In August 2007 a little known study by eVOC Insights was published that compared online real estate sites such as RealEstate.com, Realtor.com, Trulia.com and Yahoo! Real Estate, among others. While some findings might be outdated nearly nine months later, others are spot on -- namely that making it easier for consumers to find homes should be the goal of any real estate site.

Dividing home buyers into short-term (recent and active homebuyers) and long term (those seeking to buy in the next years), researchers found that nine out of 10 homebuyers plan to use the Internet to aid their research. Where they go is what inquiring minds want to know.

Realtor.com came out on top in a number of key metrics -- site traffic, brand recognition, property selection, search results, and home descriptions. Over half of short-term buyers preferred Realtor.com and Trulia was second in popularity. When it came to name recognition, Zillow was number two among consumers.

Where real estate brokers should sit up and take notice is eVOC's conclusion that real estate websites are disintermediating the real estate industry. For example, in determining which web sites to use for home searches, only 20 percent of homebuyers received recommendations from their agents, which suggests that the industry is disintermediating itself.

Worse, homebuyers said they preferred real estate portals to local realtor sites because they have more listings (73 percent) and selection (57 percent.) Yet, real estate portals fared poorly when it comes to accuracy with only 17 percent of homebuyers preferring them for that reason.

One out of six consumers complained that there weren't enough photos of properties on the top portals RealEstate.com, Realtor.com, Trulia.com, and Yahoo! Real Estate.

But things change.

Since the report came out, Zillow has made a deal with Realogy Corporation to publish the listings from ERA, Coldwell Banker, Century 21, and Sotheby's. Century 21 already got the same number of page views as Realtor.com, but visitors only stayed half as long.

Realtor.com is making an active effort to improve the consumer experience by providing fresher listings.

But anyone who markets listings online has room to improve. The report recommends that best practices in search, features, and functionality are what drive usage preferences and property decisions.

In other words, any site can improve its results.

Published: April 29, 2008

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Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. For more articles by Blanche, click here.