Oh, and did I mention that I agree with the content as well? Well done, Marc, the Realtor's Poet Laureate!

Jessica Beganski, REALTOR
http://CTRealEstateUnleashed.com

Finding the home online and merely opening the door is an over simplification of a Realtor's job.

Thank you

This is an important comment Derek.

I believe that the maestros of "Search" for real estate – brilliant minds as they are – overestimate the consumers ability to analyze data, navigate complex mash ups and hundreds of little blue markers that are now the accepted replacement/icons for homes.

You are part of the exception in the consumer marketplace given your technical and real estate background. The average, regular, human being does not possess the analytical prowess to decipher through complex data sets. That's why AOL still exists. It's functionally simple.

This is the crux of the conversation and the basic thesis of my question – have we made something so personal and so important as search, too advanced and technical thus overly complex and sterile for the consumer denying them a truly progressive experience?

Websites are great seeking out, learning and experiencing a brand online. Being able to search property holds so much promise but honestly, given the fact that so listings still have few to no pics and the ones that have… well how does 8 pictures of a 5000 sg ft home really do anyone any justice?

Is searching by zip code, city and state really the way people look for homes and is the best search sites can offer?

It's important to question conventional wisdom and logic here because it's quite possible no one has it right yet.

I know this: We the consumer now do the work we used to hire an agent to do. Search for our house. We don't understand the market, we don't go on Caravan, we really don't know anything other than the fact that we might like a picture of a home. Plowing through a database, weeding through little blue markers, drawing polygons and deciphering through local demographics, pie charts and graphs, presented on heat maps is well, a lot of work. I wonder outloud, how many people feel all that empowered looking at this stuff. I wonder how many people can actually nail down the perfect house that way themselves.

And I am pretty sure if they could, most agents today would be out of business.

Books, shoes, Pez dispensers, that's another story. That stuff is great to search for online. You don't need buyer/seller tips for Pez or heat maps for shoes.

But a home… well, I think technologists have assumed a lot over the last bunch of years and have given the consumer quite a bit to do to distract them from this thing we call life.

I know when I go to the NYC Public Library, I ask a Librarian to help me find something. I don't think it's all that empowering to go find it myself.

Somehow I think this has been taken into account.

So. I believe in search sites. I believe in what they could be. What they should be. I also recognize what they aren't.

You know that we are on the same page with a lot of our thoughts about the real estate industry, but I just have one different take on your post. I agree that as we get more established in our lives, our career, our world, time becomes one of those factors that seems to outweigh all others, including money.

But have we forgotten the exciting aspects of discovering information and trying to analyze and make sense of a complicated task like buying or selling a home. I have been in my first home for almost four years now and I can honestly say I was so excited about the discovery process when my wife and I were looking to buy our first home. Heck, I could have taken the easy route, because I was working at a brokerage at the time, and just handed the process over to my agent and said call me when you have houses you want me to look at. But I relished in the fact that I handed my agent a list of the houses I wanted to view.

Now she still gave me advice on neighborhoods, schools and amenities, heck she even pulled some other houses into the mix that I had not found, but at the end of the day I was involved in the process and knew what I was getting myself and my family into.

I agree what you stated about travel because I’m right there with you”.no enjoyment at all. But we’re not talking about a $250 plane ticket here; we’re talking about the single most expensive purchase most people will ever make. I for one want a little knowledge and involvement in that process.

Derek Overbey
Sr. Director of Partnership Strategy
Roost.com
http://www.roost.com
http://blog.roost.com

u beat me to the punch, this is exactly what I've been thinking for along time. This exact topic was going to be 1 of my first blog topics as soon as I get my brokerage site(s) up.

commissions are paid for a service performed. Perhaps 1 day there will be 2 ways of doing everything in life. Online for A$ or done by someone else for 5xA$. Sure if I googled hard enough I could live in a cave on an island with a wireless laptop and figure out how to do everything myself. That may be ideal for some but not me. I like interacting with people and enjoying life.

I love your guys work, writing, way you think…Keep up the great work!!

Oh, and did I mention that I agree with the content as well? Well done, Marc, the Realtor's Poet Laureate!