Point2 Agent has changed their pricing model.
Up until today, a “Standard” Point2 NLS membership has been free. Point2 provides a 15 page web site, and membership in their “NLS” (National Listing Service) for no charge.
An email I received this evening states that NLS memberships requested after February 20 will be free for six months, then cost $9.95 per month.
If you already had a Standard level Point2 site prior to February 20th, 2008, you have been granted an exemption. If you wish to remain at the Standard level, your membership will continue to cost you nothing, for as long as you wish to continue using it.
Personally, I think this is a good move. There are tens of thousands of free-level Point2 sites out there. Some (but certainly not all) are abandoned or horribly neglected. I’ve seen listings on free sites that have been expired or sold for months.
Point2’s “Handshake” listing feature is a powerful tool. With Handshake, I can syndicate my listings to other Point2 sites in my area, and other agents can display their listings on my site.
But this means all Point2 users must be diligent about updating their listings, less we wind up with polluted data propagating across the Point2 network.
Charging a minimal usage fee could go a long way toward cleaning up abandoned and neglected sites.
Six months of free use is more than ample time for an agent to decide if the Point2 solution is right for them. And $10/month isn’t too much to ask for after that.
Upgrading to the “Professional” level site for $49.95/month provides a ton of enhanced features and is well worth the cost in my opinion.
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[tags]Point2 Agent[/tags]
The Phoenix Real Estate Guy was started by Jay Thompson, and I have a little blogging problem... he liked to say...
I like this as well. It's too easy to abandon a site if it's completely free. I hope they come up with some plan to eliminate the ones which have already been left behind. It makes no sense that it bothers me, but it's like space junk, just kinda out there waiting for someone to cash into it. 🙂
Point2 has a pretty sharp blogger at AR in my area. This is interesting. Ten bucks a month and syndication to other P2 agents. Relationship does prevent abondonment. Of course, if I were the agent, I would want it for five bucks a month!
Steve
Jay, I think it's a very good move as well, however with over 100,000 grandfathered free sites, it doesn't solve the problem of abandoned and horribly neglected sites continuing to feed handshake listings to your site or mine.
Perhaps, if an agent doesn't log into their site for a month or two, they could be sent an email reminder or two and a lack of response could be reason for deactivation. It would certainly help to "clean up" the listings.
And while I'm on the subject, is there any way that contact information could be policed other than by members carefully checking each listing. Agents would be fined lots of money on their mls for what they are publishing on their p2 sites.
Jay- I agree with you as well. This is sort of like when we were talking about how I think ActiveRain should charge a nominal fee each month. Not so much to make money, but make sure the people that are there are more bought in to the community. Maybe make it free to read, but $5 a month to participate. However, having a dated blog out there isn't as bad as having dated listings. Thanks for update. Will be interesting to see Saul lead this organization.
Jay.
I have been using the standard free site for almost a year and I login in and update daily. I have been wondering for a very long time how they point2 could afford to be giving away an excellent service for so long. I think it is about time they charged. I agree with you that the professional service is worth while too. I think I am going to upgrade now.
You broke this story quick. I read this before I got the e-mail notification.
keep up the good work.
Steven
does anyone know where Brendan King landed after he left Point2? Does anyone have contact information for him?
Hard to argue with you. I have a very neglected site over at Point2. When they first came out I was big user. I just moved on. I still like their stuff very much.
Kfrance – Brendan is at VendAsta. I've written about it a few times on this blog.
http://www.phoenixrealestateguy.com/?s=vendasta
More at http://www.vendasta.com
Jay, I think its a good move too. I wonder if they will rise the other prices as well. I hope not.
It should help stop the mess from spreading at least.
I have seen other sites that send you an email once a month to verify your listing is still current. It's painless and you click on the box that says yes and it's verified – and you're done for another month. I can't imagine it would be hard for Point2 to implement this for ALL listings. If the user doesn't respond in a timely fashion they move the listing to inactive status until the user responds.
Jason, great idea, the funny or not so funny thing is that some agents don't even know they have a p2 website but that's what happens when there is no cost.
P2 have fantastic websites. I'm a professional member and the site is well worth every penny I pay (and some…but ssshhhhh – don't tell them I said that).
I think it will build the overall integrity of the sites community by having active handshake partners and real estate agents that have a higher chance of keeping their sites updated on a regular basis.
Also, should bring in some more revenue to support new upgrades, R&D, and keep the company profitable and competitive.
Great move P2!
Good move for P2. In the past, P2 did notify a member if they haven't logged in for 30 days. I believe the site would become inactive after that time….the problem is the site was never removed from the system.
Now if P2 can address the problem of listings shown as active when in fact they are sold, expired, etc…..If I had recently purchased a home and found it was still being marketed for sale on numerous sites on the web I wouldn't be very happy.
I think they should charge for the NLS, as what you said is accurate to the point of being silly. way to many listings are way out of date.
I'm a big fan of this change. I think forcing new users to spend $120 per year for the site will result in sites that aren't totally abandoned.
I think they really need to do something to deactivate the abandoned sites. I like the idea of sending out emails to free site users and requiring them to click a link to keep their site active. If they don't do it within 30 days, then the site goes inactive. They could then be given a 30 day grace period to reactivate their sites (with an email announcing the deadline). After the grace period is up, the site could be placed into an inactive group and could be reactivated if the user opts to start paying the $10 per month.
Of course, this would drastically reduce the number of website users that Point 2 could claim, so they might not like the idea.
I know why they excluded their current customers, but they should include them also.
Hey, Jay, speaking of P2Agent sites that are not updated, yours has an old symbol in the banner that I hear is no longer applicable! 😉 Congrats on your move to independence! It's definitely well earned and well deserved!