When word reached the media that HomeSeekers' new buyer HomeMark had pulled out of buying the company, some sharks smelled blood in the water. But it's far from over for HomeSeekers as another buyer is in negotiations to take over the company, Agent News has learned. But that hasn't stopped some aggressive telemarketers employed by rival Homes.com from using scare tactics to try to get business, say some agents.

Realtor Robert Sizer says he was contacted from La Jolla by a Homes.com account representative. "He said he was soliciting HomeSeekers Web site holders, because HomeSeekers had made an announcement that they were out of cash and unable to meet payroll, and did I know they were going under?" says Sizer. "He said he was going to fax me some information, but he never did. I didn't pay it much attention because I didn't know if he were credible or not. Until HomeSeekers calls me I plan to go on with business as usual."

What the telemarketer failed to mention to Sizer was that Homes.com has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization since March 2001.

"I didn't know that," says Sizer.

According to Homes.com president Tom Orsi, Homes.com has no knowledge of HomeSeekers' financial condition or whether they are or are not "going under." He says that while his company is about to go before the bankruptcy court with a reorganization plan that will pull it out of bankruptcy by next year, scare tactics isn't the way he wants to get there.

"We are selling the product to agents through a telemarketing organization in San Diego," explains Orsi. "At the time of our reorganization, we eliminated seminar sales, and downsized direct sales significantly to a few people whose responsibility was to sell to broker groups and stabilize relationships with existing broker companies.

"The telemarketers are being told to sell the virtues of the product -- that we are getting back to basics to focus on Web products and to shore up customer service."

When told that some HomeSeekers agents had been contacted with suggestions that HomeSeekers was "going black," "going down," and "going out of business," Orsi said, "I am not aware of that and I have explicitly instructed our organization not to use that tactic. I will not operate on that basis. We are going to take the high ground, not on their financial situation. I don't believe in using scare tactics to sell products, I will contact the director of sales at REV (the telemarketing organization) and reemphasize that point to them and ask them to issue an internal memo to our reps to not use that tactic. If we find anyone who does that, they will be fired."

Orsi was as good as his word. Within 30 minutes of talking with Agent News, Homes.com VP of sales John Perkins e-mailed the new memo.

"This is a copy of our Reiterated Internal Sales Policy regarding addressing Homeseekers issues," explained Perkins. "We make every effort to try to control what our sales teams say on the telephones to prospective Homes.com customers. We constantly have between two and three Sales Managers on the floor at all times with technology systems capable of listening-in on our sales team conversations. We have about 60 Account Executives and although we cannot be on every conversation every minute, we can and do correct any folks whose conversations do not honor management's policy on avoiding negativity with regard to Homeseekers and others. We will continue to maintain the maximum controls possible on conversations made by sometimes overzealous sales folks."

While the "overzealous sales folks" may be making headway with some agents, they are losing more ground than they realize with others.

Realtor Judi Wolfson (not a HomeSeekers subscriber) claims that Homes.com salespeople have called her four times in the last few weeks, refusing to take no for an answer. " They keep calling me and I keep telling them I'm not interested. I have asked them over and over to please take me off your list - I don't know what else to say to get them to stop," says Wolfson. "They are driving me nuts."

HomeSeekers subscriber Allyson Hoffman says that she too has been contacted by Homes.com, and is confused why they are asking her to give up her HomeSeekers Web site, when she is also a Homes.com subscriber. "I think it's strange that they don't bother to cross-check their own subscriber list to see who is a customer," says Hoffman."Many agents now have multiple Web sites."

Orsi says that as the reorganization plan is approved and implemented, the company plans to strengthen its direct sales channel.

Published: October 22, 2001

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