MungoList will launch tomorrow
MungoList.com is a Boston real estate startup that is looking to change how real estate buyers, sellers and practitioners connect and positions themselves as a service that helps Realtors grow their pipeline. Agents can post their listings for free on MungoList and they do not sell buyer leads or charge listing agents to be featured on their own listings, claiming that is what separates them from their traditional real estate search competitors.
“MungoList provides a new way for real estate agents to be paid for their expertise and time,” the company says, and their goal is to disintermediate the search portals that offer to sell back leads to agents based on the listings the agents themselves put into syndication.
The company offers a Pro version which offers exclusive agency listings wherein sellers pay for services a la carte. Pro account holders that connect with a seller on MungoList is required to list the property in the MLS as an exclusive agency listing. Pro membership also offers zip codes for sale at $31 per month per zip code.
Founder Robert Nichols said, “real estate agents work hard for their listings and shouldn’t have to pay a fee to be exclusively featured on their own listings. This just doesn’t make sense.” MungoList tells us they have additional features rolling out in coming months and that a 30 day free Pro membership is available.
The company has taken on an ambitious role in the real estate industry and while we see it as having potential for lead generation, it will take some hefty funding and influence to steal market share from the big boys of real estate search.
Tara Steele is the News Director at The American Genius, covering entrepreneur, real estate, technology news and everything in between. If you'd like to reach Tara with a question, comment, press release or hot news tip, simply click the link below.
meyers.drew
November 28, 2011 at 10:36 pm
So…how are they going to make money? What's the business model if not to charge agents?
Building traffic is hard work, it takes a lot of time or a lot of money. The reason the Zillow's of the world can charge money is because they have 25 million uniques a month. If agents could attract their own traffic/leads cheaply and without any effort, then they wouldn't be willing to pay for the exposure…but that's simply not reality.
Robert Nichols
November 28, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Hello meyers.drew,
The business model is simple, we will only charge agents if we get them listings (not leads) and for enhanced services.
Agents cannot attract this much traffic on their own but a site that has a large volume of listings can allow agents to collectively attract a large volume of unique monthly visitors who will only see the listing agent on their listings. We feel there is a lot more up side if the focus is on providing free and enhanced services for a fee as opposed to selling cold leads.
david pylyp
November 29, 2011 at 12:21 am
So, agents provide pricing presentation marketing negotiation and transaction management. When a Seller selects a service they inherently select the LOWEST priced option as they feel they know everything (we did read it online and slept at a Holiday Inn last night)
Agents needs to meet this head on in their "What value do I bring to the negotiation table for you" Define the services you can deliver that no one else has. Otherwise you fall by the wayside as another POST it on the MLS and never heard from you agent.
Large volume posters like Point2Agent are losing their CRED Listing are some 2 – 3 years old, sold, expired, and run forever. Large does not mean uptodate.
We do live in Interesting Times.
David Pylyp
Living in Toronto and Loving it!
Bruce Lemieux
November 29, 2011 at 11:04 am
Allowing a seller to "list in MLS and Realtor.com for free" would require MungoList to be a broker, correct? To be a broker, MungoList would be required to follow inflexible broker/MLS rules. Or, is MungoList having real brokers with real costs do the data entry (creating a listing really isn't anything more, is it?) for free? Then, once in the MLS(?), the seller will select from a menu of value-added services that brokers provide – pricing, staging, paperwork. Who's the broker? None of this make sense.
For sellers, this is a very convoluted way to provide a flat-fee listing. Flat-fee listers aren't doing well — why would a more complicated model like this fare an better?
And then for buyers, they can go to MungoList *first* before the listing hits the MLS. If all of these fresh new listings are coming from MungoList's listings, then there won't be any homes for buyers to review.
This is a baffling business model that doesn't reflect a basic understanding of how homes are bought and sold.