I was just reading an article on Inman News that was critical of agent web sites that are set up to require visitors seeking information to register first with their name, phone number and other contact information before they can get to the area or the information they may be looking for. The article went on to say that since there are so many sites out there that offer free information without having to do that why in the world would anyone want to expose their personal information by filling out some suspicious form. I know I won't do it unless there is in my mind an absolute need for the person running the web site to have the information.

On my web site, I have a free home search that you can use to automatically send existing or new listings that meet some of your criteria to your email inbox. Obviously, the only thing needed here is the email address where you want the information sent. If you want to leave your name and phone number, that's strictly your choice but it's certainly not mandatory to get me to send you the information you're looking for. I'm not that concerned about who you are. The one thing I will do first is to check to see that whatever your email address is, that it's a valid address before I go spending time to set up the account in the multi list system that will be sending the information. What I do care about is that you are using my service, find it useful, and when you're ready to finally do something you will trust me enough that you call me to get you through the buying or selling process.

The problem is, as I wrote in my last post, people simply do not trust real estate agents. Unfortunately, we have over the years brought this consumer perception on ourselves by not aggressively self-policing our profession. We allow too many undesirable people to continue working in this business without any challenge or penalty, and it costs us dearly by seriously lowering our credibility among the consumer public.

As the Inman article reads, agents have long been programmed by their brokers to "Capture Internet Leads" so some contact can be made that may be productive to the broker. And it's just crap! Plain and simple crap, as is the "Cold Calling" rhetoric agents get from most brokers... and please, add "Open Houses" to that crap list too. I could go on, but it would take too long.

Just remember as you are out there surfing around for housing information, there are web sites that are bad and web sites that are pretty good. You have to make the conscious choice as to whether you want to divulge your privacy to a specific web site to get the information you are looking for or maybe look around for another more consumer friendly web site, one that is not so intrusive.