Competing Against iBuyers & National Brands with Eric Stegemann of TRIBUS

In a world where national brands like Zillow and Realtor.com dominate search results, how can individual brokerage websites compete? And how do real estate brokerages stay relevant as the iBuyer market continues to grow? Eric Stegemann believes the firms that adapt and take on alternative options for transacting will be well-placed for the future—and adopting the right real estate tech is a big part of that solution. Eric is the founder and CEO of TRIBUS, a custom brokerage platform vendor tasked with providing medium and large real estate firms with made-to-order websites, intranet, email marketing, transaction management and CRM systems. Eric became a licensed agent at the age of 18 and started his own tech-oriented brokerage, River City Real Estate, at 21. In short order, River City became the largest independent brokerage in St. Louis due in large part to its real estate tech innovations, which became the framework for TRIBUS. Eric is often called upon to speak at industry events, including Inman Connect and the NAR Annual Conference. Today, Eric explains why brokerage websites still matter in the age of Zillow and Trulia, discussing what differentiates a TRIBUS site from the national brands. He shares his conservative approach to growth for TRIBUS and offers advice for aspiring vendors in terms of building trust and fixing your mistakes. Listen in for Eric's insight around the challenges facing brokerages today and get his industry predictions on MLS consolidation, the changing role of the agent, and potential winners in the iBuyer market. What's Discussed:  How Eric started selling real estate to pay for college What inspired Eric's shift from broker to software vendor The meaning behind the company name, TRIBUS TRIBUS' aspiration to be a zebra rather than a unicorn Eric's take on the challenges facing brokerages today Eric's insight on why brokerage websites still matter How TRIBUS customer sites rank in Google search results How local content differentiates a TRIBUS site from Zillow TRIBUS' pioneering collaborative search mechanism How brokers can build their own iBuyer programs Eric's top advice for vendors on persistence and presence Eric's predictions on MLS consolidation + iBuyer success   Resources: RESO Conference Doyle Real Estate Team LeadingRE Blackstone Connect with Eric: TRIBUS TRIBUS on Facebook TRIBUS on Twitter TRIBUS on LinkedIn Eric on LinkedIn