ComFree Aggressively Seeking Share Of Real Estate Market In Vancouver
About 2 weeks ago, someone mentioned ComFree to me. I felt obliged to evaluate their website and found nothing that significantly differentiates them from all the other FSBO sites out there. They offer website listings, publish a magazine of their listings every 3 weeks, and provide marketing packages for homeowners that include brochures and signage. But about a week ago, I saw my first ComFree television commercial. During the past week I noticed billboard advertising across the city and heard multiple radio ads as well. ComFree is obviously well-funded to market in such a traditional and cost-ineffective way, but it may be the tipping point that differentiates them from all the other companies that offer similar services.
A good realtor is well worth the commissions that they earn. They carry a large overhead and spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars marketing listings. There is no guarantee of any compensation for an agent if a home does not sell. But still there exists a public perception that many real estate agents are overpaid for the service they provide. Perhaps it is too easy to become a realtor. Definitely, not all agents fall into that “good” category either, but that can be said of any profession.
Will Comfree acquire a significant portion of the Real Estate Market here in Vancouver? They currently have 9 listings on their website. They have a long way to go. But they claim to have one third of the market in Edmonton and a 15% share in Winnipeg. I will wait and see how events play themselves out, but for anyone connected to the real estate industry here in Vancouver, it is worth watching.
By vOpenhouse
August 3rd, 2008 at 6:20 pm
They are a good service, however, competitors like HouseMAXX offer the same services for a lower listing fee and also have greater GOOGLE page rankings associated with ‘For Sale by Owner’ search words. I don’t know about you but if I was listing my home FSBO I would want the website I listed on to come up on the first or second page of GOGGLE and if it didn’t I would be wasting my money!