Late last year in a thread about the relaunch of Myhome I commented on this blog that I was willing to reconnect our property feed to Myhome if they fixed their data accuracy issues. That bear seems to be back in its cage so we reconnected our feed.
Since returning to Myhome I am happy to confirm absolutely no problems so far. Of course right at the moment we are not getting swamped with enquiries but any extras at all right now are much appreciated.
So the question remains why should Australian agents start using the myhome service?
First of all let make this clear. I have absolutely no Myhome agenda, I have no connection with the company other than as an agent who uses the portal, and the only reason you should proceed with Myhome is if its good solution for you and your agency.
Another thing worth pointing out is I started writing this article early last week prior to my previous articles about the on the recent REA price rise and the subscription price freeze. The timing is purely coincidental.
Reason 1
The errors and problems on the site seem to be gone now so what have you got to lose. We have been back on Myhome for nearly two months without one issue about wrong listing information.
Reason 2
Teddy Roosevelt (not Kevin Costner) first said “If you build it, they will come”. Shane Dale has been highly successful building the connections back to the major real estate groups behind the scene. Myhome appears to have struck arrangements with just about all the major real estate groups. They also have been re-establishing with many of the multi loaders who represent a large chunk of the independent agents.
What this means is that very soon, certainly in a matter of week rather than months, the number of properties on myhome will increase substantially. The chances are your opposition is going to be on board, so should you.
Reason 3
Only a portal with the majority of Australian agents can put pressure on realestate.com.au. If agents decide en masse to suspend their property feed to realestate.com.au then realestate.com.au will soon find what agents have known for quite awhile. Buyers have absolutely no loyalty and will abandon them in a heartbeat for somebody that does have the property for sale.
Please understand that I am not suggesting we go out and do this, just that any portal that provides that option, such as a stronger Myhome would “keep the bastards honest”. Whilst Domain is subscription based they are never going to be in a position to have the majority of offices so could not provide the leverage the industry needs.
I know we all have contracts with REA but I don’t think there is anything that says that we must send them properties. Imagine if just 30-40% of all agents stopped uploading properties for 2 months to realestate.com.au and the only place to go on the web to find the majority of properties for sale was Myhome. What if 4 or 5 major groups cut the feed just for a month as a form of protest?
If the properties disappear from realestate.com.au the buyers will find them wherever they have gone. Besides the press would jump all over a story like that. Before you know it buyers would soon find their way to myhome.com.au. The net effect is that in a very short time realestate.com.au’s traffic would fracture. If agents could then sniff similar enquiry levels for virtually no cost then their REA’s future income growth would be in doubt and their share price would suffer.
M.A.D (Mutually Assured Destruction) is an insane concept but it kept the superpowers in line during the cold war just because it “could” happen. I am not suggesting we go out on “strike” against REA, not in the slightest, but just to have the ability to do it might keep them a bit more grounded. At the moment they know that there is no choice and they can do what they want with impunity.
Reason 4
More links to your website from other “authoritative” real estate websites provide better search engine optimisation. This in turn means more free traffic to your own website. The stronger your website the less your online success is bound to the portals. Too many agents have 95% of their business online generated by the portals. This is no magic bullet but is one single step in getting your website to rank better.
Reason 5
It’s FREE! Lots of people have called for a fully featured free portal, now that it’s here we need to support it or else it may disappear and we lose it altogether. There might be a slight fee if your multi loader charges for setting up the feed but most don’t. The portal itself is free and best of all there is no contract period locking you in for 12 or 24 months. If for some reason you’re not happy… just leave.
Shane Dale has advised me that he is even locking it in contractually that MyHome will always be free. I will let him explain the details to us all.
Reason 6
Lets face it, any lead right now is gold and most agencies will take whatever leads they can get. Even if Myhome delivers you a handful of enquiries per week its worth every penny it costs!
Reason 7
Domain is in trouble. Many agents around the country have been sold on having a dual subscription to realestate.com.au and domain.com.au but belt tightening has seen many drop their second portal subscription and in the majority of cases that’s been domain.. Myhome can help fill the gap if you have cancelled your Domain subscription like many others at the moment and you can still promote to your owners that you upload to multiple portals.
Don’t sit back and do nothing. Agents need the free portals to be successful and this one is not associated with any competitor group so there should be no argument to get involved. If you are waiting for it be successful portal in terms of the level of enquires generated before you jump on board consider that the fact that it wont be successful unless agents get behind it.