Graduation Year

2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

D.B.A.

Degree Granting Department

Marketing

Major Professor

Moez Limayem, Ph.D.

Co-Major Professor

Steven Oscher, DBA

Committee Member

Anand Kumar, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Richard Plank, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Sajeev Varki, Ph.D.

Keywords

Digital Marketing, DSMM, Internet Marketing, Market Outcomes, Residential Real Estate, Time-on-market, Probability of Sale

Abstract

In the competitive and fast-paced industry of residential real estate, digital marketing strategies must effectively meet the information needs and demands of the industry’s three key stakeholders: buyers, sellers, and agents. Digital house hunting is the predominant search strategy for prospective homebuyers who scour the Internet looking for homes to purchase. Property sellers and real estate professionals, whose shared end-goal is to transact a successful sale, must discern which digital marketing choices are optimal for marketing for-sale properties online in the digital channels where buyers are searching.

A 2008 settlement agreement between the Department of Justice and the National Association of Realtors over concerns of anticompetitive policies relating to virtual office websites (VOWs) led to a shift in responsibility from the agent to the seller regarding which online marketing options will be associated with the online property listings. Real estate agents allocate time and resources to market properties on behalf of sellers, and need strategies that cater to buyers’ search preferences and sellers’ online marketing prerogatives while remaining effective and cost-efficient.

Previous empirical studies using MLS data have considered the effects of seller marketing choices of real estate platforms and types of agents (i.e. full-service, flat-fee, etc.) as well as the impacts of a variety of agent marketing efforts on the market outcomes of sales price, time on the market, and the probability of sale.

This research extends prior work by providing a quantitative analysis of the effects digital marketing choices of sellers (allowing “blogging” or third-party commentary) and digital marketing efforts of the agents (using a virtual tour) have on market outcomes. This analysis also includes a novel inquiry into what, if any, measurable effects the various platforms chosen for the virtual tours have on market outcomes.

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