HOW real estate marketing has changed.

In the late 1990s when I worked in central London’s booming real estate market, we had no idea what a website was.

Our office was situated in the heart of the business district and like most agents at the time, printing out property lists of homes “for sale” and “rentals” available was a daily task.

Other marketing duties included updating the window display to entertain those who stared at the information daily on their way to and from work. In fact, the office location and the footfall was a key ingredient to agency success.

It was around that time that a new breed of companies came out claiming we needed to get a website and to get listed on one of those Property Portal thingummies. We had no idea. I recall much confusion in our office over the difference between an email and a website.

Heck, we just sold houses. Why were all these people telling us to change our successful ways?

However, over the next decade or so, websites became the new brochure, the new office window and the new business card. We invested, we updated – a presence online became vital to our real estate world. And we started listing on all those property portals too.

Some made it through, others fell by the wayside. Natural selection sorted the many down to a few – why would you need that many choices when they effectively all offered the same thing?

Then the next must-have became the agency website. After meeting new clients, the cool agents everywhere could be heard using the following phrase on a regular basis “Here’s my card and check out our website”. That was followed with a bit of wink, a tilt of the head and a wry smile. One was rather proud of our acceptance and the fact we were embracing this modern technology.

Then out of the blue a few years ago came the app and with it an explosion of Facebook and Twitter. I do confess if you calculated over the last decade how many hours I have spent on property websites it would be very scary.
But now I spend 80 per cent of my searching/researching time on an app. As such, realestate.com.au has not lost me as a customer – I have just moved from website to app and I love it.

So now modern agents have business Facebook pages and Twitter accounts and LinkedIn too, to tell the world of their talents while the main property portals house their listings.

But how many people actually go to an agent’s website? Why would you? Most buyers do not care about the overall brand, they just want to know about what is listed. These sites do offer a great source of information for smart buyers and vendors so you should still use them for your research.

Those sites inevitably include a lot of information about agents’ background and experience, and you can research further by checking them out on social media.

So for agents, we are now in a time when it’s not just about the company or brand that you work for, it’s about your personal reputation. Every posting, every picture, every event and the comments and feedback have to be managed – but as agents work in the marketing business, this should not be too difficult.

Buyers and sellers check your agents out. Follow them for a while before you make a decision with who you will go with. See how they engage with their friends and customers and see if you like the cut of their jib.

Remember asking for references is very last century. Have you ever been given one that isn’t good? Exactly. But there is something scarily honest in online reviews and comments. And in a few years, it will probably be replaced by something even newer/nerdier/cooler/essential and eventually I will catch up.

Andrew Winter is a real estate consumer champion and the host of Selling Houses Australia on The LifeStyle Channel.