StreetEasy comes for sellers’ leads

StreetEasy will soon launch a trio of products designed for sellers in a play to pass those leads onto brokers and corner the most valuable part of the lead-generation market.

The Zillow-owned company is set to release a real-time data platform, a concierge service to connect with agents and a dashboard to track estimated home value, nearby sales and calculate closing costs.

The new features will roll out for sellers’ use from February through March.

The leads will be available to brokers in the StreetEasy Experts program and will be structured similar to buyers’ leads, which don’t require payment from brokers until they’ve closed a deal. StreetEasy declined to say how much they’ll charge, but brokers say transactions sourced from buyers’ leads cost between 25 percent and 35 percent.

Sellers’ leads have been hailed by some as the holy grail of lead generation. They offer outsized value: one can turn into several buyers’ leads as brokers network at open houses and other owners may decide to hire a listing broker active in the building. Sellers are also more likely to complete a transaction, whereas a buyer may just be browsing.

“The path to close is much more inevitable in a sale,” said Michael Biryla, a broker at The Agency, who says he’s closed three deals referred to him by StreetEasy seller leads.

With the greater upside, comes more difficulty cultivating. Sellers often have brokers before they list. In order for StreetEasy’s new programs to work, they’ll have to attract curious sellers before they find a broker through word of mouth. It’s unclear to what extent StreetEasy’s new products will change that process.

StreetEasy has been testing various seller-oriented products in the past two years, according to a spokesperson.

Keller Williams broker William Krooss-Tadas, who has previously been critical of StreetEasy’s policy of charging brokers for leads and listings, said he hopes the program takes off.

“I would certainly be willing to pay 25-30 percent,” he said.

The new approach resembles that of Redfin, which offers sellers’ leads through a suite of online products aimed at attracting buyers before listing. But Redfin agents get first dibs, and leads are only passed onto partner agents in markets where Redfin agents don’t operate, or if they’re at capacity. A spokesperson for Redfin said the majority of its referrals are for buy-side customers.

The new products are the latest offering from the world of residential brokerage as firms try to widen income streams in the wake of a cooling market.

Douglas Elliman announced in September it was getting into the payday loan business, the same month Keller Williams said it would provide wealth management training for its brokers. StreetEasy is also facing a challenge for buyers’ leads from CoStar-backed Citysnap, the first industry-controlled MLS, which launched in June.