Originally Posted by Buy New Tampa

I totally agree with Jim B, if you are moving into a new area / market it is nearly impossible to do this without a website. I personally had a great deal of success without a website in this scenario, but that was because I moved to Florida from California and was representing California investors that already new and trusted me and wanted to invest in Florida as I was. So, I had an established customer base. This is the point. If you ALREADY HAVE AN ESTABLISHED CUSTOMER BASE, you do not need a website to be successful.

If you do not have an established customer base, you must develop one. Is a website and a web presence a tool to accomplish this? You bet. Is it the only way to accomplish this? Not really, but for my money, it is the most cost effective way to do it. Of course, that is partly because I have a clue about what I am doing.

An agent that does not have a clue can not just throw money at a website and expect it to generate good leads. It doesn't work that way. Bottom line, it is not a straightforward yes or no to the question "Do real estate agent really need to have a website?" because it depends on the agent and the needs of the agent and the agents perspective customers.