[mooreds]

I worked for a real estate company for a number of years and have watched the behavior of agents over a longer period of time.

I'd advise anyone working in the software side of real estate to target anyone other than real estate agents (brokers, title, inspectors, etc) as customers. The churn is punishing, there's a lot of competition and many agents do a small number of deals/year.

[bdcravens]

I'd second this. I've seen several people get their agent license in recent years, and most of them have additional jobs. (meaning they're not generating as much income as an agent as they'd need to do it full time) It's a very flooded market.

[joelhaus]

Agreed. Just launched my company to help the types of agents you're talking about: GeneralReferral.com

Brings technology to an underinvested corner of the traditional brokerage.

Could use some marketing help...

[MoveMyMobile]

I work as an agent in the commercial real estate space. Usually referrals happen when one agent who let's say specializes in office (for example) finds a lead/listing in Industrial, multifamily, etc (That they aren't well versed in). Usually I've noticed 20% (of the commission) is about the standard fee if you get them a listing. Most often however referrals aren't concrete and no sale actually comes out of it. This is because you have to convince the owner to sign a listing with the person you are referring and they are probably already getting contacted by competing brokers who already specialize in the space. I've only had 1-2 referrals work out for me. You'd want some kind of way for agents to list their specialty and maybe a list of done deals (of that property type) to show experience. I've noticed on the commercial side that Generalists (Who do everything) NEVER get referrals. No one will refer for example the sale of an office building to an agent that lists everything, the refer to the office broker who specializes in it. I have an idea for a Real Estate site (I've put it on the back-burner) that nobody is doing right now because from my experience the tech savvy guys who can build this kind of thing are not privy to the high end investment sales market (Investment properties that are at least $2 million) There is a certain culture and way of doing things that isn't really easy to understand unless you've worked in it.

[vladsanchez]

I work in R/E Analytics, email me: [e-mail]

[20years]

This ^

I have a couple of real estate apps on the market one of which has been out there for over 10 years. They did really well before the bust and are still profitable but it is a really tough market. I have since moved to other sectors and am happy I did.