PLANET PROPERTIES NEWS
Article from the Sunday Contra Costa Times, New Homes Section,
Agents netting clients on Web
Internet access gives independent Realtors a
fighting chance against corporate giants.
By Jessica Guynn
IN ALL OF HER 30 years as an independent real estate agent in Berkeley,
Nancy Duff never took out an advertisement in the newspaper, cold-called
a home buyer, mailed a postcard to a homeowner or plastered her name and
face on a bus stop.
"For a long time, I wasn't even in the Yellow Pages," Duff said.
Her business philosophy is simple: If you're good at what you do, your
customers will find you.
For Duff's realty firm Planet Properties, nothing could be closer to the
truth.
Referrals account for 95 percent of her business. Her marketing strategy
is word of mouth.
That down-to-earth approach made her so popular on the Well, the world's
oldest cyber community, that she became known as the "Realtor to the Well."
Berkeley members even started "the Cult of Nancy Duff," a popular topic in
one of the Well's chat rooms. "Nancy is a goddess," one person wrote.
But times change and businesses with them. In a rapidly consolidating real
estate market, independent Realtors face mounting competition from corporate
giants, who are snapping up independent real estate firms these days as
fast as houses are selling in the East Bay.
New Jersey-based NRT Inc., which operates Coldwell Banker and last year
bought up Jon Douglas and Cornish & Carey, alone controls about one
quarter of the listings in the East Bay.
For some independent Realtors, staying one step ahead of the competition
is, as they say in the business, a matter of location, location, location.
And what a location Duff has found.
One month ago, Duff invested about $4,000 in her first Web site, joining
a growing number of Realtors on the Internet, which is fast becoming the
world's largest home shopping network.
Duff's home on the Web (www.PlanetBerkeley.com) is already a hometown hit.
The site has recently been featured on public television's "Internet Cafe".
Site pays for itself
And every day Duff responds to dozens of
emails inquiring about properties for sale in the Berkeley area.
"The Web site has already paid for itself," Duff said.
Duff's Web site features all the same bells and whistles as her bigger
corporate rivals: East Bay multiple listings, neighborhood and community
demographics, and a mortgage
calculator.
But Duff's site also offers something different: personality, which is
sometimes harder to find when dealing with a big company. Duff's Yahoo!
directory listing tells home browsers that "shoes are optional" on Planet
Properties. The Web site's main screen displays a collage Duff created of
a bird goddess superimposed on the moon.
The World Wide Web has begun to change the face of a once technophobic
industry by changing the way residential real estate is bought and sold
in the East Bay, Duff said. Nearly all of the major real estate brokerage
firms have Web sites, but they supply much of the same information as the
independents.
Low-pressure guide
"My site is just as interesting and just as professional as Coldwell
Banker's." Duff said. "The Web is the great equilizer. It enhances our
work and expands the information we can provide to our customers. When
people buy a home, they like to research it, they like to be a part of
the process. It's like a journey, and you are their guide."
Web sites are catching on with other independent Realtors who realize
that if consumers can't find you on the Web, they may assume that you
don't exist.
Home buyers gravitate to the Web because they can punch in all kinds
of information such as house price, number of bedrooms and city and
then retrieve photos and information about each house that match their
request. In the privacy of their own home and without an agent peering
over their shoulder, consumers can scroll through hundreds of listings.
Consumers can register with Planet Properties and receive daily updates
via email to stay on top of the fast-moving market. Twenty to 30
prospective home buyers sign up for the service each week. Some of
those home buyers then become clients.
Not only can out-of-town buyers communicate with Duff via email, view
properties on the Web and read up on schools, jobs and restaurants in
the East Bay.
The push to make available online multiple listings, once the exclusive
property of Realtors, has forever changed the real estate industry.
Invaluable advertising
But computers are unlikely to replace agents, because real estate
transactions over the years have grown ever more complex. Arming
consumers with information saves time for agents and also provides
them with an invaluable way to advertise their services.
Planet Properties Emails
I'm a realtor in LA. (Mossler Deasy & Doe).
I took a look at your website after learning about it on PBS the other day.
Just wanted to let you know I think it's delightful, certainly a welcome
departure from most other real estate sites. My compliments. e
- From Erik Lerner
I am very impressed, Kiddo. Keep it up.
- From Patrick Kennedy
Dear Nancy,
Thank you for including [the Berkeley Montessori School] on
your web site. Keep up the good work.
- From Theron Ginn
Dear Mr.I am looking for wholesale company possible to supply
my shop with sheap, but good and new men's and women's shoes.
I'll be waiting answer from you.
- From Alex Mamaev, Kirov, Russia
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