Last week, we had the opportunity to speak with a former Dallas Morning News real estate advertising sales representative who shared some inside details on how the online partnership between A.H. Belo and Sawbuck Realty may affect their ability to sell real estate advertising with other Dallas brokerages and why the choice was made to move toward a new business model.
The sales rep, who asked to remain anonymous because of a confidentiality agreement with The Dallas Morning News, decided to “pursue other options” after A.H. Belo announced it’s funding of an online real estate brokerage (Sawbuck Realty) from the dallasnews.com website.
“I feel they screwed over us — the account executives — because they screwed over our clients,” said the sales rep.
The source explained that while times had been tough for the past year — they hadn’t received a commission check since 2008 — bringing in and openly siding with an outside competitor like Sawbuck Realty would make it nearly impossible to sell real estate ads.
“All my clients are going to abandon ship soon,” said the sales rep. (more…)
As promised, we have at the bottom of this post the 29 minute long press conference call where Candy and I ask Dave Ellett (vice president for A. H. Belo Corporation and president/GM of Belo Interactive Media), Guy Wolcott (CEO of Sawbuck Realty), Steve Barnes (co-founder of Sawbuck), and Chewy Redding (product manager for Belo Interactive Media) questions about the A.H. Belo/Sawbuck Realty online real estate partnership.
Just to warn you the quality of the audio ain’t great. Due to some extenuating circumstances I was participating via my iPhone on speaker phone setting so my recorder could pick up the conversation. If it sounds like I’m shouting in your ears I sincerely apologize.
If you want the quick summary of the A.H. Belo/Sawbuck deal here it is:
- A.H. Belo has invested $2 million in Sawbuck Realty.
- Sawbuck’s site will become the new face of the “Home Center” portion of The Dallas Morning News Web site.
- Clients who contact Sawbuck Realty to enquire about a home for sale will eventually be put in touch with a local “partner” agent who will show them the home and represent them as the buyer’s agent.
- If a home is sold via a lead from Sawbuck, Sawbuck will take 30 percent off the top of the 3 percent buyer’s agent commission.
- A.H. Belo will not directly receive proceeeds from these commissions, but they do have a stake in the company.
- Partner agents will be determined based on experience and other criteria set by Sawbuck. (I’ve heard five years experience and and at least 50 sales over the last five years.)
- A.H. Belo will continue to pursue traditional forms of ad revenue from real estate agents and brokerages. Good luck with that.
Click here to play the conference call
A representative from Belo Interactive Media (a company owned by A.H. Belo Corporation) visited some of The Dallas Morning News’ biggest residential real estate advertisers last week to break the news about their new online real estate venture, according to a source at one of Dallas’ local real estate brokerages. A.H. Belo is expected to send out a press release tomorrow Wednesday outlining the new online real estate partnership involving DMN and Sawbuck Realty. The source added that the Belo rep was especially concerned about confidentiality and made sure to retrieve all promotional materials before leaving the brokerage.
Updated: Tuesday 9:58 a.m.