Brokers/owners are suspicious, and you can’t blame them. They don’t want to get involved with systems that are affiliated with other brokerages or that want a piece of the commission pie. So when they hear about ListNet.ca, they’re pleasantly surprised, says VP and co-founder David Lloyd.
ListNet.ca is a property marketplace portal that consolidates every type of property for sale, presale, rent or lease in Canada. It is unbiased, independent and is not affiliated with any media or real estate brand, Lloyd says.
Its goal is to help salespeople find clients by offering them an exceptional online presence, while becoming a top resource for visitors searching for properties online, Lloyd says.
MLS listings are automatically downloaded through CREA’s DDF feed. It’s free for an unlimited number of properties, Lloyd says. Listings are updated every 24 hours, direct from CREA for accuracy.
Lloyd, a mortgage broker by trade, and CEO and co-founder Phil York came up with the idea in September 2013 after York’s niece called wanting more information about rental apartments she had seen online. Lloyd and York wondered why there wasn’t a site that compiled such listings and decided to create one. It stared as rentals only but because Lloyd is a mortgage broker, including properties for sale made sense, he says. They also decided to include ICI properties.
The next step was to eliminate the need to input properties multiple times. ListNet.ca is part of CREA’s DDF feed so everything is loaded automatically. “No one has to do any extra work,” Lloyd says.
They launched ListNet.ca at Realtor Quest, the Toronto Real Estate Board’s annual trade show, in May 2015. “The first question brokers/owners asked is, ‘Is it a brokerage?’ We aren’t and never will be a brokerage, and we’re not selling leads,” Lloyd says. As soon as they heard that, they were on board. “We had about 900 conversations with brokers/owners and the feedback was positive, except for three people.”
If an agent is on the listing, he/she is featured front and centre. When someone clicks for more information, an email goes to the Realtor through Realtor Link. The only reference to ListNet is a tagline on the email.
“We work with the industry, not against it,” says Lloyd.
ListNet.ca has more than 20,000 listings and almost 5,000 Realtor profiles, Lloyd says.
When users go to the site, they don’t have to search a city. Their IP address lets the system know where they are located, and automatically pops up an area map with homes in their area.
Future plans are to have listing fees on rentals for anyone who is not a Realtor. Listing enhancements and ads for related services are also in the works.
ListNet provides marketing (increased visibility of listings) and leads directly to Realtor Link for Realtors at no cost. No effort is required because listings are added and updated automatically. Profiles are managed with one account and one login. It’s free and it’s easy, so what’s not to like?
The worst case scenario – agents get a lead for no effort, Lloyd says.
Connie Adair is a contributing writer for REM.
