A couple of real estate headlines from the you-have-to-laugh section of the news-nets:
From the New York Times, when a bank is too big to fail, you have to rescue it so you can sue it later. Missing, for some reason, from the list of parties to be sued: Barney Franks, Christopher Dodd, Andrew Cuomo, the NAR — and FannieMae and FreddieMac. Given that crony-“capitalist” Warren (tax-me-more-please) Buffett just dumped billions into the Bank of America, I’m thinking we can look forward to this lawsuit ending with a whimper.
Meanwhile, in bucolic New London, CT, the land that the city fought all the way to the Supreme Court for the “right” to steal in the famous Kelo case is now — wait for it — a dumping ground. Nice.
Jim Klein says:
But we want dumps over private property, desperately. You might even say it’s a matter of life-or-death.
Here’s a nice one, just this week: Solyndra
September 2, 2011 — 7:56 pm
Eric Hempler says:
@John, I understand the buyers frustration with forced registration. However, if I’m able to generate over 100 leads per month by having forced registration isn’t it worth it? In my case I’m creating craigslist ads that link over to a list of homes for sale and when they click details to view a second home they’re asked to register.
September 3, 2011 — 5:35 am
John Rowles says:
@Eric: Depends on two things: What you mean by “leads” and what you are doing to measure “that which is not seen” (see Bastiat’s parable of The Broken Window).
If by “leads” you mean “registrations” I would ask what % out of 100 you actually talk to or show a property and how many of the email addresses you collect are real.
If you are not measuring how many people hit your form and bounce, you don’t know how many potentially serious buyers you are turning away.
Then there is the demographic issue. I strongly suspect that the people who have the patience to put up with a forced registration are probably in the 50+ range. If you specialize in retirement homes, then that could work. Otherwise, you are likely pissing off first-time home buyers and people looking to up-size from a first home to start a family.
In the end, I’d wager that a higher volume of repeat users on an open site yields as many, if not more solid leads, but I understand the “bird in hand” mentality if forcing people to register, even though you admit you realize people don’t like it, works for you.
September 3, 2011 — 6:23 am
Eric Hempler says:
@John, another thought I had…what if you could have the best of both worlds. (I agree with the tracking by the way) Perhaps the forced registration works well for Craigslist and an open registration works for those just seeking information. Assuming you can do both setups with one or two different IDX programs it might be an interesting experiment. When I start working on the Landing Pages I mentioned earlier I’ll try this idea – perhaps an Opt In Setup would make more sense for the Landing Pages. I’m still trying to decide how these will layout.
September 3, 2011 — 6:58 am
JBond says:
I’m sure they will all have their chance…
September 5, 2011 — 10:04 am