A common factoid among REALTORS® is that real estate purchasers are using online resources (including YouTube, review websites, brokerage firm sites, etc.) to find their dream home with ninety percent of all buyers searching online during their home buying process (NAR & Google, 2012). Progressively, real estate buyers are engaging online more and will complete a home purchase seventy-four percent of times with the first agent they connect with yet forty-five percent of agents never respond to online inquiries and only thirty percent of agents actually respond within an hour to buyers (Corbett, 2014; Online Properties, Inc., 2014). Unfortunately, sellers deem real estate agent responsiveness even worse with only twenty-four percent of agents responding to the polled sellers' satisfaction (Online Properties, Inc., 2014).

Predictably, agents that are not a part of real estate buyers and sellers online conversations (meaning they go beyond just having a web presence via a website and enter into timely, informative online dialogue) may find it increasingly harder to connect with and grab the attention of prospective clients in the form of home buyers and even sellers. Such engagement is conducted increasingly through Web 2.0 methods (also known as Social Web), which include blogs, user-generate content like review sites, social media sites, video, and even virtual simulations (Laudon & Traver, 2012, p. 577; Alt & Puschmann, 2012; Woody, 2014).

This guide will examine the importance of engagement for business profitability on Web 2.0 platforms. First, we will review the tenets of business profitability. Next, we will define the meaning of REALTOR® 2.0 and explore hindrances to achieving it. Lastly, this guide will examine actionable items to becoming an engaging REALTOR® 2.0.