RealTown's RealTalk

Do any of you pay for the featured listing, or featured Realtor features on Realtor.com? I use showcase listings and was considering buying the featured listing spot in my area, but I was hoping to get some information on how effective those spots are.

Thank you in advance!

Tristam

Tristam@Griffithteam.com

GriffithTeam.com

614-506-3086

Regarding featured listings - do they receive greater exposure, absolutely. Did it put any extra $$ in my accounts last year, no. Did I obtain any buyers from a featured ad, no. Am I renewing my featured ads, no. There are other providers that are moving ahead of Realtor.com and actually have better customer service.

I had four of them for two years. Spent a ton of money on them, and got one seller listing. Never had one buyer that believed they saw it as a featured listing, but instead all buyers were from the regular listings. I canceled out and would not purchase them again. I would have a lot more money in my pocket if I did not use the featured listings there or on any other website.

Jeff Launiere, P.A.
Tampa, FL

I agree with everyone else. I had 4 featured listing spots at one time, and had three as recently as this past year. I never got a buyer lead from one. It did impress a few sellers as a listing tool, but I found it wasn't worth the money. Now, the zip codes are priced based on population, and if there was a reasonably priced one in an area where you thought you may be going for new listings, it may be cost effective that way.

I didn't renew any of them this year.

It may depend on the area of the country. However, like others posted, we tried it and got nothing from it. Plus, why should you pay them for something you can do yourself. More people search on Google than R.com.

Since real estate is local and most will eventually migrate to a local site, why not invest money in generating leads from your own site (whether organically or PPC)? Continuing to put money into someone else's pockets to generate leads leaves you with nothing once you decide to cancel the service. You'll make more money generating leads from your own site.

Had it several years ago - was a listing tool only. Did not pay for itself.

Brenda Putzer
RE/MAX Properties Unlimited
Westfield, NJ

Is a lot of photos really a good thing? It seems like the hype now from vendors is the more photos you have, the better the marketing. EVERY photo should say a positive thing about your listing. The more photos you have, the more risk there is that the Buyer is going to see something that turns them off. I rarely see listings that have more than a handful of what I 'd call good photos to get someone intersested in a listing. The four photos that R-com includes on free listings is just fine for me. No need to spend $$$ on their featured listings anymore.

Keith Byrd

SloCountyHomes.com

San Luis Obispo, CA