Are Featured Homes on Realtor.com Worth It?

Article from: http://www.stlagent.com

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By: Darin "Sid" Cameron, CRS
Sun, Jan 13th, 2008 4:58 pm

Having coffee with another agent and the topic of Realtor.com came up. He asked if I had tried Featured Homes (where you buy a zip code and your listing is featured as one of four homes at the top of a search). Thought it was a good topic to write on since all of us get hounded for the upsell by their sales reps at renewal time.

I had a rehabber pressuring me to get a featured listing for him. To be honest, it was kind of expensive, so I interviewed a lot of local agents I know who were doing it (or had done it) and they all were getting the same results- it doesn't generate buyer leads.

However, the two benefits that I saw in the featured listing product were the agents who led with it in their listing presentation to get listings- by offering clients special placement on a major website other agents couldn't offer- and keep listings- by providing them with weekly reports on the number of hits their listing had.

These were generally agents who didn't have a strong internet presence of their own because they weren't tech savvy but they realized they had to show sellers they were serious about the internet.

If your focus is listings in a specific geography, it also shows you are serious about your area and that allows you to create FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) about your rivals.

I personally didn’t do the featured listing. I currently only do enhanced listings.

With that said I seldom get buyer leads from Realtor.com anymore like I used to, but as every 3rd seller asks about it and expects it we continue to buy it. We let it expire a couple of years ago and sellers immediately started complaining.