Realtor.com, which was formerly seen as the standard in online real estate listings, has almost 23 million unique visitors per month, more than 800 MLS services nationwide, and lists over four million homes for sale or rent nationwide. Additionally, according to the website, 80 percent of listings are updated every 15 minutes, and the rest are updated every 24 hours, at the latest.

Nevertheless, realtor.com is a website that Dollinger says generates far less Web traffic than both Zillow and Trulia, and offers a much different approach to listings than its competitors. Both Zillow and Trulia allow agents who subscribe to advertise on the listings of agents who are not paying into the platform, allowing paying subscribers to poach the leads of other agents. Realtor.com does not allow for this type of advertising, but therefore generates far less traffic than do the other sites. This can be seen as both a positive and a negative, but the results are that there are both qualitatively and quantitatively less leads generated through realtor.com.

David Lutman, an agent with CONLON: A Real Estate Company, advertises exclusively with realtor.com using its Connexion program, as well as paying for banner advertisements. Connexion allows agents to request certain ZIP codes, which are then granted based on availability. Lutman believes that he receives an optimal return on his investment, which he estimates costs between $500 and $700 per month.

Lutman is testing the waters of the online real estate market, and initially decided to use realtor.com because it required a lower preliminary investment than what was required by Trulia and Zillow. He is currently working with two buyers whom he met through realtor.com. After using the platform, he has appreciated the good customer service that has been offered by realtor.com, and indicated that it greatly influenced his choice in marketing platforms.

“We had conversations about what I was looking to do, how I wanted to present myself, what options they had, and just had good conversations back and forth. It probably played an important role [in the choice],” he says.

Adversely, Lutman found representatives of Zillow and Trulia too aggressive about getting his business.

“After I initiated conversations with Zillow and Trulia, they were constantly calling me back, and it seemed so pushy,” he says. “I still get calls from them, and it has been a big turn-off for me. It made me question what the reality of their business is, versus wanting to create a partnership with me.”

With realtor.com, his representative is responsive, and when he has any questions about his budget, how much packages are or how leads are generated, Lutman says he can contact his rep, and he knows he’ll get back to him.

“I still have questions about what I’m spending per month and how leads are generated, but I can reach out and know he’ll get back to me,” he says. “There’s a customer service element there.”