Chamber News
 
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WEB PAGE SHARPENS THE BUYER'S EDGE
by Neil Waldman and Tess Halle
 
Stephen Israel of The Buyer's Edge discovered two years ago that the Internet is the ideal advertising tool for attracting prospects. His company acts as exclusive buyer broker for those looking to buy a home. He got a solid lead within a week of establishing his page, and over the last two years a significant portion of his business has come from people who link to his site from other Internet sites, including the Member Marketplace section of the Chamber's web site (www.bccchamber.org).

"Our Web page paid for itself twice over in the first year, and today it's almost all gravy," says Steve. The initial outlay for design, copywriting and fine-tuning cost about $15,000, and Steve estimates the Edge recouped the cost in the first two to three months of operation. Revenues directly attributed to the Internet reached close to $3 million in the first year. Steve's company pays fees for "banners" and direct links to many of the large, general sites like Homebuyers Network and Homefinder, and they in turn pay fees to the search engine, like Gopher, so they will show up on a search of "real estate." Today, maintaining the current site updating information, making corrections and resubmitting to search engines runs about $2,500- $3,000 per year. By now, Steve says, the Web pays for itself "many times over." The site itself is easy to follow and answers any imaginable question about his service and includes a copy of his contract and fee schedule. In 1996, The Buyer's Edge hit the top rank of metropolitan Washington's real estate firms with sales of $26 million. Steve estimates about 40 to 50 percent of business leads come directly from the Web site, representing $4-5 million in revenue, or about 20% of annual earnings from actual transactions. Many of the Edge's Internet clients are first-time home buyers, upwardly mobile young professionals in their late twenties and early thirties, with two incomes and no children, or families with pre-schoolers looking for room to grow. "It's not surprising," says Steve, "because professionals are the ones who use the Internet the most." In an actual case, a professional couple from Seattle planning to move to the DC area searched the Internet for information about area real estate, schools and jobs. They found The Buyer's Edge, and Steve found them a home in downtown Bethesda that resulted in a 3% commission on a $200,000-plus sale for his company. "There's no doubt the Internet has a significant positive impact on our bottom line," Steve says.