Mar. 30, 2007: A skilled Realtor in the Phoenix real estate market is the bargain of lifetime
We own 65 Internet domains so far. Of those, 29 are actually hosted on the Internet, sites you can visit with your Web browser. The others are "pointed" at the hosted sites.
If you forget that I work for BloodhoundRealty.com but remember my name, GregSwann.com will take you to our main Web site.
We build custom sites for our higher-priced listings, which accounts for many of the hosted sites. We also have sites for our Weblogs and a site we use to test new versions of our software to make sure it's ready to deploy.
We are a high-tech real estate brokerage trying to stay ahead of the curve in a high-tech era.
Looking over one shoulder, we compete against traditional Realtors. But looking over the other, the Realty.bots -- venture-capital-funded Internet real estate start-ups -- make the traditional real estate marketing message harder and harder to deliver.
Is Zillow.com, or another automated valuation method, a useful tool for pricing homes? No, but I have to be prepared to show why, perhaps first overcoming my client's skepticism.
Is a $199 Internet listing as effective as the full-service marketing package we bring to the table?
My view is that a skilled, experienced Realtor is the bargain of a lifetime. Under one hat, you get pricing and sales expertise, advice about staging and repairs, an expertly executed marketing campaign, a professional negotiator, thoughtful and knowledgeable hand-holding through the escrow process -- and more.
Unlike a Realty.bot, your Realtor has actually bought and sold houses -- dozens or hundreds of times. With expertise that stretches from little things, like hiring a landscaper, to topics as big as the Internet itself, the professional advice you will get from a good Realtor cannot be matched by canned Realty.bots, no matter how much fun they are to play with.
Greg Swann is the designated broker for BloodhoundRealty.com, a full-service Metropolitan Phoenix real estate brokerage. This article originally appeared in the West Valley regional sections of the Arizona Republic.
Spread the word: Click here for a printer-ready version of this column.
Or: Steal this book: I've written over 200 of these real estate columns. They are consistently one of the most popular features on our blogs. Many of them are dated and/or entirely Phoenixocentric. But many others are timeless and generic. If you want to use any of my columns on your weblog or web site, feel free. Three rules: Don't change my text, credit me as the author and give me a link back to http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/ with appropriate anchor text. Something like this, perhaps:
Am I link-baiting? You bet. The quid pro quo is free content for your site that pulls eyeballs and excites interest.<a href="http://www.bloodhoundrealty.com/" target="_blank"> Phoenix Realtor Greg Swann</a> suggested I share this with you:
