40 Million Ways Agents and Consumers Are Supporting the Broker Public Portal

Real estate professional know that the big portals don't play fair. That's why this industry success milestone is well worth celebrating: Homesnap, the public-facing brand of the Broker Public Portal (BPP), is the No. 1 real estate platform for client engagement, when it comes to agent-consumer communication, according to Homesnap user data. More than 40 million buyers and sellers have engaged with their agents through Homesnap.

When the BPP was first being organized, I was skeptical. Did we need another portal? But Homesnap brought back fairness. Most importantly, Homesnap gives agents a resource to generate millions of free leads on their own.

If we, as an industry, had allowed ourselves to share data as Zillow did, we might never have lost customers to Zillow. We constrained ourselves and our vendors. By creating the Broker Public Portal with Homesnap, we have developed a competitive offering for consumers who can connect directly with professional agents that help them buy and sell houses, not a lead generation engine that repurposes and resells their contact information. This is our effort to collaborate as agents, brokers, associations, and MLSs to do the right thing for the customer we serve.

Variety is good, and consumers are all different, with unique preferences. Homesnap simply gives consumers another option. Forty million of them choose to engage via Homesnap because the BPP has created a safer place for them to shop for homes, a place where they are getting correct data that they can then use to make a decision.

Homesnap powers the only national home search platform that plays fair because if features by real-time MLS data and follows our industry's Fair Display Guidelines of "Your listing, your lead." If it's your listing, the consumer is directed to you. If you are working with a buyer on Homesnap, then every listing directs your customer back to you. Together, we provide consumers with the most accurate and timely data, which maintains long-term trust and empowers them to act.

Homesnap also helps agents avoid one of the biggest mistakes they can make: creating orphans.

Successful agents know that the majority of their business comes from referrals. Yet most sellers and buyers become orphans – they don't use the same agent again because their agent doesn't stay connected to them.

Homesnap's built-in engagement features, like in-app messaging and targeted marketing, help keep customers engaged for life. Our industry too often focuses on creating new leads instead of retaining our clients. I fly American because I have status with them, and they reward me. I stay at Marriott because I get a room upgrade. I use my grocery card for my discount. We may be the only industry where we sell your house and say goodbye. Then we chase a stranger for our next sale.

Homesnap is your post-closing app, a way to stay in touch with your sphere. That's why so many agents rate it as their top real estate app: it helps them engage with their clients both during today's transaction and while those clients are still pondering tomorrow's deal.

Every MLS and brokerage in America that hasn't already needs to work with BPP and Homesnap. Because if you leave your clients with Zillow, I can guarantee you that Zillow is not giving them back to you.

It's time every agent and broker embrace Homesnap: it is your brand, as you are the BPP. If Homesnap is not available in your market – call your association or MLS and ask for it.

Tom Hosack is CEO and President of BHHS The Preferred Realty in southwestern Pennsylvania and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BHHS Stouffer Realty Services in Ohio, with over 2,300 agents and 56 offices.