I have always been an advocate for the No Registration Required mantra here at My Denton County Real Estate. It’s been obvious I encourage visitors here to search for homes at their leisure, and to have unlimited access to the information available with the MLS/IDX search much like this point of view.
But now it is time for a change. If you would like to see the new guidelines and skip all my commentary you can go here.
There has always been lot of talk and debate about real estate websites that offer this tool for searching real estate and even more lately can be seen here and over here.
Typically Registration for Access falls into one of these 4 categories:
- The Iron Curtain – Contact Information Required for ANY property information
- The Peep Show – Limited property information without Registration. Such as excluding addresses, or descriptions and remarks (you get to see a little but not all the goods)
- The Strip Tease – A set number of unlimited property views before registration is required. In other words giving you a taste of how easy and fun it is searching for a new home, and then springing registration on you to continue to keep that high.
- The Mother Teresa – Unlimited Information Provided to anyone who wants it. There to help prospective buyers and hope to work with them when they are ready to buy.
I just made up these titles to try and bring some humor to this, and are not yet copyrighted real estate terms.
My intentions have always been to present a no hassle service in hopes that the guest will appreciate my articles and my confidence that I can provide the absolute best service when purchasing or selling a properties and then allowing me to represent them. Of course this happens, but not as often as I feel it should.
I have 2 real life examples why I am making this change, all of the banter on this subject in the blogosphere is not solely the reason, but it has enticed me.
- On two separate occasions in the past month or so I have had “Prospects” visit the site, voluntarily register, and disclose they are working with another agent, and provide that Realtors names. This really doesn’t bother me as much as when one of those “prospects” emailed me some lending questions. Of course I welcome all question anytime, from anyone — actually the past 2 weeks I have been receiving a lot of phone calls and emails from new homeowners who have FTHB Tax Credit questions, not represented by me obviously, because my clients knew before they bought. Anyway, I then asked them why they were using my site to search for a home, and asking me lending questions if they already had an agent and did not intend to use me when purchasing. She replied with…
- This one has always happened, happens to everyone, and I am sure I have even been on the beneficiary side before, although not by failing to ask the question “Are you currently working with a REALTOR?” Visitors search for properties, take down the address, do a drive-by on the house, and then call the name and number on the sign. Totally forgetting that my service and efforts are what directed them to the house. Then that listing agent — if they are one that answers their phone — are able to meet with – form a face to face relationship, or even over the phone and in essence got a client that I sent them. I realize this is part of the business, but to try to avoid this happening more than it should I can take the measures of getting that appointment to show the homes in which they are interested.
Our agent told us to use your site because her MLS search tool was not as good as yours
I was dumbfounded, I appreciate being recognized but good grief. I had never even heard of their agent. You see with my MLS package every page view over 10,000 I have to pay additionally by page, so it would be nice that I actually bring some money in for what I have going out. So I then asked why aren’t you asking your agent your lending questions? Her reply…
Well…we don’t feel she is as up on the FHA mortgage we are getting as you.
Again – Great to be recognized — also nice to get paid.
So, just to reiterate, their agent does not spend the money to provide a upgraded MLS search wizard for her clients nor do they have the confidence in their real estate agent to negotiate a successful deal using FHA financing while rolling in closing cost. I mean don’t get me wrong, I answered all the questions and remained very cordial, as I said this happen all the time. My issue is I believe it is very rude and tactless for a agent to take advantage of knowing I did not require contact information, and had the professionalism not try to snipe her client. (Make her my client)
Almost 1 year ago, I wrote here when I upgraded the MLS/IDX Search and said…
If I require a visitor to my site to give me a phone number or email address, just to find my site useful, am I really trusting in myself to believe my site important? I have had a successful career so far with my logic, so I am not prepared to change that just yet.
All I can really say is the business has changed, the buyers have changed, and I believe I have had too many missed opportunities by being so laid back. So I must change with it or else Nice Guys Finish Last. I still believe this site is important, it accounts for 90% of my business. I also know the visitors here who I have turned into clients by helping them buy or sell a house feel the same way. I could have simply just made the change and not even made light of this, but it’s just not the way I am wired. It goes without saying I can switch back to a No Registration Required site at anytime, but I suspect that will not be necessary. I have not reached this decision easily, and it has taken me way too long to even write this post to where I feel good about publishing it. I just hope it is understood and appreciated of the level of service, and the value I can bring to a real estate transaction.
Unless you are a fellow Realtor, You most likely have arrived at My Denton County Real Estate because you were searching for information on a search engine and this site ranked high with pertinent information that you were looking for, or you have been advised or referred to visit from someone you know. With that in mind, please take the time to provide me a way to follow-up with you when using this site to search for homes for sale.
By Registering with your Name, Phone Number and email address you will be able to:
- See addresses of the properties that come up on your search
- Additional remarks or extended descriptions made by the listing agent
- All Available pictures
- Search Saver which enables you to save and manage your searches and receive email notifications whenever new listings match.
- Save Favorites allows you to Save and Manage listings to your Favorites folder. Add properties to your Favorites wherever you see the Favorites folder icon. At anytime email your Favorites to your agent, a co-buyer or a friend.
I will then follow-up with you and make sure you are finding the properties you wanted to find, and see if I can assist in anyway, and hopefully set up an appointment to view properties.
I will still maintain my no pressure approach, users of the search will still not be added to newsletters, email campaigns, or persistant phone calls. So if this sounds good to you, jump in and search for some real estate, or if you prefer you can just fill out this form and I will set the search up for you and have properties sent directly to your email.
It is also worth mentioning with the MLS Search Tool I have here you can:
- Search by MLS Number
- Search by Address
- Search by Subdivision
- Search by County
- Search by School district
- Search by Map with a Area
So if you decide to go elsewhere, you may not find all those same options.
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Keller Williams Realty 2611 Cross Timbers Rd Suite #100 Flower Mound, TX 75028
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