Have you ever visited a real estate website?  Did it make you register before it allowed  you to search and view the properties?

I have visited a number of real estate websites lately and have noticed this feature that I find quite annoying.  Why do I have to give up personal information to view the properties to see if I like any of them?  You know what I always do when that annoying popup appears?  I close that window and move on to another site.

First of all, I’ve already gone through enough online registrations and have a dozen of user names and passwords I have to remember.  I don’t want to have to remember another password for my temporary needs. But even if I register and get my password, what’s the point if I don’t have any intention to ever to return to the site because it does not have what I’m searching for?

Second, I don’t want to get anymore emails than I already get everyday.  I already have several email accounts that I use for different purposes and some of them are already full with spam emails.  I guess I can give them one of those email addresses but then I wouldn’t be feeling good about it.

Third and more importantly, there are many other real estate websites out there, some of which are big name companies, that allow visitors to search and view properties freely.  By the way, I also noticed that the ones that have popups that require you to register are the ones that look like johndoerealestate.com.

Fourth and most importantly, in the online world, asking for personal information in return for a promise to deliver valuable service later on will almost always render the requester a suspect.  Provide good content and visitors will come back for more.  Provide superior content and they will regard the realtor as expert in the field and someone they can trust in guiding them through the complicated process…the largest investment of their lives.

There are websites out there that you need to pay to get access to certain parts of the site.  But usually they clearly say that up front….here’s what you get as a free user and here’s what you get as a paid subscriber.  They don’t mislead you into believing that you have full access and then all of a sudden block your whole screen and tell you access is restricted to registered users.

I can only guess why many real estate agents build their websites with that feature.  To me, it’s annoying and will do more harm than good.

Stick to good content. Content is king!

By: Huy