The new Zillow advertising program is out, here’s the description sent by email:
The Zillow Premier Agent program is a powerful set of new features that connect Zillow’s home buyers and sellers to an elite group of agents. You can dominate your ZIP code, get more listings, and sell more homes through Zillow’s Premier Agent program.
They called last week to pitch it, and it sounded more heavy-handed over the phone.
The rep said that they will be featuring the listing agents in bigger photos and descriptions beside their homes for sale, and be directing all inquiries to that agent.
If the listing agent doesn’t pay up, they will sell his spot to another agent.
The listings are owned by the broker – for Zillow to assume ownership and then sell them out to the highest bidder is wrong. But maybe it will be the beginning of the final unraveling of the MLS?
Personally LOVE Zillow–I have been doing alot of out of the area investing and it is such a useful sorting tool–and, for the mostpart, it is surprisingly accurate. Usure of the program you are mentioning, but it sounds to me as if they have the right to do it??? Maybe the MLS will fall!
Seems to me their website is their real estate and they can charge what they will….if there are any takers is a different story. Market will bear it out….perhaps some gov cheese to prop up the agents so they can pay more and keep web ad rates high??
Zillow cheese
I like Zillow. I don’t feel worthless and pathetic when my Zestimate is going up $2000/day!
So, let me get this straight. Under the proposed plan, if I visit Zillow and see a house that I like, the Realtor(TM) shown to me will not be the one contracted by the homeowner to sell the property, but the one who paid Zillow to get placed there? And Zillow will refuse to tell me who the actual listing/selling agent is?
Nope, can’t possibly see how that could be abused… </SARCASM>
So here are the scenarios I see:
1. Listing agent pays up, contacted by buyer with no agent already. Listing agent gets to be buyer’s agent as well.
2. Listing agent pays up, contacted by buyer with agent. Business as usual, buyer’s agent talks to listing agent.
3. Listing agent doesn’t pay, inquiries go to other broker. Buyer has no agent yet, other broker assumes the duties of buyer’s agent and contacts listing agent. Business as usual.
4. Listing agent doesn’t pay, inquiries go to other broker. Buyer has an agent already, other broker loses out completely.
Does that sound right to you guys? If so, things only get interesting if the buyer doesn’t have an agent already. Either somebody gets a ton of money for dual representation, or somebody is wasting their time and money with VIP status.
I got the email too… I hit delete immediately!
I lost a few clients already, not to Zillow, but the other company that starts with Z also =(
Like Zillow or not, it is easy to use!!! I think the MLS should implement a map-based feature that works like zillow does, but with current, more accurate information (which it already has).
As someone who is researching houses as part of [maybe] a downsizing process, I don’t see the usefulness of this.
When I an ready to buy, I will use the agent that I hired to sell my current house to contact the listing agents of the prospective properties.
“The listings are owned by the broker…”
Yes, but who “owns” the buyer?
Ah, that is the question.
Is it Zillow, or the listing agent?
I have a novel idea, why doesn’t the NAR/FTC/State and Federal Regulators aggressively promote/encourage buyers to seek a BUYER BROKER who, in light of the orchestrated fraud of the bubble years, would be an independent voice and advocate for the buyers.
No, afraid not. The buyer is meat to be ground up in the struggle between the establishment listing agents and the advertisers.
Nothing changes…
The selling agent shouldn’t even be trying to become the buyer agent and represent both sides of the sale. Its a conflict of interest. Which makes this entire program mute.
gotta say, me likes my zillow. i hope they don’t go screw up their business model with more squirly MLS like shenanigans. if they do, i’m sure someone else can reproduce what they have done easy enough and grab their market share. all it is, is code and an exposed process.
chris g….LOL! I know! I think zestimate has propped up my home value to silly levels. Then people quote zestimate as though it is an appraisal. heeeheeee
Both the buyer’s agent and the seller’s agent are incentivized to close the deal as quickly as possible. Any protection you *think* you’re getting from a buyer’s agent could be an illusion.
If the buyer’s agent is smart & skilled like Jim-The-Realtor, then I’m sure they will add value to a deal – But, even as Jim pointed out, most recently with that house in Carmel Valley, deals often get precedent if the seller’s agent represent both the buyer and the seller. The seller’s agent keeps all of the 6%! 6% of $1.4 million is a heckuva lot more than 3% of $1.4 million! Real estate agents are trying to make money.
Zill, Redfn, and Zip are powerful tools for buyers. If agents ignore them they will lose. Putting your head in the sand isn’t the way to face technological changes & innovation. No one owns a listing or a buyer…
where to start?
1.if we as agents didnt have listings…zillow would have nothing…they take our work and advertise it on their site only to charge us to get the buyer leads and to have another agents face attached to the listing. how is this fair? personally i think zillow should be paying us..after all with out us they have nothing..its theft as far as i am concerned
2 if buyers and sellers had a clue what it costs agents to stay in business maybe they would understand why this is upsetting to us. we work our butts off trying to get the listing in the first place..then we have to pay hundreds of dollars of our own money to advertise the listing in the paper, spend our time showing the property,buy the for sale sign that goes in the yard, pay our mls system yearly fees to show our listings,buy lockboxes,supra keys,board fees..the list goes on and on…and if we dont sell the property we are in the hole.
3.getting 6% of the deal sounds like we are making a fortune but people dont realize this is not what we walk away with. we have give our brokers a cut of that and repay for ourselves advertising. if you break it down to what we get hourly for showings..paper work..open houses..its not as much as people think
if anyone has an idea how to fight for agents rights to stop this…im on board!