Realtor.com and Move to Switch to a Referral-Based Lead Generation Model

Realtor.com is changing up how it gathers leads for its agents. The company has announced that it will discontinue offering lead generation products to agents in 60 markets across the country. Replacing this service is an exclusive referral-based product from Opcity. 

Move Inc., under realtor.com, had been working on a way to replace the traditional lead generation products realtor.com has used up until now. Opcity’s model allows agents to pay the company a percentage of their commission when they close a lead in place of paying upfront for impressions. 

Called the ‘Core Network,’ over 140,000 agents and 13,000 brokers are participating in the service. 

But things aren’t exactly peachy for Move when it comes to revenue. Though the company has been working on this Core Network for some time, in hopes that it will be a more beneficial service to offer agents and brokers, the switch to a referral system might be the cause to Move’s dwindling revenue. 

Susan Panuccio, News Corp.’s CFO, said that the shift to Opcity’s model has disrupted the company, saying Move’s revenues had “declined 10 percent to $111 million, with real estate revenues down 5 percent.”

News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson, has pointed fingers at the pandemic being the real wrench in their carefully put-together plans. 

“[The Coronavirus pandemic has] irrevocably changed businesses — and our businesses — in expediting preexisting digital trends, challenging established business practices, and in prompting necessary in prospecton about work habits and the workplace itself.”

Realtor.com, however, is seeing traffic rise, which is in-line with other U.S. real estate platforms. Demand for housing is continuing its upward momentum.