I want to dispel any notion that just because I work at HomeGain and I do consult my clients to utilize Buyerlink for their pay-per-click campaign, I’m a “one-size-fits-all” brute that can’t take honest criticism. 
I will be the first one to admit that HomeGain.com’s Buyerlink, or any of its other programs for the matter (Agent View, Agent Evaluator, or AIMS), is not a generic, one-size –fits-all solution for every realtor out there. That would like saying the Atkins Diet Program will work for every single overweight person. Simply not true. I’m open to constructive criticism so let’s delve a bit deeper into the logic behind this agent’s argument.
The realtor’s argument is summarized in the following order:
- HomeGain is at the top search engine results on Google for just about any “city, state real estate” keyword combination because HomeGain spends big dollars to make sure they it stays at the top of Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc
- HomeGain’s BuyerLink is a program where HomeGain redirects
website traffic from their website to a real estate agent’s websites for a pay-per-click fee
- The HomeGain site advertises that you can search for homes. Consumers click on the search for homes button, then they click on their state, then their metro area, and finally they click on the town they are interested in.
- Suddenly, the consumer finds themselves on a completely different website, a real estate agent’s IDX search page.
CONCLUSION:
6) They are hijacking the real estate agent’s website content and listing 
search functions and selling them back to agents at $0.75 – $1.50 per click.
This realtor was on such a good start, making some valid objective points, but then unashamedly abandons logic to fumble to his malicious conclusion.
If HomeGain.com attracts millions of visitors a month because we have put forth great effort in our Search Engine Optimization Strategy, built key strategic partnerships with over 300 affiliate partners, and manage a fine-tuned Search Engine Marketing campaign, and then connect these consumers directly with Real Estate Professionals through our Buyerlink program, are we guilty of Hijacking?
His logic would not hold even in Judge Judy’s court of law. If we extended his reasoning to its logical ends then I could argue that even he himself as a realtor is a middle man “hijacking” buyers and sellers who could conduct a transaction by themselves if they really had enough time to worry about all the legalities and details and save 6% while they are at it!
Heck, using this line of reasoning, we should perhaps start picketing outside of Costco and Walmart. They leverage their multi-million dollar budget to aggregate consumer products in quantities and prices that no individual 
consumer can get and pass that on to their members for a little mark up. Sounds eerily similar to HomeGain’s Buyerlink strategy, no? Perhaps we should churn our own butter, grow our own vegetables, make trips to Wall Street to trade our own stocks, buy cars directly from Detroit, you get my point.
All sarcasm aside, a world with no middle men simply does not exist. While waxing eloquent about this “idealistic” marketplace may make great blogging material, but it is utterly futile in practical application. In a free market capitalistic economy, or what is left of it today, there will always be technology vendors that provide TOOLS to empower agents to run their business efficiently and productively.
Can HomeGain’s Buyerlink be used as a TOOL for a realtor, which if yeilded correctly can great return on investment for realtors? 350 transactions good enough for you?
To be continued…
