Sad News for Our Friends at the Dallas Morning News but… Only 1% of Homebuyers Find Their Homes in Print

Despite this fact, Realtors spent $1.5 billion to market listings in print last year. I didn’t write this, but I sure have said it over and over and over again:

Agents and brokers keep using tired tactics that no longer produce results. Here’s a prime example: Despite the fact that only 1 percent of homebuyers found their home in print newspapers or traditional media, real estate agents spent $1.5 billion to market in newspapers last year.

Say you are buying a home, and you interview your real estate agent to ask what he or she is going to do to help market your home.

“I advertise it in the local newspaper and some magazines,” says Suzie Q. Agent.

Really? Does it work?

“Oh yes,” says Susie.

How do you know? Show me the numbers, baby, is what you need to say. Would you let your stockbroker choose a stock this way?

No way! You never really know who reads an ad. There is no way to share it, unless you clip it and snail mail it off to your grandmother. Agents tell me they mostly hear from friends who are NOT buying a house.

“Saw your ad, looks great.”

Isn’t that branding? And while I’m at it, does having your agent’s face on a billboard help sell homes?

So it comes with great sadness that I read how many fine, talented journalists are leaving the Dallas Morning News this fall because of the tremendous changes transforming the print industry to online: at least 40 of a total of 167 buyouts. Many of the journalists on this list will leave starting (shudder) Sept. 11:

The newspaper offered a buyout to 167 employees “whose age and years of service [at the DMN] total at least 60 years,” from across a range of publications that included DMN, Al Dia, NeighborsGo, FD, Briefing and GuideLive.com.

Editor Mike Wilson described the buyouts as part of an effort to make the newsroom more digitally minded, saying that the staffers who left would be replaced with “outstanding digital journalists.”

Here’s the whole story from Teresa Gubbins at CultureMap. This is the DMN’s third round of layoffs since 2006. The new editor, Mike Wilson, says this is part of a plan to make the paper more digitally-minded.

The staffers who are bought out will be replaced with “outstanding digital journalists,” the memo reads.

Happy to report real estate editor Steve Brown was NOT part of this round. What do you think of the staffing changes at 508 Young?