Inman News has a headline story today about Zip Realty launching a new mobile-friendly website. This is really important in today’s real estate world. Increasingly, consumers are using mobile devices (cell phones and tablets) to access the Internet and therefore listing information. Clearly, if your property website is not mobile optimized, the consumer using a phone for access is going to have a very funky, scroll-heavy experience.
Here’s the rub: Help-U-Sell has had a mobile optimized website for almost two years.
Really. I can’t say we were the first . . . but (as usual) we were in the first wave. Consumers who go to helpusell.com using a mobile device are automatically redirected to a mobile optimized site. They have the same powerful helpusell.com experience, but they have it on their phones and tablets.
What I can’t understand is why, when we innovate, when we are ahead of the curve, when we point the way (as we have done and have been doing for years), the national media, Inman, RIS, NAR et.al. ignore it. They will faun all over Re/Max when it does something we did last year . . . but recognize us when we do something remarkable? Never.
It underscores the fact that, in real estate, there is the status quo (populated by nearly a million REALTORS) and those who earn a living off them (the real estate media, the National Association of REALTORS, et al) and there is Help-U-Sell. We may be the best idea since sliced bread, we may have the best program for consumers, we may be technologically WAY ahead of the status quo, but as long as THEY are supporting the media, our story will never be told.
The only thing we can do is to succeed, as we always have done. We build and grow, build and grow. Ultimately, the contest between the status quo and Help-U-Sell will be decided by consumers. The more of them we serve (and the better we serve them), the more the scales will tip in our favor. And someday . . . someday . . . someday most consumers will be having a quality set fee real estate experience, wondering why it was ever done any other way!