Newest Example of How Agents Adopt Internet to Emulate Growing Wave of Online
Consumers, Saving Estimated $55 Million in the Process; a Full 75 Percent
Of Agents at HomeGain List Commission Rate 'Negotiable'
EMERYVILLE, Calif., July 23 /PRNewswire/ -- HomeGain, the largest provider
of customized services to consumers using the Internet to sell or buy a home,
today identified Kristine Anderson, a broker associate with Century 21 Select
Real Estate, as the HomeGain agent who submitted the one-millionth online
listing presentation to a consumer at its popular Web site (http://www.homegain.com).
Anderson, who has successfully closed six transactions at HomeGain,
submitted a detailed electronic listing proposal, including marketing ideas
and her sales history, to a Sacramento homeowner seeking a local agent on
July 9. It was the one-millionth such marketing package submitted to a
HomeGain consumer since the company began the real estate industry's first
online consumer-to-agent referral service in 1999.
Anderson, a 25-year industry veteran, is an example of what more real
estate agents are doing daily -- emulating consumer behavior and heading
online to initiate a transaction. Gomez Inc., the Internet's leading quality
measurement firm, now estimates that as many as 55 million consumers are going
online for real estate information, up 14 million (34 percent) from
October 2000. The number of agents nationwide that have registered with
HomeGain has grown to 50,000.
"More agents realize that the wave of consumers turning to the Internet
for real estate services is only going to continue to grow," Bradley J. Inman,
founder and CEO of HomeGain, said. "Agents are moving quickly to automate and
digitize standard, offline work. They are moving away from preparing for and
delivering that traditional listing presentation in Mary Smith's living room
and, instead, are sending it to her directly via the Internet. Homebuyers,
home sellers and agents save time and money as the screening process for
selecting an agent on the Internet is now so diligent."
A study of online interaction between consumers and the agents pursuing
their business at HomeGain (http://www.homegain.com) during the months of May and
June 2001 shows the following:
-- The top 10 markets for this increasing Web-based interaction between
home sellers or homebuyers and agents are: Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, New York, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., Tampa
and Seattle;
-- Approximately 75 percent of all agents submitting online proposals to
consumers at HomeGain during the period stated that their commission
rate was "negotiable";
-- The average commission rate offered to a HomeGain consumer by an agent
was 5.5 percent;
-- The actual average commission rate paid by consumers on closed
transactions was 5.4 percent, demonstrating that the HomeGain exchange
contributes to negotiated commissions;
-- Agents at HomeGain saved close to 150 minutes per listing presentation
made online versus traditional methods;
-- Homebuyers using HomeGain took a total of 77 days to close the average
transaction (based on date they first profiled at the site through date
of close of escrow. That's 48 days faster than the comparable period
in 2000);
-- Home sellers at HomeGain took a total of 89 days to close the average
transaction (based on date they first profiled at the site through date
of close of escrow. That's 40 days faster than the comparable period
in 2000.)
Since its founding in April 1999, HomeGain's Agent Evaluator service has
taken profiles filed by more than 150,000 home sellers and homebuyers seeking
agents and forwarded them electronically to real estate professionals located
across the United States. The value of the real estate represented by those
consumers, either for sale or for purchase, exceeds $32 billion.
In these anonymous profiles, the consumer states whether they wish to sell
or buy a home and includes information on square footage, number of rooms,
price expectation and attributes of their ideal agent. The information is
forwarded to competing real estate agents in the consumer's ZIP code, who, in
turn, submit online listing presentations to the consumer. Those electronic
packages include the agent's photograph, listings, sales experience,
professional designations, marketing ideas and commission rate (for sellers).
The consumer remains anonymous to agents until he or she decides to contact an
agent for an interview.
"Kristine Anderson is a great example of today's Web-rooted real estate
agent," Glenn Houck, HomeGain's Vice President of Agent Success, said. "She
estimates spending about 30 minutes preparing each new online listing
presentation. She's part of an adaptive group of professionals that sees the
Internet as a resourceful intermediary, helping them connect quickly with
consumers who are seeking agents that can use the Web as effectively as they
do."
To commemorate its One-Millionth Online Listing Presentation, HomeGain is
sending Anderson the newest BlackBerry Wireless Handheld(R) e-mail messaging
device and a year of free wireless service.
With HomeGain saving the average agent 150 minutes (2-1/2 hours) per
online listing presentation, the company estimates it has helped its agent
members achieve close to $55 million in productivity savings over those
1 million online listing presentations.**
"That's a major advantage the Internet offers to agents," Inman said.
"You save time and money over traditional methods, and you're proposing to
qualified home sellers and homebuyers who depend on the Internet to get their
transactions moving."
HomeGain's agent-finding service gives users direct access to a nationwide
network of more than 50,000 real estate agents. These top-producing agents
sell, on average, nearly three times the number of homes per year as their
offline counterparts, and their average sales volume is about $3 million,
compared with the national average of $770,000 for an offline agent. Yahoo!
Internet Life has named HomeGain the "Best Agent-Finder" site for the past
two years.
** (Projection based on National Association of Realtors(R) 2001 survey of
membership, stating that the typical real estate agent works approximately
43 hours per week and earns approximately $47,700 annual in gross personal
income. Approximate rate of pay: $22 per hour.)
About HomeGain
HomeGain is the largest provider of customized services to consumers using
the Internet to sell or buy a home. Its Agent Evaluator feature is the only
personalized referral service that matches consumers with the best local real
estate agent from a nationwide network of more than 50,000 real estate
professionals. Users can also access a full range of home buying and selling
tools, services and content to research home listings, value a property,
prepare a home for sale, secure a loan, arrange a move, or make home
improvements. More than 2.4 million consumers have registered at the HomeGain
Web site (http://www.homegain.com) since its inception in 1999. HomeGain is a
licensed real estate broker. State license information is available at
http://homegain.com/broker .
NOTE: All names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their
respective owners.
SOURCE HomeGain
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Related links:
http://www.homegain.com
CONTACT:
Mark Marymee of HomeGain, +1-510-655-0800,
ext. 4218, or cell, +1-510-697-2120, or markm@homegain.com
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