Change

I stumbled across my old blog site’s archives this evening and prowled through them to see the changes in both the blog’s style and Greenwich real estate. The archives only go back to 2005 — I used Google’s blog hosting service for three years before that, but Google bounced me after I was trolled by an angry flock of liberals — but there’s some interesting stuff all the same. This one from 2005 caught my eye: remember, that was two years before the iPhone was introduced. I think its prediction has stood up well.

November 26, 2005

The Market has Moved Online 

A recent analysis by Real Trends reveals that, for every marketing dollar spent by the real estate industry, 39% goes to newspaper advertising and only 11% for online marketing. The company suggested that the industry model reduce newspaper advertising to a mere 10% and bump online expenditures to 52%. I think they’re right; more important, so does my employer, who is already all over the internet and committing to more. Homeowners want to see their house advertised in print, so we all do it, but it’s not an efficient way to distribute information to buyers. The current model for advertising in Greenwich is this: each house is showcased, in a cycle, every few weeks, for one day each time. Open houses are advertised in row after row of small photos and the consumer must wade through them all to find houses in her price range that appeal to her. If she could instead specify a price range, click a button and immediately find every relevant open house that day, with directions, or every listing, wouldn’t that be easier? That’s why the industry has moved online and that’s how your house is going to sell. It’s all about price and accessibility of information; not about how beautiful your house looks in print.