Do you have "enhanced listings" on http://www.realtor.com/? (Annual cost will vary depending on how many listings you have at the time of signing up.)
If so, you probably don't know you can have all of your listings posted on http://www.worldproperties.com/ for FREE !
WorldProperties.com is a website sponsored by NAR and similar international real estate organizations. Realtor.com supplies the property descriptions to WorldProperties.com (it actually frames the Realtor.com webpage but only shows those listings which have been authorized to appear on WorldProperties.com by the listing agent.) The listings of properties around the world are provided by the other international real estate organizations like NAR.
The catch is, they don't tell you that you have to CALL http://www.realtor.com/ customer service and ask them to authorize your listings to appear on http://www.worldproperties.com/ It takes 24 hours for them to appear. My guess is huge amount of Realtor.com customers have no idea this additional benefit is available to them! My guess is they [Realtor.com] doesn't want to receive phone calls from all of their customers every time they get a new listing!
Unfortunately they don't have a setting for all of your listings to automatically appear on http://www.worldproperties.com/ So each time you get a new listing you need to call customer service (once it appears on the Realtor.com website) and authorize them to post it on WorldProperties.com
This is another listing tool you can use! Tell any prospective seller their home will appear on WorldProperties.com and to check to see if the other agent(s) mention this in their listing presentation. Again, 99.9% of the other agents won't even know about the availability of this valuable service.
The toll-free number for Realtor.com customer service is 800-878-4166 Then choose option #1. Their hours are 9AM to 9PM (EST.)
Hope this helps you and your sellers!
Well, I guess I am part of the masses - one of the 99.9 because I never heard of it.
My gurss it is a great resourse if you are in a city that attracts international buyers - you know the LA's and NY's of the country - but Hemet California...I don't know. Do they pick it up in Tijauana?
Now Have a Blessed Day,
John Occhi, REALTOR®
Your Resource for Hemet CA Real Estate
http://www.johnocchi.com/
Chris... I'm a bit confused. I was both happy you shared this and angry with Realtor.com as I read this post. We are a Picture Path Partner with Realtor.com and I was unaware of this, so I was fully prepared to call customer service on Monday with some strong words for how ridiculously inefficient this seemed and to let them know how poor their communication around this was.
Here's where my confusion comes from... I obviously wanted to check this out for myself before going in full guns loaded. So, I just did a search on both websites for 7 different zip codes in 5 different states (3 in CA, 1 in NJ, WV, NY and VA) and the numbers on each side were exactly the same. In addition, the homes came up in the exact same order and with every feature exactly the same as well.
It appears that every listing on Realtor.com was on WorldProperties.com including the showcase enhancements and featured tour links for those 7 zipcodes. I couldn't find any difference at all between the listings on Realtor.com and the listings on WorldProperties.com.
Where is the difference you are seeing?
Chris,
Thanks for the post. It is amazing how much is available to us and yet known by so few. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the info Chris-
I will check this out today.
We need all the free resources we can get!
Kevin & Jeff Turner I had to sleep, a little.
I just checked my listing on World Properties. I had only 1 listing that was an International Listing as of Dec 29th (i spoke with my realtor.com rep to renew an expiring account). Now all of them are listed Internationally. I don't get it, either. It may have changed as of Jan. 01. I apologized for the confusion and didn't mean to get anyone riled up. I write down ideas for blogs and sometimes it's a little time before I actually post something. It appears that things changed a little in the time. Accept my apologies for the mix up. I'll call my rep at R* tomorrow and asked what changed. They're in California, so it won't be until around noon, eastern.
I am thinking that R* is rolling out something new. A new program. My rep was hitting me hard for a few zip codes that were going up in price at the end of the year. I'm wondering why they changed it and why at the turn of the year. It was the turn of last year that they offered double zip codes, and awared us with existing zipcodes, duplicates. We had a REALTOR.com expo in Sept/Oct in Bonita Springs and they didn't mention anything. If you don't know about the whole REALTOR.com program and check out the realtor expo near you:
http://www.realestatemarketingexpo.com/
By the way, the zip codes that were going up were the post office box zip codes. Any of you that have purchased zip codes in your city also may have the opportunity to purchase the zip code for P.O. boxes at a fraction of the price. They properties listed at that zip code would show up featured for the "cityname, state" in a realtor.com search. It's worth looking in to. My "yearly" post office zip cost for the year is about the monthly charge for either city zip code.
Wow Chris, I've never heard of Worldproperties.com either. I've got an Agent in my office marketing her private home overseas and you can bet I'll be telling her about this on Monday. The money she has spent on marketing her home has been astronomical. Thanks so much!
Lysa
She might want to start taking classes for the CIPS designation. That's how I found out about the classes. Tony Macaluso is a Florida instructor and involved in FAR. I think he lives in Palm Beach Gardens. I just love his classes. When he's on this coast, I always take his classes. If you can catch a class he's teaching, it is worth it. THere is also one of the classes that doubled as the ABR designation required class, it may still be available.
http://tonymacalusoreschool.com/
Chris,
Thanks for sharing this. I will let some of my local real estate agents know about this site to help with their marketing.
We should consider starting a Blog link-a-thon where we can post free link directories and free property posting locations. Any thoughts?
Chris - thanks for the info regarding worldproperties.com.
And I love your suggestion about the free link directories blog. That would be terrific to have that info. The first one that pops into my mind is craigslist, but I'm sure most here already know about that one. I'd love to learn about more.
Ann
http://www.infignos.com/cat/RealEstate.cfm
Chris,
I am in on the link a thon. There are so many new online advertising venues every day it is overwhelming. I have great office support and have my office trying each and every one we hear about. Always looking for new ideas.
Thank you very much for the information I will look in this ASAP!
Thanks for the tip. In California, we are expecting a large influx of Chinese investors in the coming years and this could be helpful. Why all the secrecy from NAR?
I spoke with the Realtor.com rep today and he claims we still need to call to have to "Featured Homes" listed in Worldproperties.com I explained to him I have a listing that is in World and I didn't call to have it put there and he had no explanation.
I corrected the number to add your listings to worldproperties.com and added "option 1" at the realtor.com rep's direction so you don't have to listen to the menu options.
Happy Selling!
Realtor.com now offers additional photos and video that can be added. If you have an advanced account you should check into it.