Hi Dennis,

I did try Housevalues.com several years ago and I did get a client from it.  In fact we did 3 deals with that client.  I am still in contact with most of our contacts that we picked up there also.  The problem with housevalues and the reason we did not continue with them was the cost.  We liked everything else.  There are many agents who were paying half as much as we were and that caused a bit of resentment.  

Recently one of the agents in our office got a call from them, and I asked how much, almost double what we were paying.  No wonder they are losing money.  When I let them know I was no longer going to use their service they asked me why and I told them the cost.  I guess they didn't listen.

Jana

I agree Jana. I just got a call from them last week. Their sales tactics are, well, more agressive then I care for too. They are teaching their sales people to be insulting and overbearing.

When I asked the cost, I had to ask five or six times before I got an answer, and was told the ASTROMICAL price I started giggling out loud. The agent tried to use reverse psychology on me and began to tell me "I" wasn't right for their program! LOL

You have to love it when they try to hook you by telling you that you aren't good enough. I tried that with a girl I wanted to date in high school. It got me slapped in the mouth! lol

I used them for 6 months and never got a decent lead.  I would call the client and they just wanted a free evaluation of their home.  I gave them the evaluation and kept in contact but still not one client.  I really hope it works for others.  The cost was out-of-sight.

That boggles my mind. $900,000.00?

They must be doing everything wrong that is possible to do wrong.

Housevalues is ridiculously expensive. I had a title company paying for a subscription for year and got nothing out of it. The "leads" were horrible, and half the time the HV "system" had technical difficulties.

Their lead management system is pretty good, when it's running.

Agents are leaving HV in droves.

For every one that reports wild success, there are hundreds getting nothing.

If you have the kind of coin that HV charges, you'd be better off sinking that money into pay-per-click and getting your own leads. In my opinion.

I suspect HV will be bankrupt within the next couple of years. Lead generation companies in general had best develop some new models if they plan on surviving.

I too was contacted by house values and I agree their price is ridiculous. Also I told the sales rep I wouldn't consider their program unless they allowed me to evaluate it for FREE on a 90 day trial basis.  That took care of them! He had a fit "we don't give away our program and we will just find another agent"  I told him if their program was htt good they wouldn't have a problem allowing me to satisfy myself it is worth the money. I told him all the best!  They wanted $3200

Looking at the rest of the "Inman Index" makes Housevalues' 900K look like peanuts.  Countrywide lost $1.2 billion in valuation last quarter, its first losing quarter in 25 years.

Yikes.

I recently had a client ask me why I did not advertise on certain sites - I replied it was because they would sell the leads back to other Realtors.  This increases our cost of business and therefore increases the cost to the seller/buyer. HV and the rest of them will put themselves out of business.  Places like P2 will continue to draw in more Realtors at a NORMAL cost and hopefully these other 'income generators' will fall to the wayside once the public catches on to the scam.  

Now why doesn't 60 minutes do a story about them and how THEY cost/hurt/corrupt the system???  Anyone have their number????

Well-put Trista.  Point2 had plenty of opportunity to get into the (often very lucrative) lead reselling business over the years.  I for one am very glad they chose to stick to their guns and continue to assert that the leads belong to the agents.

[Trista sez: Now why doesn't 60 minutes do a story about them and how THEY cost/hurt/corrupt the system???  Anyone have their number????]

Oh, we got their number all right . . . LOL

I have been with Housevalues for about 29 months now.  Over that period I have listed 9 homes directly from Housevalues and have worked with 14 buyers.  All in all, I have closed around 150k dirently from housevales leads.  Now I will admit, I work the leads very hard without pestering them.  For me, it has provided about a 7 to 1 return.  This program is not for everyone as it takes time and money to build a pipeline.  Currently, I have about 1200 customers in my pipeline all generated from Housevalues.

I have heard all the stories about others that did not get a thing.  But there seems to be a stong group of folks who stay the course and have done very well.

My monthly Housevalues bill has ranged from $450 - $925 per month.  Because listings right now are so hard to move, I am now only getting buyer leads to the tune of 24 per month.  With the type of year we are currently having, I have only closed 3 leads this year or about 35k.  One of the leads was a buy and a sell.  I hope this helps.

Again - this program is not for everyone, and I have never had high pressure sales from them.

Thanks for sharing your take, Don.  Glad to hear you've done well with your strategy.