FrontDoor.com flips the logic…
…Instead of a real estate listing site seeking out content, a real estate “content” company (FrontDoor.com is the child of Scripps Networks which “owns the News Sentinel, operates HGTV, the Food Network, DIY-Do It Yourself Network, Fine Living and Great American Country and their Internet counterparts”) is looking to add listings to their portfolio:
“Scripps Networks is partnering with Realogy Corp., parent company of Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Era and Sotheby’s International Realty as well as Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, a global network of real estate firms, to provide the property listings.”
It begs an interesting question: Are DIY videos a great way to get people to view your listings (and associated ads) or are listings a great way to get people to view your DIY videos (and associated ads)?
I’m a skeptic at this point, but FrontDoor.com, along with some help from Realogy, is going to help us find out if they can get traction around the concept.
About the Author: Dustin Luther
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I actually think that is a pretty good idea. The internet has always had difficulty identifying “sellers”.
It’s well known that many sellers will put “lipstick” on the home before selling, so they may frequent these types of sites.
The display of listings may serve as branding to sellers as which company they will list with… if their not going by owner.
Jessie,
You’re right that they will likely take in a different audience (and one that would be very valuable to real estate professionals). I don’t think it is necessarily a bad idea, I just think that this implementation might be missing one key ingredient in a competitive search site: A thirst to accumulate listings that permeates throughout the company.
[...] in order to highlight (and drive traffic to) their non-listing content around real estate. I kinda like the flip in logic, even if I’m not convinced it will drive much [...]
[...] combination of search and content to create the ultimate real estate portal – Dustin at 4Realz likes the concept too. This is something the Real Estate 2.0 crowd has also tried to do, to varying degrees of success. [...]