This long-time local broker is fed up with the 3rd-party real estate websites using our listings to make money. It must be big money too, because there are now over 900 websites that advertise properties.
These websites (Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, etc.) are selling the advertising space surrounding each listing to other agents, making them look like the listing agent.
But does anyone frequent them? Maybe Zillow or realtor.com?
This doesn’t affect Redfin or Zip, they are brokers who actually sell real estate. He is willing to cooperate in our IDX system which allows each agent to distribute the properties on the MLS.
But it’s another sign of how chippy it is getting – our low-inventory environment is ripe for changes on how real estate is sold:
Mason McDuffie dropped Realtor.com a few months ago.
I only use Zillow to perv on what my friends paid for their house.
I’m planning to move in a year (or maybe two) halfway across the country.
I don’t want to talk to a realtor yet (and I expect they don’t want to talk to me) because at this point everything — including the feasible price range — is hypothetical.
But I’ve gained a lot of basic information about the kind of houses and properties that make up several towns in the area. I’ve done a lot of browsing of the aggregator sites to get a virtual tour of houses that are and were on the market.
The individual realtors’ web pages would be the only alternative. They are all over the place but mostly rather poorly designed. A poor alternative for what I’m doing.
Why would you give your content free to third party vendors? You’re giving them free inventory.
Giving them free content sounded acceptable when it was all about getting additional exposure for the sellers.
But then they have added these very expensive advertising programs where agents get displayed prominently with their photo and all on listings that aren’t theirs. It is a fine line, because through the IDX program we allow agents to offer MLS access through their own personal sites. (See the button here at the top left corner)
Bottom line: If you are an agent, you can utilize other agent’s listings for your own publicity – like sdlookup. If you aren’t an agent, and selling ad space to agents, you’ve gone too far.
Jim:
“…another sign of how chippy it is getting…”
You hit the nail on the head. This is really a difficult one…he raises some interesting, if not totally supportable, thoughts in his video. However, as RJ noted in a comment, if you are looking at an area geographically removed from where you are, the 3rd party sites may be an attractive alternative.
Yes, there are risks to being connected to the “wrong” agent/broker — however, that may be balanced by the fact that there is a much bigger field of view available for both buyers and sellers of property.
(What the heck is he holding in his hand in the video??? I found that distracting — as well as his arm-waving.)
Agreed – for out-of-town buyers searching for homes, where do they go?
It was great that he plugged the crappy Sandicor consumer site, but that’s the first time I’ve seen anyone give it exposure. Sandicor expects us to promote it for them.
If you don’t know about cSc site, then you’ll probably end up at Redfin (for the markets they cover). Another example of how the gross mis-management of our SD MLS, and realtor.com in general, is giving advantage to Redfin. Nice going fellas.
What about something more local like the UT?
http://realestate.signonsandiego.com/
Is it worth it to list here?
The internet has changed business models for a lot of different companies. It’s tough to figure out the right why to adapt to the technology. The points he brings up are good, but the weakness of the online presence of the local real estate board allows 3rd innovators to come on the scene and change the consumers view of real estate. Nobody knows about the sandicor website, or argsd.com. Put San Diego Homes for Sale in a google search engine and see what you get.
There was a time when it was really expensive to be in the yellow pages but you still had to be there. If realtors leave the aggregator sites and the online presence of real estate is dominated by Redfin or a competing site what would keep people from just listing with the go to source.
Marketing is probably 80-90% of being successful in real estate, so I understand the frustrations.
Thanks. The video was informative – altho’ perhaps about 3x too long for general public consumption.
Is this continuing the tradition of those stupid real estate “catalogs” in the grocery stores? I was looking at one while waiting at a restaurant, and stumbled across a listing that was marketed by two completely unrelated agents. I didn’t realize that happened – I thought they only pushed their own listings.
In a low-inventory, low volume environment where capturing double-sided transactions is necessary to keep the front office staff in fingernails and waxings.
There’s a reason that buying and listing agents are separate, and when information.
I heard “blah blah blah, information , blah blah blah”. As long as commissions are as high as they are, this kind of stupidity will continue.
I don’t agree with a single point he made. Sorry.
He can complain, but limiting the marketing of his properties is more about HIS commission than HIS CLIENT. That’s a conflict of interest, and doesn’t the code of ethics tell them to avoid that? I hope no one lists with an agent this self-serving.
chuck
I think the reason the video was 7 minutes long was that it took that long to beat around a very big bush.
He kept harping on the “theft of agent’s intellectual property”…but can I assume that once you drop the info/pics into the MLS, the language allows it to be used in the manner it is being used in?
Thus, his hyperbole of ‘theft’ weakens his position and credibility with me. Seems like he wants it much more closed and controlled to double dip it like Chuck mentioned.
Now if an agent claimed that he had the specific home listed himself, then that’s a different story and wrong.
Is Zillow really doing anything misleading? I browsed around a few listing today, and for some, I see one agent prominently displayed at the top of the page, and at the bottom of the page, it has a “listing provided by” section with the same agent. In this case, I assume the listing agent paid Zillow to be the only agent displayed on the page.
For other listings, there are several agents listed at the top of the page, in a section called “contact a buyer’s agent”. The listing agent is the first one listed in that section. The listing agent is also in the “listing provided by” section at the bottom of the page. I presume in this case the listing agent didn’t pay Zillow, but other agents displayed did.
So, it looks to me like they are not being misleading at all, or maybe they are being so misleading that I can’t detect it.
Part of the complaint is how Zillow and realtor.com presents the advertising opportunity.
I have heard it from both, and paid for both when they threatened me that if I didn’t, my listings would have other agents displayed more prominently.
For guys like you Mark who are paying attention and really looking at them carefully, yes it looks legit. But I’ve gotten a few calls from the Zillow ad from buyers who thought I was the listing agent. (I paid just to protect my listings, and they threw me on others – I have since quit the program).
“I heard “blah blah blah, information , blah blah blah”.”
Haha I heard “Fear fear fear WHINE, fear fear fear WHINE…”
Make the entire MLS easily accessible and then protect your inventory.
Its strange but a real estate agent who does really excellent work but doesnt advertise is ALWAYS more successful than one who does poor work but advertises the fact that he does good regardless of the media. I choose mine by word of mouth rather than advertisement.
Jim, but don’t you think there’s a value in having the consumer be able to browse, at a small handful of websites, listings from many brokers? If consumers have to go to multiple different broker websites to look at houses for sale, then that’s going to turn them off. Now, of course, you might say that they don’t need to search the web for a house, because that’s what a buyer’s agent does. Sure, that’s true. But, long before I bought my house, I searched places like Realtor.com and looked at houses. I narrowed my price range, my zip codes, etc. So, when I called my local realtor, I had some specific ideas about what I wanted. Total houses shown: 4. Offers Placed: 1. Winner. I could have searched with a realtor for months, having her show me houses from time to time, and a greater cost of my time and her time.
I suggest, therefore that savvy realtors should embrace these sites. Sure, you might lose a few potential buyers, but they also serve to 1) give you more advertising on your listings, which is good and 2) better educate buyers, which makes a more educated consumer. An educated buyer is better for everyone. In my mind, a realtor who fears a consumer who knows that the house around the corner was on the market and didn’t sell, or that there’s a larger version of the same house in Phase II of the development, or whatever, is in the wronge buisness.
Yes, I definitely think consumers should have full access – not only to every property but to every agent’s sales history, complaint log, and feedback records.
The only reason 3rd party advertising has gotten a foothold is because the real estate industrial complex offers no better solution – and virtually no solution at all.
Make the entire MLS easily accessible then protect and monetize the franchise.
Not knowing how or refusing to do that was dumb. Having others do it with your own product then refusing to follow their recipe is dumber.
Excellent points in this discussion. I’m with #17
“(What the heck is he holding in his hand in the video??? I found that distracting — as well as his arm-waving.)”
He’s holding a pair of reading glasses, that color coordinate with his snappy outfit. Mostly, as I watched the video, I began to lose track and interest with what he was actually saying. And, the hand gestures made me start having flashbacks of Jan Brewer finger pointing the President on the tarmac, as seen in news reports repeatedly this past week. What can I say, my mind works in weird and mysterious ways.
Sol:
Exactly…I was also struck by the similar scene as w/”Gov.” (currently working/living in AZ, I use that title advisedly w/her) Brewer. Thanks for noting this.
Re his overall topic…this is, in my mind, a huge red herring — why not take advantage of every possible way to get exposure for your property. Currently being in this situation, believe me, I am very glad for the extra exposure thru the internet — especially to potential buyers who might not be in San Diego.
dd,
Notice I didn’t use the word “governor”, it’s just too embrassing.
oops, embarrassing. Spell check is not my strongest suit.
Sol:
Agree completely…she is a complete embarrassment to the state of AZ. There is a reason AZ gets the Govs they do…they are something like 47th or 48th in paying the Govs.
The real problem is how to deputize Redfin as the de facto MLS, because that what it is. The MLS systems and third-party websites are all contending for second place, and the arguments for and against them are pointless.
Terrible speaker- way too emotional and STOP pointing at me every 2 seconds.
Screwing your clients by not advertising everywhere possible, then telling us thats good for us without any data to back that claim up. Yep sounds like a typical realtor out for themselves at the expense of clients.
Well, at least I now know one less realtor I’ll use when I move to SD.
Jim you hit on the head. Redfin is the model for how a MLS system should be implemented. I have suggested to Redfin that they license their model to the different MLS’s. Sandicor’s MLS is truly one of the worst in the business – anything would be better. Most of my realtor colleagues use Redfin daily and their home mls for inputing/updating listings and viewing private remarks only.