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May/June 2011

Survey Identifies Real Estate Agents' Top Marketing Practices and Preferences

HomeGain surveyed over 700 real estate professionals nationwide asking them to identify their top marketing practices and preferences. The results reflect cumulative data from May and August 2010, and April 2011 surveys.

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According to the surveys, real estate professionals identified referrals as the most effective marketing practice, scoring an 8.7 out of 10. Agents also plan to continue to focus on referrals as their number one marketing preference for the remainder of 2011. Referrals ranked number one in the February 2010 Marketing Practices and Preferences Survey.

Leads from brokers and events (including open houses) ranked second and third, respectively, as most effective marketing strategies, replacing featured listings and email campaigns as indicated in the February 2010 survey.

The most recent results show a substantial decline in agents' marketing preferences for blogging, as well as a slight decrease in preference for social media.

"It comes as no surprise that real estate professionals once again noted that referrals are the most effective and most preferred form of marketing," said Louis Cammarosano, General Manager of HomeGain. "It is surprising, however, that social media and blogging as marketing strategies lost some favor with real estate professionals over the past year."

Sellers Don't Focus on What Home Buyers Want When Selecting a Real Estate Agent

HomeGain surveyed over 1,000 home buyers who were asked to rate the importance of certain home listing amenities and information contained in home listings.

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The results show that the most important listings feature buyers want to see is a large number of photographs. The next most important listings feature are maps that display the location of the listed property.

Over 800 home sellers were asked to identify their top factors for selecting a short list of agents to list their properties. Twenty nine percent indicated that agent fees were the main factor that helped them narrow down their choice of agents. Twenty one percent of sellers indicated that an agent having a strong web presence was important in helping to select an agent.

The survey shows a disconnect between sellers and buyers regarding what information is desired in a property listing. Sellers place more importance on an agent who makes use of virtual tours rather than floor plans. However, according to the survey, buyers found floor plans to be more important than virtual tours.

The results of this survey can also be seen in:

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Visit us on Youtube and stay up to date with the latest news and developments in the real estate industry with Ryan Sloper's Real Estate Radio Show where HomeGain General Manager Louis Cammarosano is a guest each week.

You can also check out our exclusive videos from HomeGain Live Nation and other real estate conferences and trade shows.

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Awards and Recognition

HomeGain Clubs

Congratulations to HomeGain's newest AgentEvaluator^® Club members!

These members represent our top performing real estate professionals nationwide and receive a reduced referral fee rate.

HomeGain inducted 9 HomeGain member agents into its elite clubs:

5 new HomeGain Platinum Club members (now totaling 382 members who have earned $125,000 or more in gross home sale commissions from AgentEvaluator)
3 new HomeGain Gold Club members (now totaling 307 members who have earned $75,000 or more in gross home sale commissions from AgentEvaluator)
2 new HomeGain Silver Club members (totaling 273 members who have earned $50,000 or more)

The HomeGain Million Club has two members who have earned in excess of one million dollars. The HomeGain Diamond Club has 27 members who have earned in excess of $500,000 or more.

To find out if you qualify for Silver, Gold, Platinum or Diamond status, please contact your Regional Manager.

Agent Insight

Question & Answer

Agent Question: I recently signed up for your AgentEvaluator and AgentView programs. I see that you have assigned toll-free numbers to my accounts and wanted to ask how this works and what the benefit is to me since I already have numbers to direct consumers to call me.