Zillow sent out this email today regarding the uploading of listings:
We wanted to let you know that Zillow Group will no longer accept manually entered listings from agents and brokers as of May 1, 2017. We are taking this step to provide buyers and sellers with the highest-quality listings data possible, and to provide agents and brokers with a simple way to market their listings. Broker and MLS feeds are the best way to achieve this.
Sandicor, our MLS, refuses to upload every listing. Instead, each brokerage has to sign a separate agreement between them and Sandicor to authorize the Zillow feed. There are already plenty of agents who don’t know that the Zillow auto-feed was terminated, and now there will be other brokerages who refuse to comply, and/or don’t realize that their listings aren’t on Zillow/Trulia.
Oh well.
There are other questions though:
- What about the Coming Soons? If only MLS-fed listings are allowed, then that should be the end of the Coming Soon feature. Or will Zillow allow their Premier Agents to use it?
- Will they still allow for-sale-by-owners to manually feed?
- Zillow gives preference to their high-paying Premier Agents. Will this eventually lead to more limits on the properties seen on Zillow – perhaps to those listed by Premier Agents only? Or is Zillow just rattling their sabres?
Zillow has their foot on the neck of the real estate industry, and they can do whatever they want. Who would stop them? They are beholden to the high-paying Premier Agents, so expect more favoritism in that direction.
We listed a rental, which shows up on Zillow’s partner sites, like Hotpads and Trulia, but it only shows up intermittently on Zillow. One day it’s up, then 3 days it’s off, for no apparent reason. Also, the listing options seem to vary across sites, so what I post on Zillow, like photo descriptions, doesn’t seem to show up on the other sites. I would call it an extreme pain in the ass, not professional, and they need to get their act together. Why should listing a rental be such a sh*tshow?
The negative marketing aspect they’re empowering is that as a customer, the minute I can use something else besides them, we will. Meantime, Zillow rentals appears to suck beans.
I love it when people complain about a free service. 😉
Bulldog, Yeah, if you’re right, then Zillow’s providing a “service” for greedy bumpkin landlords. Zillow is learning them not to be greedy, and to dismiss free internet stuff. If not, they get what they deserve.
On the other hand, Zillow might be monetizing my participation. If that’s so, you’re wrong, and they’re twits.
Of course they are monetizing your data, do you think they are a charity?
They have to make money. When you submit your rental listing you are submitting to their T&C’s, and you authorize this with your listing data.
“Of course they are monetizing your data, do you think they are a charity?”
But Bulldog! You said I was complaining about a free service! Now you’re saying it’s not free, and I’m being monetized. Right now, your wife is standing behind you, silently gesturing to me to stop talking! I don’t know what to DO!
Update: Today, Zillow reposted my listing, after three days of it being apparently off, for no reason I can ascertain, except now, none of the bunch ‘o pictures I uploaded are available to view. It just shows a map location of the renal. On Trulia, and HotPads, they ARE showing the pictures, but no captions, apparently. The Zillow property manager section informs me all my listings are up and A-OK, even though they are not.
I hate it when I have to complain about a service that is monetizing my shared information for profit, I can tell ya that!
Conclusion: If this keeps up, I’m tellin’ Trump!
Renal = Rental
Just to avoid confusion. My kidneys are fine.
Daytrip…Wow, what a mouthful of hot air, you may be inclined to see a psychiatrist…just make sure its not a free one. Lol.
@Daytrip Trump might not be there bud I smell impeachment…most dinosaurs stick with the classifieds for their rental listings.
Just as an fyi for you @Daytrip…Jim’s great blog also collects information, have you read the privacy policy..probably not:
https://www.bubbleinfo.com/privacy-policy/
Watch out Jim, you may be getting a bunch of whiny complaints about your “free” great site.
I didn’t know I had a privacy policy!
Bulldog says
“Daytrip…Wow, what a mouthful of hot air, you may be inclined to see a psychiatrist…just make sure its not a free one. Lol.”
No need for a psychiatrist to decipher your posts. A remedial Logic class is more than enough. Good luck being you.
LenderSD Says:
“Just as an fyi for you @Daytrip…Jim’s great blog also collects information, have you read the privacy policy..probably not:
https://www.bubbleinfo.com/privacy-policy/”
Your point being…?
UPDATE: Yesterday, we rented our apt unit, at the right price, and Zillow Rentals, who we refer to as “Ol’ Bessy” kind of helped! Probably as much as a “a site that monetizes my information, even though it feels free sometimes to some” could be expected to perform. So well in fact, that even though we marked the apartment listing as “expired,” this morning, it’s still sending us more leads to our inbox from Trulia tonight!
I remain philosophical about the final outcome with Zillow. Sure, I’m still getting leads from an expired listing, but as a defeated former presidential candidate once said, “what does it matter now?” I think we could all learn from her professional detachment.
Of course, everything I’ve said in this entire thread is just my opinion, and I could be wrong and, uh… what does it matter now?
For the record, unlike the federal government I am not doing anything with your personal data. If you hear Russia or anyone talking about a one-world government, please resist.
The entire gamut of real estate devices exist so consumers can plug in as needed. If Zillow gives you a boost in rental calls, then great. But I hope it is obvious to even the most casual observer that getting good help when buying or selling is a terrific idea.
Jay from Zillow Group here. To answer your questions:
1) What about the Coming Soons? If only MLS-fed listings are allowed, then that should be the end of the Coming Soon feature. Or will Zillow allow their Premier Agents to use it?
Coming Soon listings will still be able to be manually entered. Some MLSs have a “Coming Soon” status and feed that to us, most do not. Coming Soon is limited to Premier Agents and those in the Zillow Pro for Brokers program.
2) Will they still allow for-sale-by-owners to manually feed?
Yes. Since there isn’t a feed source for FSBOs, they can still be manually entered.
3) Zillow gives preference to their high-paying Premier Agents. Will this eventually lead to more limits on the properties seen on Zillow – perhaps to those listed by Premier Agents only? Or is Zillow just rattling their sabres?
There is no saber-rattling. Manually entered listings are a huge source of data errors and stale data. Eliminating manual entry helps provide more accurate data for everyone — consumers, and paying and non-paying agents a like. Listings aren’t and won’t be limited to Premier Agents only.
Am I the only realtor who think that zillow is taking over how the real estate business works? I mean, every time I buy a zip code turn around a month later I am not getting any leads because the pie got smaller. I feel like zillow is having all the realtors compete with one another so they can jack up the price. And why do FISBO’s can’t be reviewed? They come and go as they pleased. Why are they getting feeds from the MLS? What is the real reason and how does this effect my clients? One of my colleague has built his own website for the city of which he provides service in. He seems to be doing quite well and no longer advertising on zillow anymore. Has anyone tried this yet? If so can you share with me?