Your Listings On Your Site

[HHI Golf Guy]

I took a look at dozens of real estate agent web sites tonight to see how agents are presenting their own listings.

For example, depending upon the server platform my client is using I use a MySQL database with PHP or MS Access database with ASP to store and display the listings. Essentially, I have created a specialized ecommerce shopping cart so that a visitor can store multiple listings in a "basket" and then "check out" when they want to request more info or arrange a property visit.

What amazed me is that many agents did not highlight their own listings - they just dumped visitors into the MLS. What do you think about this? Why would you choose not to highlight your own listings, even on a static HTML page?

[Chief Tutor]

In working with clients in the past, I have always based the answer to the question of wheather to highlight their listings or not on what type of agent are they. If they are mainly buyers agents with few or no listings each year, I have recommended they NOT have a my listings section. The reason for this is that The negative representation of linking to a my listings page with no listings outweighs the positive aspect of people seeing their one listing every six months.

Unless an agent has 1 to 2 active listings at any time, I tend to shy away from putting in a my listings section.

If they are a buyers agent however and have been in the business for a few years, I usually recommend they have a past sales page and testamonials page to support the reasons they give to why you should work with them instead of another agent.

Just my two cents.

[HHI Golf Guy]

The negative representation of linking to a my listings page with no listings outweighs the positive aspect of people seeing their one listing every six months

I do strongly agree with that. I guess that I am accustomed to dealing with more established agents that have listings. My agents are also active in working with other agents in their office and they often list those homes on their site as well.