(Ed Note: Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to read some controversial comments without edits)
Denver Realtors have a love/hate relationship with the large, real estate portals on the internet. Some Realtors love the business they buy from them. More despise what they see as unfair competition to snag potential buyers and sellers. So, the RealtorsĀ were ready when representatives of Zillow and Trulia entered the ring at the Metro Denver Association of Realtors last Monday.
Ostensibly, Jay Thompson from Zillow and Todd Carpenter from Trulia came to show Denver Realtors the “Here, There and Everywhere of Listing Syndication”. It sounded like a “how-to” for real estate agents to post their listings throughout the internet. But, immediately the pair was thrown into combat with the opening of what turned out to be Round 1.
Meeting Moderator Kristal Kraft became emotional even during the introductions. “I, for one, find Zillow’s data to be horribly inaccurate.”she began. “I don’t know why Realtors help them compete against us”.
Before the Portal Pair could respond, others in the audience began a litany of criticisms.
“We acknowledge that data integrity is a problem and we are working hard on cleaning up the problem”, Thompson finally was able to respond. “But, it’s hard to correct algorithmically. 1-2-3 Main Street is also picked up as 1-2-3 Main St in the various data mines we have”.
“That’s Bullshit”, an angry Realtor interrupted. “I’m sorry but you have to come up with something more believable than that. You can’t tell us there is not a software solution for something that simple.” The implication was that these internet Goliaths purposely allow old listings to remain in the system so the content of the sites seem larger to the search engines.
“Our lives would be a lot easier if Metrolist (Denver’s public MLS) would just provide us a feed of your listings”, Thompson proposed. ” We then use that data to trump data we get from other sources like virtual tours and county records. You would be helping to make the data more accurate”.
Metrolist currently will not provide listings to real estate portals. Many of the Realtors in the room thought they should have to pay a premium to get the feed of listings.
“What do you want from us?” Thompson asked.
“Pay enough to reduce our Board of Realtor dues”, was the answer from audience member. Other comments suggested that Metrolist should never provide the data because that would damage the ability of individual Realtors to compete with the big boys on the internet.
One of the many contentious disagreements between Realtors and the Portals nationally was never mentioned. Many Realtors are upset that these portals are duping usnsuspecting Realtors into providing free, original content with more than just listing data. Realtor profiles and Realtor forums on those sites add to the content and credibility of those sites with the search engines. And, Badges and Widgets, like free mortgage calculators, provide links to the Portals from individual Realtor sites . All of that contributes to higher search engine rankings for the Portals and pushes individual Realtor websites like All Denver Real Estate lower in the search engine rankings.
“We are cutting off our noses to spite our faces”, was a comment by a Denver Realtor following the hour and a half slugfest. The Chairman of the Metrolist Committee was present along with the Vice-Chairman for most of the meeting. They asked if these portals intend to become full-fledged real estate companies and open offices to compete against Realtors at the local level.
“No, that is much easier said than done in reality” was Thomspon’s response. Carpenter said he did not know of any such plans at Trulia.
The battle will continue. If other Board’s of Realtors and their MLS systems threaten to withhold listing data, this road show might likely be repeated in venues across the country. If so, Thompson and Carpenter might consider applying for combat pay with their employers.
You just have to follow the money on these type of things….The multi-list charges realtors to give them content and then sells it… Now who is the real customer here?
Hi Larry – I think open discussions are a good thing, with or without combat pay. I’m happy to go to agents, brokers, MLS’s and Associations and hear what people have to say. All we ask in return is a little listening and an open mind. I think the majority in attendance did just that, and I appreciate Kristal and DMAR inviting and hosting the event.
As I mentioned in the meeting, anyone is welcome to contact me, anytime about anything. I ran out of cards at the meeting, but I’m not too hard to track down. 480-235-4447
Hope you have a terrific 2013!
Props for the quick damage control there, but the “open mind” part is funny Jay. Zillow could disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow and not a single real estate transaction would be impacted, except those where the principles are Zillow employees. Sellers would still get their homes sold in the same market time and buyers would still find homes to buy.
All Zillow wants is our data feeds so Z can profit by charging agents for leads generated from our own listings. Zillow brings NOTHING of value to the agent or broker that isnt on their payroll.
You may find it funny Bob, and that’s cool, but I really do wish people could keep an open mind. You’re right, Zillow and others could disappear tomorrow and homes would sell. We could rip everything off the Internet and stuff it all back in three-ring binders and homes would still sell too.
“Zillow brings NOTHING of value to the agent or broker that isnt on their payroll.”
Just to be clear, I’m virtually certain (but not 100% positive) that I am the only person on Zillow’s payroll with an active real estate license. And while my license is active, I don’t do anything with it. As for us bringing nothing of value to agents and brokers, I wish you could have heard the agent a few weeks ago that cornered me at an event, started crying, and proceeded to tell me how without Zillow her business wouldn’t be nearly as successful as it is. I hear agent/broker success stories every day. Some agents do find value in what Zillow offers. Some don’t. I get that. Zillow gets that.
The only agents that like these platforms like Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com are the ones that can’t generate the traffic themselves, don’t have enough listings and are to desperate so they PAY to to use other Realtor’s listings to advertise and get leads!!
Zillow, trulia & Realtor.com are ONLY interested in making MONEY for THEMSELVES by selling the leads back on OUR listings and SELLING ADVERTISING TO COMPANIES AND AGENTS
THE BIGGEST WASTE OF MONEY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is pretty sick that ZTR dupe agents into linking to them from widgets and badges. Most agents are not tech savvy and they know it. Many of these so called Zillow and Trulia apostles are trying to say that if they don’t want to link back they shouldn’t use them. The problem is that most agents are not aware of what they are doing. If they were aware, they would not link back to a competitor and help them out rank them or drive potential clints from their own site to one that is loaded with other agents.
I don’t see the Phoenix Real estate Guy linking from his site back to them.. He knows better.. He may be ok with them kicking his ass in the rankings since he is on their payroll now.. Goes to show you anyone will sell out for a price š
Same goes for coaches that are suppose to be looking out for their clients best interest instead of their own. If they were they would not be pushing Zillows $10 crappy sites that are stuffed with back links š There are plenty other solutions that convert much better. They want their clients to pay them thousands for their coaching, but push sites that are worthless. It is Just amazing and disgusting at the same time!!!
Jeff – I’m not going to participate in a conversation where someone chooses to personally attack me. You don’t know me from Adam, so to call me a “sell out” when you have zero idea what my motivation was in taking this position is a personal attack. If you want to leave that stuff out of the conversation, I’ll be happy to have a discussion.
Incidentally, I have linked to Zillow over the years in some of the articles I wrote about them long before I started working there. They also aren’t kicking my ass in the rankings. Yes, TPREG’s SERPs have fallen slightly this year, but given that the content production there is down significantly, that’s not all that surprising. The site still does just fine though.
Jay, I have long been an admirer of your blog and your internet presence. Sadly I can not say the same for your employer or for Trulia. They steal ranking from our own websites, and not only that, use our listings to sell leads to competitors. I say the same thing about Realtor.com. They are PARASITES leeching and sucking the life out of us, using our info and data for FREE and then charging us for “leads.” How can anyone see that as FAIR? I wish search engines would rank LOCAL WEBSITES rather than NATIONAL portals first……but alas, they don’t. I say bravo to companies that refuse to list with Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com.
Karen you know (I hope) that I have mad respect for you. You’ve helped me a lot for quite some time, and I think I’ve helped you some. You’re certainly entitled to your opinion, as is everyone else.
Karen,
It is called competition. It makes us agents get better.. NO crying. Just evlove.
Kirk
One final comment from me before I hit the sack.
Larry’s post covers parts of 10, maybe 15 minutes of a 90 minutes session. I thought there was some productive discussion in the room. Judging by the one-on-one conversations I had with several attendees after the session (and I’m not counting the ones that approached me apologizing for their colleague’s behavior), I’m not alone in that thought.
I’m a relatively bright guy, before I walked into DMAR I was aware of some of the history with Metrolist and syndication, and I was aware of the feelings of some of the attendees toward “ZTR” and syndication. I knew there would be some hostility in the crowd. And again, that’s fine. Opinions are good. Debate is good.
Despite what some seem to believe, my job at Zillow isn’t to try and mollify those that have issues with us. My job is to help educate — not just agents and brokers about what Zillow is, but to also to educate Zillow on what agents and brokers need, as well as all the… stuff… agents and brokers have to deal with in their day-to-day jobs. Y’all have **hard** jobs. I’m sure I’ll get flamed for saying this, but Zillow wants to help agents be successful. I don’t see why that’s so hard to believe. The more successful our Premier Agents are, the more successful we are. The more successful we are, the more successful they are. I wouldn’t call it a symbiotic relationship, but we’re most certainly not out to be a brokerage, to horde bad data or to disintermediate real estate agents.
I sincerely do wish everyone reading this and those in this discussion a safe and prosperous new year. If it’s anything like the past several years, it should be an interesting one in this whacky business we’ve all chosen to be in!
Larry,
This is a must read blog for Realtors. I think you have covered what so many Realtors struggle with. My personal opinion is that we Brokers( myself) need to teach our agents how to own “their” internet through blogging and good SEO. Unfortunately, not many Brokerages can not afford or have the skill to put money into building a web presents for themselves or their agents. Great website Larry! Keep up the great work!
Realtors should have never released their MLS data to “the Internet.” It has diminished the need for Realtors and our professional image with the public. All this talk about getting along with Zillow or Trulia is a waste of time. Their model and interests are in direct conflict with ours. We are after the same customers. When you hear of the folks that are now consulting the Internet before they contact a Realtor – who do you think they’re consulting? Zillow. Trulia. Wake up!
Honestly, I don’t have a huge issue with ZTR at all. They are here, and likely aren’t going anywhere no matter how much complaining takes place. Hell, it’s brilliant what they have done thus far. The only issue I have is the blatant keyword stuffing they’re able to get away with in their products they make available. They may just be too big to be penalized for that sort of thing now, who knows. They’re still outrankable (word?) and aren’t going to go away but it would be nice to see the linking practices cleaned up, or penalized. Creating widgets is a linking tactic used all over the internet so of course they are going to use it and complaining about it is a bit ridiculous.
Actually Ben, the way they use the widgets isnt a practice everyone else gets away with. Part of it is Google’s brand bias, but most of it comes from the authority they have gained from agents linking to them.
It’s just a matter of time before Goliath (Google) squashes us all. The landscape of change in RE will transend today’s paradigm so fast in the next ten years, the last ten years will seem tranquil in comparison. New participants will leapfrog into the arena changing the entire landscape. Smart phones will carry a buyer’s entire financial “finger print” virtually eliminating the mortgage broker, mobile apps will virtually eliminate all but the most active realtors and the transaction will finally become paperless. Sellers and Buyers will be able to “bump” their smart phones, and the “deal” will be done. Think about it. “What we have here is a failure to communicate”… Or not!
Yeah Larry, you did open up Pandora’s box here. There are some real issues with Trulia and Zillow as have been affirmed earlier. I have had to sellers and sometimes buyers about the values so far from reality and that change daily in the Zestimate program. And now this. One thing it brings out is that we need to be more diligent and informed when it comes to improving and tweaking our own websites and systems so that we can be more competitive in lead capture no matter what these mammoth companies do. “The times they are a’changin”, we must change with them to survive in this business.
I agree with Tom: Might as well ride this horse in the direction it’s going. As a Realtor, I feel my best plan of action here is to learn to use “Truillow” to my advantage. In this age of technology, consumers are always going to look to the internet for “insider information,” whether it be one of these sites or another. Since we can’t prevent it, we might as well push to make sure that information they provide to the public is accurate and current. It’s been my experience that the savvy Buyers and Sellers know that the value in using a Realtor is not just their access to the properties; but also their negotiation skills, market knowledge, and marketing insight that (s)he brings to the table.
I can in a sense see both sides of the argument. While I agree that at times Zillow can be in accurate with their data, I do not feel that the Goliath site is without any benefit to agents and if it were so it would not be so popular. From what I have seen the main beef from agent is the widget that other agents place on their site which from a links stand point likely helps Zillow rank better. However the agents using these widgets feel it offers more value to their clients by using the tool and it is ultimately the agent’s choice.
As a consumer, I love Zillow.
I see no point in individual RealWhoreĀ® websites as they don’t cover the entire metro area with easy to use features they way Zillow does.
I look forward to Zillow continuing to get better.
And, yes, my Zestimate is completely wrong like everyone else.
The real estate selling/buying process needs to be destroyed and rebuilt from the ground up with much lower transaction costs.
Adapt or die. Any good business model includes multiple sources of lead generation and stellar customer service. If the consumer demands best-in-class search and there are companies that provide that service, good for them. Maybe the question should be – why haven’t MLSs kept-up with the times and consumer demands, spent time and money and then launched a service that can compete? No one is asking that question… instead, it’s “why are these portals taking business away from me?” Really? Then your argument should be directed, again, towards your MLS and their IDX feeds that allow every agent to display every other agents’ listings in their own feed.
Again, it’s about agents running their business like a business – not a “real estate” business. Utilize what these portals offers, along with other lead generation sources. And, when you do implement multiple lead generation sources, don’t blame others if you’re not ‘top-of-mind’.
Embrace change, move forward and be successful.
Chris, good advice, but not really the issue. Adapt or die in this case means not enabling you competition, and like it or not, Zillow is your competition. They have stated as much.
The whole ZTR problem is the direct and predictable result of one decision. Realtor leadership — an oxymoronic phrase if ever there was one — pimped their membership out to the highest bidders. Thing is, the bidders merely took what they wanted and laughed all the way to the bank.
IDXs aren’t the problem. It’s agents competing against agents, as it’s always been. Once the rank ‘n file realize they’re being lead by the 4-Star Generals of the Peter Principle Army, they might be able to pull things back to where they were. And yes, people, they CAN do that, but not ’til the current moronic contracts expire.
Remember — 2013 is gonna be a great time to buy! š
Thanks to everyone for your opinions and posts to Facebook, Twitter and Linked In. All comments are welcome and add to this important conversation.
Steve- You are exactly right about MLS feeds being sanctioned by local Boards and MLS providers. The Denver MLS, Metrolist, no longer feeds Zillow our listings. Several others around the country have joined that effort. Others are considering much a move. That whole direction is an important focus. But, letting Realtors how they are being duped into providing extra content and links to Zillow and Trulia is also important. The search phrase “Denver real Estate” has only one local broker (at #1 with dozens of sub-domains used by agents) in the top 4 results.Local brokers had dominated those results until just a few months ago.
Thanks to Jay Thompson of Zillow for posting here and engaging Realtors in these topics.
Also, thanks to Tom, my daughter/Partner Elizabeth and others who brought out the “big picture’ topics of how real estate is evolving. I just hope Realtors and their trade organizations help lead the Evolution instead of follow. Otherwise, our profession and consumers might end-up lamenting that they were compelled to follow changes for better or worse and regret the resulting lack of competition in this web marketplace. Bigger is not always better!
But, in the meantime, Realtors should work to influence their trade organizations to help keep local Realtors competitive. We do not have massively funded companies. All we have is our Realtor Assocations to help provide clout.
Adapt or die? This isn’t a major change to which we need to adapt. It’s not as if any of this is a new discussion – we (the re.net) have been discussing these topics for the past four-plus years.
Adapt or die implies if we don’t learn to leverage these sites we’ll wither on the vine. Which, of course, is utter b.s. There are many, many different ways of being successful in this business and none depend on giving my money to ZTR. And none says I need to give my data to a website that then disadvantages my sellers.
Consumers love Zillow. It even was said here. It seems access to data varies widely from area to area. For those consumers here in Phoenix, if you *really* want to search listings that are correct less than 20 percent of the time, by all means, use Zillow and Trulia. Seems like a really inefficient way to search for homes but, hey, that’s just me.
Of course, we could as an MLS give all our data to Z & T but really, where’s the incentive? Our listings won’t sell any faster. They won’t sell for any more money. As Bob said above, nothing would change if Z & T disappeared any more than than it would change if any of us left the business. Eyes would just go elsewhere.
You could argue it’s in the best interest of the consumers; I’d argue maybe they need to stop looking in the wrong place. If you want barbecue, go to Famous Daves and not Olive Garden. If you want to know what’s really for sale, look on an IDX-powered site and not Z & T. Seems simply enough.
There are so many ways to expand the audience, the reach to the many segments of your real estate audience. Every real estate market is so so different as are agents, brokers that don’t come in just 31 flavors right? Pick the mix of media options to promote, enhance the signal. If RTZ work for you, push those buttons. But develop the stand alone media work platforms. Feed them daily. Create a tasty buffet. You don’t have to just ride in the herd. Break free. The sky is the limit. Shoulder to shoulder real estate jammed in one or two portals just ignores the options. Tons of options for real estate and area promotion, a little brand sizzle, razzle dazzle to show up on radar. Many low or no cost but just needing your time, passion, creativity. Happy New Year in 2013 for greater market share, more real estate closing round trips. No matter what market you serve. Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
I remember writing about how agents give free content to third party sites and how they are competing against them selves. No one listened. My friends flocked to trulia boives, posted on active rain and acted as though agent reviews on the third party sites were about agent reviews when they are really about agents driving even more traffic to the sites. The big three fight back by calling people like me dinosaurs and saying that we don’t care about consumers. ust like political parties they seem to think if they repeat the same lies over and over they will become true some how. I can’t believe we are still having the same old conversation.
You nailed it!
These guys are coming to Nashville and I cannot wait. I have written a few articles in the past about these portals, but no one seems to realize that both Trulia and Zillow are publicly traded companies. Their fiduciary responsibility is only to shareholders, none of which are Realtors.
It is clear that Zillow cannot continue to trade at 50 times projected earnings, so what can Zillow do to boost revenues? How can Zillow turn the corner to ensure profitability and win back agents?
1. Become a one-stop shop for agents where Zillow can serve all of their business needs;
2. Eventually morph into a VOW (ala Redfin);
3. Eventually morph into a referral brokerage; or
4. A combination of (1) and something else.
I do not see a clear path in any of the above scenarios.
Look folks- the general consensus here is that our industry took a wrong turn years ago. Strangely, the accepted wisdom is that we should just keep on this path since we must accept “progress”. I disagree.
**Going in the wrong direction is not progress**
We could easily find ways to protect our data and our future. It simply requires the will to do so.
There’s a disconnect here that I’d like to clear up. When we (Trulia) say that we’d like to work with the MLS to develop direct feeds of data, that doesn’t mean your data is going to suddenly show up on our site when you don’t want it to. With most of our MLS partnerships, the broker opts-in to sending that data to us through the MLS.
If you don’t see the value in sending your listings to Trulia, then don’t send them. However, many agents do see the value, and will continue to send them. Furthermore, more and more consumers are choosing to visit Zillow and Trulia everyday. When an agent’s best option for sending them isn’t through the MLS, pretty much everyone suffers. There are agents who are really good about keeping their listings up to date. But there are others who tend to forget about updating their data anywhere except the MLS. There are even a few who purposely leave stale listings up because they are trying to generate calls from that old listing.
A large portion of the complaints in the room that day were from agents who were frustrated that their clients kept asking them about listings they found on Zillow or Trulia that had already expired. They were frustrated because they spent time looking up bad data. They were frustrated that their customer was now disappointed. They were frustrated that Trulia’s database of homes looks bigger than their’s because of the stale listings. As Trulia and Zillow’s audiences continue to increase, this is only going to get more frustrating for everyone.
One reason we want to partner with MLS’s is because they can help us identify this stale data. We can then work with the agents and brokers providing the stale data and hopefully give them the option to use the data they provide to the MLS to populate our site. The result is less stale data, and less frustration for everyone.
Even if you don’t want to publish your listings on Trulia, you’d still benefit from the establishment of data agreements between Trulia and your local MLS. So yes, “Our lives would be a lot easier if Metrolist (Denverās public MLS) would just provide us a feed of your listings.” Your lives would be easier as well.
Todd: Let me respond to some of the things in your email specifically. You said, “One reason we want to partner with MLSās is because they can help us identify this stale data.”
If you updated your feed nightly, as all MLS/NAR-compliant sites do, there would be no “stale data.” That is on you, I know my MLS updates nightly, why don’t you? My site is never stale. Why is yours?
Next question is, what’s the other reason you want to establish direct connection with the MLSes… Could it be …to circumvent the cost our providers charge you? That will NOT happen.Whoever sends you the data will require a fee for that send. And yet, do not ever confuse yourselves with who owns the data.
But here’s the question I want to ask you. Why is it that after we (Realtors) have provided you with the content for your site, the fundamental content that keeps homebuyers coming to you, why do you think it’s okay to see us as revenue streams, that you think it’s okay for you to charge us more money to send us inquiries on our own listings?
Do you have any idea how many companies/people try to take our money? Our pitiable profits?
I think your business model is fundamentally flawed. You’ve bitten the hand that feeds you. We’re biting back now.
Re-design your business model to honor those who give you content — your reason for being — or go away.
Good luck.
How much are you willing to pay me for the use of my brokerage’s work product, Todd? If the answer is Zero, and if the benefits of my Product will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, than why am I giving it to you again?
As is typical in my past dealings with Real Estate Agents, most don’t really care about what the Consumer wants which is more of what these websites are providing. Maybe they aren’t that useful for an Agent, but from a Consumer standpoint they are invaluable when searching for Real Estate information of many kinds. Real Estate agents have such a myopic view of the world. When I’m searching for a place to buy or rent I don’t want to have to know which MLS I have to go to or which specific broker website in order to find that information. This is exactly what these sites are trying to provide. A service that gives consumer tools to find a property in an area that meets their needs. I might start my search thinking I want to live in a certain place and when I start doing research find out that another area (county, city, state, etc…) will actually provide me a better value for my money.
It’s just like when I want to book a flight. I don’t want to have to call each airline, or go to each airline website and look up flights individually. I want to go to Expedia or Travelocity or one of those and do my research before contacting the one that meets my needs.
Maybe you don’t see where these types of sites benefit you, but what you are really missing here is just how valuable they are to an educated consumer.
This is a planted comment and completely untrue. The advent of IDX solved this issue many years ago.
What a bunch of hooey. I think the person who wrote this probably works for Trulia or Zillow, and has never bought a house. And googling “homes for sale, anywhere USA” yeilds lots of very qualified results. Otherwise, she’d know that what a consumer wants is a seasoned real estate professional who
1) Can do a CMA, with actual sold prices and therefore can determine the home’s actual market value
2) Knows local professionals for home, pest, radon, water inspections, who will be at the house and see if there are any foundation crack, roof leaks, water quality issues, neighborhood issues, .
3) Can help them choose a lender for their particular situation/income level/cash on hand. AND ABOUT 200 more things t ypical in a real estate transaction.
4) Knows the region/neighborhood and can help them choose the right area for their wishes/need…
And the other thing is, Consumers are fast getting wise to the bad/misinformation on these websites that eschew valid data for volume. I’ve had many conversations of late where buyers send me links to listings they want to look at, I look them up and they’ve been sold for three months, so I have to tell them, fulfill my legal and ethical duty, tell them that these sites are rife with errors and outdated listing information. I direct them to a site fueled by IDX where the listing data will be accurate, and they are grateful. They blow off Zillow and Trulia and HOmes.com and see them for what they are.
It now strikes me: we don’t have to do anything but tell the truth and fulfill our ethical duties. Those sites that don’t think accuracy is important are shooting themselves in the foot and are digging their own virtual graves. Slowly, but SURELY.
This whole debate/attack is getting really old and tiresome. I know both of these gentlemen who were obviously ambushed and respect them both greatly. As a licensed real estate professional, I don’t consider 3rd party aggregators like Zillow and Trulia to be my competitors. They can be valued partners and allies. I will continue to upload my listings to both sites, along with other high traffic platforms, so as to gain as much positive exposure for my Seller’s homes as possible.
Jeff,
Many brokers and agents find the exposure our website provides to be fair compensation for providing us with their listing information. But you’ll have to make your own decisions here, and we’ll respect your choice either way. We hope you choose to work with us.
Former Zillow Premiere agent here…
I had 100% of my zip code for 2 straight years at $300 per month. I’d get 2-3 closings per year. At the end of each year when trying to decide what stays and what gets dumped in my budget, I kept thinking that it was a good ROI.
A little over a year ago, Zillow decided to completely remove their agent helpline (which usually had unacceptable hold times) entirely. If you needed help, you had to send an EMAIL and pray that someone responded within a timely manner.
I figured it was still worth the $300 per month.
Some time later, Zillow started really getting greedy and would have as many as FOUR agents next to listings in your territory. The default option for the buyer would be to have ALL FOUR CHECKED to contact them. By the time I would call the customer, they were irritated or was not a quality lead.
The last straw: Zillow called me shortly after to tell me I’m not paying enough for my territory. I promptly cancelled.
Before anyone thinks similar to the way I did with “the ROI isn’t shabby” attitude, keep in mind one thing: OPPORTUNITY COST. For $300, I can farm 600 homes a month, PPC on Google, pay another assistant for 30 hours, etc. If you know how to convert, you’ll definitely end up with more than 2-3 measly sales a year from your lead generation source.
Beyond that, what message was Zillow REALLY sending when they decided to make themselves unavailable for a phone call and place FOUR agents next to listings??
I have been following this since getting into the business in 2006, Web 2.0 and all the changes happening on the Internet. We are not the only industry that cares about rankings and how other major portals have been able to outrank us little guys. This is why I focused on lead generation, blogging, and my own syndication systems from early on. My advice to every real estate agent out there is to take control of your business. Understand the shift that is much bigger than Zillow and Trulia. Every time I talk with agent, I am amazed by how much they do not understand about the Internet and the leverage it can provide. Lastly, learn how to compete with the big boys through their own system… If you need any advice call me… Real Estate is still a contact sport for now. Build your own systems. Look outside real estate and focus on the consumer.
As primarily a listing broker I don’t care where the buyer’s of my listings come from. I get paid no matter how it is sold. I have profiles set up on Trulia and Zillow. And I have a $10 Zillow site. This in addition to my other dozen or so sites. I get close to 100,000 visitors a month on my sites, cumulative .
In fact just few minutes ago I sent my buyer’s agent a $250,000 cash buyer that registered on my Zillow site. We sold several buyers homes last year that came form answering their questions or Trulia.
Would I have this business of Trulia and Zillow didn’t exist? Probably.
The reality is that these sites are going anywhere. So my plan is to use them to make money. The same as I use facebook, linkedin and other social/community sites
Putting all listings in one place can be great for customers who don’t know the landscape and just need an easy way to search all listings. That’s great, but then I think the listings should ONLY contain contact information for the actual Broker/Agent who owns that listing, without them having to ‘buy it’ back.
If these companies were just interested in helping agents and customers come together, they wouldn’t be selling agent placements because that doesn’t help anyone but the guy paying to have his face on other’s listings. Also the agent paying for placement may not know the first thing about some of the listings they appear next to, or the associated market.. which isn’t of value to the customer looking at the home he/she likes. MLS boards should all stipulate that the only way they will license their data is if the big sites post the actual listing Broker/Agents information next to their own listings, all the time, no exceptions.
Further, they should pursue legal action against these companies if they don’t comply and try to obtain listing data by other means like scraping data. I don’t know for certain, but I’m guessing it’s violation of any MLS rules to take your RE sign and post it in the yard of a listing that’s not yours, but that’s exactly what these sites are allowing to happen on a virtual landscape.
Zillow and Trulia give out so much misinformation that our jobs as Realtor’s has become educating the public of how poor the data is on these sites. So many Potential Clients find homes that are SOLD, or OFF THE MARKET on these sites and it gives the entire real estate community a black eye. The customer is our focus, and with so much misinformation provided by these sites, it makes our jobs harder, not easier, creates conflict between client and realtor due to misinformation and misunderstandings. My advice to Zillow and Trulia–stay out of our markets because you are the worst resource of real estate for the entire country!
its true .. they keep the old listings so they will have more content on their site which is good for SEO