Remember the Pepsi Challenge? Making comparisons to see what you like is important for everything you do, and that’s especially true when it comes to marketing. Sticking with the same program every year is the fastest way to guarantee irrelevance – you have to stay on top of growing trends, target new buyers and maintain a lean budget. And that’s exactly why we bring you the Trulia Challenge.
More and more brokers call me every day while they are putting together their 2009 budgets. One of the most common questions I get: “What can you do for me that Realtor.com can’t?” Well, we can give you a lot more, and for a lot less. Take the first step of the Trulia Challenge, and see which column looks best for your brokerage. We think Trulia’s innovative features and flexibility (plus the multitude of FREE) leads to a pretty conclusive winner.
Getting the most bang for your buck is more important now than ever. The Trulia Challenge isn’t exactly a taste test, but we think you’ll find the results to be delicious. Watch what these real estate pro’s had to say when they took the Trulia Challenge at the 2009 Inman Real Estate Connect in New York City. Then contact us for step two.
Popularity: 23% [?]
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January 28th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Yeah, Trulia blows R.com out of the water. I never saw anything from it when I did have it. It was always provided agent branded from the broker but then that changed and I never picked it up. The absorbent fees are pathetic.
I know the feed still goes out from the MLS and that is just fine.
January 28th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Is this really even a fair challenge? With Move.com operating the largest real estate portal online, all they care about are profits, which is why the nickel and dime us Realtors. NAR needs to get a clue!
January 28th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Keep on kicking Realtor.com’s butt. I don’t understand why they screw us realtors and their ste sucks.
Trulia, you rock, serious.
January 30th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
I for one would never spend the extra money again on Realtor.com In just the last year through Trulia, I’ve had 6 transactions that I can directly link to Trulia, and have received dozens of inquiries on my listings. I have never had anything come out of Realtor.com When you consider ROI- there is no question that Trulia comes out way above.
January 30th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
For “free” on Trulia you get fewer visitors, who spend less time, consuming fewer page views than you do on REALTOR.com
In December 2008 (as measured by comScore, a third-party service that tracks all real estate web sites), REALTOR.com had 9.4MM visits — 3x Trulia’s 2.8MM. Average minutes/visitor for Trulia was 5.0 while REALTOR was 31.4 — 5x greater than Trulia. Total pages viewed was 16MM for Trulia and 191MM for REALTOR.com.
Why should you pay at all for an unengaged, small audience?
What about the 120% increase that’s mentioned? First, it’s an internal number so there’s no way to substantiate it, whereas REALTOR.com always cites publicly available audience metrics. Also, why mention an increase and not the absolute number of users? Because Trulia has only 50% of the unique users of REALTOR.com. If you’re growing audience from a small base it’s easy to show a large percentage increase.
The “Pepsi Challenge” might be fun, but you need to have the facts.
January 30th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
When it comes to marketing our listings, the web is like a haystack. The more “needles” you have in the stack, the more likely you are to reach the right buyer for your listing.
While it’s fun to do a Pepsi style challenge, the bottom line is that both Trulia and Realtor.com produce a tremendous number of eyeballs on their listings.
According to the NAR Profile of Buyers and Sellers, 60 percent of all buyers used the local MLS website and 48 percent used Realtor.com. Individual agent websites (43 percent) garnered nearly as much traffic as brokerage sites (46 percent.) To reach the greatest number of potential buyers, market your listings in all of these venues.
As Jon noted in his post above, Trulia has about half the number of unique visitors as Realtor.com. That means, using the NAR numbers, approximately 1 out of every 2 buyers visited Realtor.com and 1 out of every 4 buyers (25 percent) visited Trulia. You simply can’t afford to ignore that many unique visitors.
If you’re looking for a place to cut your advertising expenses, consider this result from the same NAR survey:
Only one percent of consumers found their agent through the newspaper, Yellow Pages, direct mail, or specialty advertising such as calendars and magnets. Furthermore, the number of people finding their homes through a newspaper, a home book or magazine, or directly through the sellers declined by 50 percent. Part of this is due to how people begin their real estate search. Eleven times more buyers now begin their search process on the Internet (33 percent) as compared to those relying on print advertising (3 percent).
January 30th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I don’t really know how my listings appear on Realtor.com, but I get questions all day about basics I have in every other ad, such as, the maintenance. And if it comes to a sale with those customers, I have to give 25% refferal fee. How’s that compared to Trulia?
January 30th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
I would like to share some points since my company, Fillmore, has been on Trulia since June 2006, and a paying customer since Nov 2006.
Comscore is a 3rd party source, everyone’s internal numbers are higher. Realtor.com is publicly traded and must report what is from Comscore - which measures unique visitors.
Trulia is a search site, without video. Trulia also automatically adds photos without agent interaction. This probably causes their time on site to be lower than others. Trulia simply drives consumers to broker websites like mine. We are paying for a highly targeted real estate consumer that is leading to closed deals. Ask around, there are many testimonials.
In regards to internal numbers, knowing Trulia’s leadership, I highly doubt they would lie about it. The fact is that all 3rd party sources measure differently, Compete, Nielsen, Axela, etc - all measure differently. The key is the percentages, those are usually close.
Unlike my competitors locally, I don’t wait for sites to get hot. Fillmore has been a customer of Trulia since Fall 2006. We have been happy and great partners since and look forward to their continued growth.
-JPR, Fillmore Real Estate - We know New York http://www.fillmore.com
January 31st, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Since Ron and I are Coldwell Banker Agents, we get Showcase free from Realtor.com. I think both sites are valuable and the more internet exposure the better. I send the property pages of both to listing customers to show them our marketing at work. We truly love both sites.
Ron and Debbie
Coldwell Banker Residential
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:01 pm
I have to agree the Realtor.com fees are simply WRONG. Shouldnt being a MEMBER of the Board of REALTORS include listing your properties on the website? They need to start opening up their Technology or they’ll be left in the past. Why pay Realtor.com when you can list for Free on Trulia?! Shame .. shame ..
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:16 pm
We pay for enhancements on Realtor.com. Today I typed in the address of one of MY listings on r.com and I landed on the ‘Check my home value’ page. All I see is another Realtor’s ad that he would be happy to provide me with a CMA… Ughh. Since I am paying R.com I don’t really expect to see other agent’s advertising next to my listings and nothing that indicates who the listing agent is.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Google Analytics numbers from a website where all listings are Featured and Branded on Trulia and Enhanced on Realtor.com:
Unique Vistors/Page Views/Time on Site
1. trulia.com / referral
1,823 2.20 00:01:57 75.75% 63.30%
8. realtor.com / referral
28 7.75 00:04:21 75.00% 35.71%
Realtor.com may have better quality, but the total number is so low.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:09 pm
I did not take the “challenge,” as I am already very frustrated with Trulia. For over TWO MONTHS my broker and I have been trying to get Trulia to solve a problem that I am having with my listing and we have been ignored and are basically getting NOWHERE. Here is the letter I first sent about my problem on Dec. 3.
“Dear Sirs:
I have a listing at 7724 81st Street NE, Marysville, WA, with MLS listing number
28181086 on Trulia. When I enter the address to pull up my new listing for
$339,950, an old listing of the same house comes up as sold for $193,950 in
1998. How can I correct this so that if someone puts in the correct address,
my new current listing comes up instead of the old sale of the house??
Thanks for your help in this matter.”
I don’t care about comparing Trulia to Realtor.com, I just want to get my problem solved, so buyers can pull up my current listing and not an old listing of the sale house 11 years ago!
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:37 pm
REALTOR.com is all about making money. Trulia is about connecting real estate professionals with consumers.
I paid for the extras on REALTOR.com in the past and got nothing for my money. Trulia is free and I get results.
Figure out which one I like.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 pm
so far I see no trial available for licensees and thus,
nothing beneficial.
Show me a trial at Trulia’s expense.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Trulia is much better than Realtor.com easier sure Realtor.com has been
here forever but there are other sites out there that they should
take notice. Personally I think Trulia has got a much better product.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:34 pm
So - TRULIA- honestly, we LOVE you guys, and I hate to tell everyone because our agents are getting DEALS because of TRULIA!!!! so…. shhhhhhhhhh…. It works EVERYWEHRE except….. central Connecticut, so if you are an agent there - advertise in the Newspaper - yay thats the ticket - really, our agents are getting DEALS, CONTRACTS, CLOSINGS… so - if you don’t want to participate yay - more for us!
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:44 pm
The real question is whether or not Trulia will switch to a pay for use system once it feels that it has become a big enough tool and resource for agents.
That being said, I do think Trulia has done more for my business in the past 6 months that Realtor.com but it’s not without effort and attention.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:47 pm
@Jason - Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
@Tony - We think it’s a fair comparison. Being as lean and nimble as we are, we’ll continue to add even more value for agents, brokers and consumers alike.
@Adina - Seriously, thanks. We’re here for you!
@Karen - That’s fantastic - Congrats on the 6 closings!!! So happy to see you are connecting with home buyers and sellers on Trulia. I’ll be in touch
@Jon - I’ll get back to you
@Bernice - I appreciate your input. Having a presence where real consumers are engaging agents is certainly where it’s at.
@John - Great points. especially like this one - “Trulia simply drives consumers to broker websites like mine. We are paying for a highly targeted real estate consumer that is leading to closed deals. Ask around, there are many testimonials.” Fillmore Rocks!
@Ron and Debbie - Thanks! That’s fair.
@Rehab Houses in CT - Interesting points!
@Maureen - Interesting flow…
@Scott - Thanks for the comparison!
@Carol - I’m on it!
@Mark - Well, if I had to guess……….
@K.Kemper - Email me at rudy at trulia dot com
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Last time I checked, Realtor.com wasnt playing games in the search engines cloaking, but Trulia is.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:58 pm
@John - Thank you very much. Much appreciated. More great things to come….
@Jodi - Ok, stop beating around the bush….has Trulia worked for your agents or not?
@Lori - Fantastic question. We’re all about adding value. Trulia Pro is our premium agent enhancement - everything else that we offer like adding your listings, creating a search engine friendly profile, blogging, participating in our Voices Q&A, etc….will continue to be free.
“That being said, I do think Trulia has done more for my business in the past 6 months that Realtor.com but it’s not without effort and attention.” You hit the nail on the head - you need to put in the effort and be proactive. Help consumers with their questions, blog about your local market conditions, post your client testimonials on your profile etc…..You only get what you give - http://www.truliablog.com/2008/09/12/social-media-karma-you-only-get-what-you-give/
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:33 pm
I have spent a lot of money with realtor.com and I haven’t seem much in terms of benefit. However, since it’s the most frequently searched site, I feel like I have to have my listings there.
I’ve had some trouble with Trulia in terms of the accuracy of the data, and also because the site doesn’t allow me to “spruce up” my listings after the fact. When the site pulls the listings from the MLS, I can’t add photos or change descriptions without deleting the listing and entering it manually. That’s a hassle. I also can’t indicate “pending” when a listing goes under contract.
And I don’t think the features are all free. Seems to me I was paying for something on Trulia… Trulia Pro, I believe. And I saw no benefit, so I cancelled.
I do like the look of the Trulia site better than the realtor.com. I would be happy to drop realtor.com when Trulia starts generating a similar amount of traffic. I think the average buyer has still not heard of Trulia. The name recognition has a long way to go!
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Oh… the site is so much better than Zillow!
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:46 pm
I use Trulia, Realtor.com and about 30+ other sites. I get leads from most of them. These sites are where consumers are looking so I would rather have lots of lines in the water that just a few.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Trulia often publishes incorrect school listings and where do you devine those price reductions.You have no right to work against my clients in this manor.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:13 am
I think Trulia is an excellent resource website. Realtor.com just wants our money. I have used Realtor.com and ended up paying for nothing. I never reaped any benfit from that site. Alot of their info is inaccurate and when you see your OWN listings posted wrong it is very discouraging.
Alicia Beyer/Broker
Beyer Realty
February 4th, 2009 at 10:45 am
How about some comments about the other Internet Service Providers. For Example: Is any one using Point 2 Agent to get leads.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:53 am
I understand that Century21.com and Truilla are working together to get our listings on Truilla. Century21.com gets a lot of hits but just recently started giving us leads in a timely manner. So if we have that business relationship, do we need to do anything with Truilla to get leads from you?
February 4th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Mike Sety. I currently am using Point 2 Agent professional version and thinking about changing. I find the site easy enough, but do not like the idea of all the misc. charges they are now have and the elimination of the free sites. As for Realtor.com? Once you sign up, you can’t cancel. It is a manatory 1 year contract. I found them very unfriendly when trying to discontinue their service AFTER 2 weeks. I am concerned that Trulla will start eliminating the free service also and start charging in the near future. Which usually happens when new management takes over.
February 4th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Finally, some competition for Realtor.com who has been overcharging us Realtors for years! GO TRULIA!!!!!
Paula Jones
REMAX of Abilene
February 4th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Great Stuff, but when I entered my new listing, I got a message from Trulia saying it could not be mapped. That stopped everything, and the tech support message essentially said, they are working on a fix. Well, what does that mean? I’m not very optimistic.
I’m interested in using every available resource, but, as I do business primarily in a small rural county of 13,500 people, the numbers game for me is a small pot.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I severed my relations with Realtor.Com many years ago. Their customer service was lousy at the time. When I complained they asked me to take a hike. I am still investigating Trulia and I like the segment “Trulia Voices”. I will be using Trulia Listings as soon as I get some listings. I have been a Realtor for many years so eventually I will get some homes to sell.
Nevertheless, I have to tell you; your video in this page is very poor quality and very amateur. Also, in Trulia Voices I have noticed that a lot of the inquiries about homes, directed to the professionals and non-professionals that answer the questions in Trulia Voices have the wrong information. Example; homes that seem to be $ 12,000 that are worth something like $ 9,950,000. It should be disclosed that the $ 12,000 is only a default amount. Start cleaning your act. You have a great site and the best is that you don’t charge for it but please be more careful with the information you post. Thanks.
February 4th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Trulia certainly should be on Realtor.com’s radar screen by now. I’d love to see them include commercial listings - this would be a huge threat to Realtor.com and it should be simple to implement through MLS feeds.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:42 am
I strongly with “Jon”!
Fun idea, and nice try Trulia. But you have a long way to go to match Realtor.com’s traffic and leads!!
February 16th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
It’s very obvious those who have issues with Realtor.com haven’t a clue on how it works. Maybe they should attend some of their local board meetings. The MLS fees are very reasonable and Realtor.com gets the property info from your MLS submission, so if something is wrong, blame whomever typed it in. Realtor.com does not charge the agents a fee, the local MLS board does. Part of the yearly dues go to the National Ass’n, part goes to the State Ass’n and part stays local — don’t bitch about something when you don’t know the facts.
August 17th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I highly prefer trulia. Realtor.com is just too expensive for too little return. They also punish you for more business. So if you have say 20 listings when they quote you and you decline in business they still charge you the 20 listing rate.
Trulia rocks and I will continue to use them.