The Real Estate Agent Directory™ on Facebook Surpasses Half-a-Million Members

If there was ever any question about how essential Facebook has become for real estate agents seeking to leverage its 1.86 billion users to garner leads, referrals and brand exposure, look no further than the Real Estate Agent Directory™ (READ) on Facebook. Real estate technology company HomeASAP announced that membership in its directory – a real estate marketplace that connects agents with home buyers, sellers and referrals in 15,000 U.S. cities – has surpassed 500,000 members. This represents 25 percent of all licensed real estate agents in the United States (estimated to be two million by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO®), and as many as 50 percent of all active agents (1-1.3 million est.).

Members of the Real Estate Agent Directory™ are provided complimentary customized agent profiles for their Facebook business pages where they can promote themselves and their listings to harvest leads and referrals from consumers and other agents. It serves as a gateway to a variety of other free and paid marketing apps, groups and services that help real estate professionals grow their networks, businesses, and expertise. The directory was launched in October 2011. There is no cost to join.

“We’re excited to pass this historic milestone”, said Mark Bloomfield, founder, and CEO of HomeASAP. We’ve worked hard to make the Directory the premiere destination for real estate agents on Facebook, a place where they can learn, grow and profit within Facebook’s ecosystem. Our success not only reflects Facebook’s amazing growth but the value we’ve created especially for real estate professionals on the social network.”

HomeASAP, which specializes in online marketing solutions for real estate agents, pioneered the use of IDX Home Search™ websites on Facebook Pages, a concept that was controversial at the time due to rules about how IDX data can be used, but which was ultimately accepted and has since become commonplace.

“The growth of READ and use of IDX on Facebook illustrate the network’s continuing development into a one-stop platform for everything, including real estate”, says Bloomfield. “More agents than ever before are turning to Facebook as a critical source for brand building and lead generation, while consumers are increasingly using it for buying, selling and product research, including researching agents. When taken into consideration with Facebook’s highly-targeted ad capabilities, it’s easy to understand current trends.”

In addition to the Real Estate Agent Directory’s milestone, recent surveys conducted by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and Inman revealed:

95 percent of consumers go online for home search information 1
90 percent used a real estate agent to buy or sell a home 1
89.85 percent of agents and brokers had a Facebook page for their business 2
72.73 percent said Facebook was the most important social media network for their business, with YouTube placing a distant second at 9.09% 3
39.7 percent of agents reported generating between 2-10+ leads per month on Facebook 2
50.45 percent spent between $20 – $500 per month on Facebook lead generation 2
8.09 percent spent over $500 per month 2

When asked to predict how relevant Facebook would be to their business in 2020, 59.33 percent of agents said “8, 9 or 10” on the scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being “very relevant”. 3

Sources:
NAR, 2017: Homebuyer and Seller Generational Trends
Inman, 2017: Special Report: How to Turn Facebook Into a Lead Generation Machine
Inman, 2016: Special Report: Is Social Media Worth the Time and Investment?

HomeASAP is the leading provider of online marketing solutions for real estate professionals, offering a broad portfolio of integrated applications and services to help connect home buyers and sellers with agents and brokers.  The company’s flagship products include the Real Estate Agent Directory™, the #1 place on Facebook to learn about and connect with over 500,000+ real estate agents; IDX Home Search™, an innovative home search technology for agent websites integrated with Facebook business pages; and Search Alliance™, an agent-powered co-operative lead generation network.

HomeASAP also provides real estate professionals with social media services for networking, advertising, marketing, content management, referrals, CRM, and offer management under the brand names Page Engage™ Dream Sweeps™ and TurnKey Suite™. For more information, visit HomeASAP.com.