Real Estate – The Ultimate Social Network?

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

“Social Networking” is today’s hot Internet space. Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and LinkedIn are all evidence of excitement around the fostering of information exchange and relationships via online applications. In fact, Microsoft’s recent investment in Facebook valued the site at $15 billion!

Yet (with the possible exception of Linkedin), the usage of these sites seems far more casual than business critical with sustainable revenue models being highly elusive.

No business relies more on social networking for its success than real estate sales. Realtors, homebuyers, homesellers, title companies, lenders, movers, inspectors and a myriad of other service providers must be well connected with one another in order to successfully complete a real estate transaction. Still, in sharp contrast with the above mentioned social networking sites, real estate is intensely local.  As a real estate broker or homebuyer in San Francisco, I really don’t care about the Houston real estate market or who’s the best home inspector in Denver.  Several excellent sites such as Activerain, Zolve and Trulia Voices miss this tight local distinction, and while providing good information, have little involvement with actual real estate transactions.

Agents, homebuyers, homesellers and real estate service providers all have a tremendous amount of money and emotion tied up in their local real estate social network. This interdependence continues long after the sale is closed. At the core of this network is the agent-to-agent and agent-to-client relationship.  Enhancing this core is what CleanOffer does best.

Real estate is not a national social network but rather thousands of smaller local networks involving people who know each other and are doing actual business together. 

Stay tuned for some exciting news from CleanOffer!