Why Market to a Bunch of Realtors?
By Jim Palmer Jr.

Once in a local radio blitz by a new innovative discount brokerage, they mocked the strategy of marketing to a bunch of Realtors® and then touted their amazing ability to digitally market your home (without ever placing it in a Multiple Listing Service) as if they had invented the strategy of digital marketing.  They then recited a list of syndicates that made it sound like no Realtor® could possibly market your home as skillfully or quickly, after all, they are “marketing directly to buyers through channels like Zillow, Trulia, Google, Instagram and Facebook.” 

They claimed to offer low prices like discount brokerages, except that they eliminate the buyer’s broker completely and use their own employees to facilitate the whole transaction and brand that strategy as if you really do get the whole enchilada for half the fee.  They marketed themselves apart from and with some disdain from other discount brokerages who tout similar low fees, but whom they claim, hide the facts of the true costs in the fine print.  They claimed their tech geniuses have invented algorithms and computations to find qualified buyers without the need for the traditional real estate industry that relies on relationships with real people.

In this age of fake news and dishonest media, it is not surprising to hear someone selling their snake oil with so much zeal.  The truth is that despite these charlatans’ claims, the traditional real estate industry has made many changes and innovations in the last several decades and is not the rigid, self serving monster this con artist claims.  The MLS system has not only survived a century of difficult and trying times but has thrived and proven itself to be the most efficient, most competitive and most service oriented delivery system for real estate sales. 
 
When you list with an MLS broker, your listing automatically gets syndicated and promoted “directly to buyers” on all of the main stream digital “channels” and many, many more.  The second your listing hits the MLS data base, it is visible to approximately 2,400 brokers who have spent many dollars and many hours cultivating buyers who are ready to buy and who are not just a name gleaned from an algorithm.  Most of those buyers have been coached by a state-of-art trained agent on how to be qualified to purchase your listing.