibly lavish parties, and we’dhire these sexy models,” Studnickysays. “That type of buyer is notbuying real estate right now.”
It’s not just the parties thatwere axed. International SalesGroup has shrunk from 300employees in 2005 to 75 employ-ees now, and it has closed a num-ber of offices.
“It’s unfortunate, but I had tostay alive,” Studnicky says.
Still, Studnicky holds out hopethat things will get better in 2009.With prices dropping and mort-gage rates flirting with recordlows, he thinks buyers will comeback.
“You’ve got to sell with enthu-siasm, and you’ve got to sell withurgency,” he says. “Where the hellwas the urgency last year?”
For Realogy Corp., the nation’slargest real estate broker, 2008brought a flood of red ink andsome glimmers of hope.
Realogy, owner of the Cold-well Banker, Century 21, ERA,Sotheby’s, and Better Homes andGardens brands, lost $1.9 billion in2008 as revenue, transactions, andcommission income slumped.
As a result of the weak hous-ing market, Realogy wrote down$1.8 billion of goodwill — butChief Executive Officer Richard A.Smith stressed that theimpairment doesn’taffect the company’shealth.
“Goodwill is sim-ply the differencebetween the price paidfor a company in anacquisition and themost current value ofits assets,” Smith saidin a conference call inlate February. “To beclear, these non-cash charges haveabsolutely no impact whatsoever onthe company’s day-to-day opera-tions, its cash position, liquidity,credit agreements, or viability.”
Amid all the red ink, Realogyalso reported bits of good news. Inone example, commissions beganto bounce back after steadilyfalling during the boom.
The average commission sidefor Realogy’s franchised broker-ages climbed to 2.52 percent in2008, up from 2.49 percent in 2007and 2.47 percent in 2006.
For Realogy’s corporate-owned offices, the commissionincrease was more modest. Itsaverage was 2.48 percent in 2008,
up from 2.47 percent in 2007.Realogy also pointed to fran-
chise growth. In 2008, it signeddeals with brokers who generated$420 million in gross commissionincome, Smith said.
Meanwhile, Realogy said itsowner, buyout firm Apollo Manage-ment, agreed to provide Realogywith a $150 million cash infusion ifit’s needed.
“This is very powerful supportto us during these challenging timesand is not available to most compa-
nies or our competitors,” ChiefFinancial Officer Anthony E. Hullsaid in a conference call.
During the same conferencecall, Smith said Realogy is not fil-ing for bankruptcy.
“That is completely false andwithout merit,” Smith said. “It is aself-serving notion promoted by thepopular press and some of our unin-formed competitors and is evidenceof their attempt to promote theirbusinesses through the unwarrantedcriticism of others as opposed torelying on the values of their busi-ness models, many of which are fail-ing in this market.”
Contact: Realogy Corp., www.real-ogy.com.
Economic Trends
Realogy suffers big loss, but commission ratestick upward
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Realogy’s average commission side, by year2.70%
2.65%
2.60%
2.55%
2.50%
2.45%
2.40%
2.35%2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
nology continues to evolve. Forinstance, a significant number ofconsumers are using iPhones andBlackBerry devices not just to readbasic listing information but toview videos and listen to audios.
Emmendorfer sees one bigadvantage for agents who stayabreast of the changes: They’ll setthemselves apart.
Agents should stress to sellersthat tech-savvy professionals givethem a big edge in marketing theirhomes.
So in your listing presentation,let sellers know about the widevariety of real estate sites. And letfor-sale-by-owner sellers know thata sign in the yard and a cut-ratelisting in the MLS no longer carriesthe marketing weight it once did.
Contact: Tom Emmendorfer, Show-case Technologies, 573-334-9452,[email protected].
REAL ESTATE BROKER’S INSIDER www.BrokersInsider.com MARCH 15, 2009 7
To make listings stand outonline, agents must post video andaudio as part of their online market-ing materials, says Tom Emmendor-fer of Showcase Technologies.
“Listings are 50 times morelikely to show up in search resultsif there’s multimedia informationon the page,” Emmendorfer says.
Showcase Technologies haspartnered with the Exit Realty sys-tem and with First Weber Realtorsof Wisconsin to help agents learnto navigate the fast-changing worldof online marketing.
“Search engines are already somuch more intelligent than they weresix months ago,” Emmendorfer says.
As part of that intelligence,search engines are looking at multi-media information such as videos,audio, and photos. One tip: Ifagents are uploading property pho-tos to a website, they should be sureto change the name of the photo tothe address of the property. That’sbecause search engines now arelooking at names of digital photoswhen judging how to rank pages.
“All of that data has just beenstarted to be mined by Google inthe last month or two,” Emmendor-fer says.
Too many agents are just nowcatching up with technology, andthey don’t realize how quickly tech-
“In commercial, we’re just goingover the edge now,” Huang says.
As Huang looks to expand,don’t expect to see BRC pursuefranchising. He calls national fran-chising “outdated” and “ineffective.”
“Brokers and agents rely on lav-ish marketing campaigns and costlyfranchise fees to lure clients, tactics
that will not work inan environmentplagued by foreclo-sures, high unem-ployment, and ageneral freeze inlending,” he says.“In a good economy,there may be re-wards for everyone.But in this market-place, this formula
is a recipe for disaster.”
Contact: James Huang, BRC Advi-sors, 213-226-8700, www.brcadvisors.com. REBI
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Los Angeles broker JamesHuang runs a company that does abit of everything.
His firm, BRC Advisors, has200 residential agents who focus onbuying and selling homes. BRC has110 commercial agents who focuson office, industrial, and retail deals.
BRC’s investment arm even isbuying foreclosed properties andlisting them for sale with its ownagents.
“Each part is helping the rest ofthe company through the down-turn,” he says.
Huang is founder and chiefexecutive officer of five-year-oldBRC, and he’s expanding aggres-sively in spite of the downturn.BRC has six offices in Southern
California, and he plans to openthree more in 2009: one in SouthernCalifornia, one in Northern Califor-nia, and one in Chicago.
Those will besmall offices thatinitially will focuson commercialbusiness, Huangsays.
He’s expan-sion-minded, buthe’s not blind tothe problems inthe market. TheNational Associa-tion of Realtors in February said thecredit crunch and the recession willmake 2009 a difficult year for thecommercial real estate industry.
Business Models
Broker combines residential and commercialbusinesses, shuns franchises
Broker BioThe broker: JamesHuang, BRC AdvisorsThe model: Residential,commercial, and invest-ment deals under one roof.What’s next: Huang plansto open offices in NorthernCalifornia and Chicago.
Technology
Video, photos gain importance in search engine results
8 MARCH 15, 2009 www.BrokersInsider.com REAL ESTATE BROKER’S INSIDER
Realogy posts listings onHomes.com
Realogy Corporation hasentered a distribution agreementwith Homes.com that puts the list-ings of Better Homes and GardensReal Estate, Coldwell Banker, andERA on the Homes.com site.
Century 21 listings already wereon Homes.com, and in Decemberthat site generated 1.3 million pageviews of listings and some 240,000clicks to the Century 21 site, Realo-gy says.
Homes.com is a division ofDominion Enterprises.
Contact: www.realogy.com.
RE/MAX LeadStreet bringsin 6 million leads
RE/MAX International says its lead management system,LeadStreet, has generated 6 mil-lion unique leads for RE/MAXagents.
RE/MAX charges no referralfees for the leads. LeadStreet sendsleads to agents by email, whichmeans they can receive a lead onany mobile device.
Contact: www.remax.com.
Sotheby’s adds offices,agents
Despite — or perhaps becauseof — the real estate downturn,Sotheby’s International RealtyAffiliates says it expanded its officecount by 10.7 percent in 2008.
Sotheby’s, a division of Realo-gy Corp., ended the year with10,750 agents in more than 500offices worldwide.
In 2008, Sotheby’s added 19companies, and 30 firms alreadyassociated with the franchiseopened new offices.
Contact: www.sothebysrealty.com.
Home prices down 14.8%,NAR says
Home sales and prices contin-ued to fall in January, the NationalAssociation of Realtors says.
Existing-home sales fell 5.3 percent to a seasonally adjustedannual rate of 4.49 million units inJanuary, down from 4.74 millionunits in December and 4.91 millionunits in January 2008.
The national median existing-
home price for all housing typeswas $170,300 in January, down14.8 percent from a year earlierwhen the median was $199,800.
Total housing inventory at theend of January dipped 2.7 percentto 3.60 million existing homes forsale.
While national sales slowed,volumes rose in hard-hit statessuch as California and Florida. InFlorida, sales spiked 24 percentfrom January 2008 to January2009, the Florida Association ofRealtors said.
Contact: National Association ofRealtors, www.realtor.org; FloridaAssociation of Realtors, media.living.net.
CLOSINGS
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Affordability soars as prices fallA silver lining in the cloudy housing market: Housing affordability
surged in the fourth quarter of 2008 to its highest level in at least fiveyears.
That’s according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.
According to the index, 62.4 percent of all new and existing homessold in the final quarter of 2008 were affordable to families earningthe national median income of $61,500.
That’s up from the 56.1 percent of homes that were affordable totypical families in the third quarter. And in 2006, only 40 percent ofhomes were in reach of typical families.
“Falling home prices and very favorable mortgage rates both con-tributed to the housing affordability gains we saw in the fourth quarterof 2008,” says NAHB Chairman Joe Robson.
Indianapolis, where 93 percent of homes are affordable, was thenation’s most affordable major housing market. New York, wherefewer than 14 percent of homes were affordable, was the priciestmarket.Contact: National Association of Home Builders, www.nahb.org/hoi.
Web Extras: To see a chart of housing affordability over the past 16years, go to www.BrokersInsider.com and click on “Web Extras.”
