Amazon enters the Real Estate Market in partnership with Realogy
By now, you’ve heard about TurnKey, Amazon’s partnership with Realogy, and first step into real estate.
As one of the Big Four technology companies (along with Google, Apple, and Facebook), Amazon has built a lot of trust with its audience. Testing out their presence in the real estate industry makes sense as their next move.
Here is what we know about Amazon’s real estate debut:
Using TurnKey, buyers in the market will be matched with “a hand-selected, local real estate agent.” Amazon promises to be there after the closing, giving between $1,000 and $5,000 back to the buyer in Amazon Home Service and smart home products installed in the new house.
What Amazon products and services are included?
There are three tiers to the move-in benefits, depending on the purchase price of the home.
Home Purchase Price: $150,000 to $399,000
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Package Value of $1,000 from Amazon includes:
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Over $450 of credit toward choice of services (unpacking, cleaning, and more)
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1 Echo Dot
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1 Echo Show
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1 Ring Doorbell II
Home Purchase Price: $400,000 to $699,000
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Package Value of $2,500 from Amazon includes:
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Over $1,000 of credit toward choice of services (unpacking, cleaning, and more)
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2 Echo Spots
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1 Echo Show
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1 Ring Doorbell II
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1 Sonos Beam
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1 eero WiFi
Home Purchase Price: $700,000 and up
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Package Value of $5,000 from Amazon includes:
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Over $1,500 of credit toward choice of services (unpacking, cleaning, and more)
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4 Echo Spots
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2 Echo Shows
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1 Ring Doorbell II
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1 Z-Wave Connect Camelot Deadbolt
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2 Fire TV Cubes
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2 Sonos Beams
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12 Kasa Lightbulbs
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1 eero WiFi
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1 Smart Things Hub
By being there for buyers during and after the move, Amazon is building more trust, and working to create life-long customers for all housing (and other) needs.
What does this mean for agents?
As far as buyer agents are concerned, commission compression is happening and expected to continue. Commission compression is due to the rise of discount brokerages and agents paying for leads, not because Amazon is stepping into the industry.
As Amazon tests out TurnKey, they could start implementing new programs and platforms in real estate – we will have to wait and see how it goes. But as they do, agents can take advantage of a new branding opportunity using Amazon technology.
Branding with Alexa
As a real estate agent and entrepreneur, marketing and branding are part of your job. You should be creating as much content as possible: video, audio, and written.
If you are already comfortable creating content, now is the time to start testing out Amazon Alexa. For a brand to be dominant, your content needs to be everywhere, not just one platform.
As audio continues to rise, and with Amazon’s new step into real estate, being one of the first to utilize Alexa for branding purposes could put you ahead.
Where do I start with Alexa?
The easiest way to begin with Alexa is with Flash Briefings. This is the simplest way to get your audio content available on Alexa devices.
To get started, you need to create an Amazon Developer account and have an RSS feed for your audio content. In the Amazon Developer console, you can create a flash briefing (no coding required) and link up your RSS feed. Submit to Amazon and wait for approval – and you have your first Flash Briefing.
I am not saying you should spend all your time working to figure out Alexa Flash Briefings (prospecting comes first!), but if you already have a consistent content schedule and are comfortable with audio, you could be among the first in your market to implement this next step.
Watch for more initial thoughts on TurnKey: