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In our haste to want information, in our hatred to interaction with other people on a live, toe-to-toe basis, in our fear of being "sold," in our highly emotional modern American manner of doing business, we forget the most reliable, intelligent, on-the-line source of real estate information is the burned shoe leather REALTOR.
Belly-to-belly, eye-to-eye, and toe-to-toe interaction with people is still a mandatory requirement for a no-guilt, no-worry, no-regrets purchase or sale of a home.
You can fill your pee-picken brain with so much stuff. You can know everything there is to know about a property, including your own, and the final deciding factor in the home buying and selling process will based on an emotional need or desire.
Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, and every brand's websites offer great information which should always be considered, but when it comes to laying the money on the line, when it comes to getting down to brass tacks, the licensed and Code of Ethic's bound REALTOR will provide the most consistently correct data and detail as it relates to the specific properties you choose to buy or sell.
This doesn't suggest that there aren't unethical, illegally behaving, unprepared, or uncaring REALTORS, they abound, but with every unethical, illegally behaving, unprepared, even uncaring REALTOR, you have something that does not exist from internet resources. You have legally mandated, contractually bound, living, breathing people who guarantee you, simply by their license, or their NAR contract, that you have recourse. Try getting any internet provider to give you recourse.
All of those site have no way to sustain a money making operation, except off the backs of local real estate professionals. If our costs include these sites, we will have to pass on these costs to the consumers.
As of April 30th, the Austin MLS will no longer automatically syndicate to third party websites. More and more consumers will start to see our value when they can only find listings on the broker sites or directly thru our mls portal.
Here's an article Falconhead about what our MLS did in the fall in regards to syndication agreements with the third party sites.....article mentions what Austin was doing in regards to third party sites.
Here's an article Falconhead about what our MLS did in the fall in regards to syndication agreements with the third party sites.....article mentions what Austin was doing in regards to third party sites.
Interesting. One point of syndication would be great.
And, I sure wish my IDX vendor would update every 15 minutes. That is where the scraper sites have it over on IDX.
In NC, the broker is responsible for all presentation of the listing, anywhere it is syndicated. When redistributed to sites a broker never heard of, it is very easy to see how a broker could be affiliated with a property that is "For Sale," when it really isn't for sale.
We are managing our own, and yes....I think this is going to be the start of many MLS boards across the US following suit. Our CEO and the task force that handled this spoke to MANY other MLS boards across the US in regards to third party syndication during our decision making process.
Direct syndication seems to be the future, WE now have control as we should....it is OUR data after all.
Zillow, Trulia, Redfin and all the other websites have great information. I don't think most people look at these websites and others like them as a replacement to a realtor but more of a tool and information to complement them.
The truth of the matter is that much of what a realtor has traditionally done in the past is provided online now. Decades ago there wasn't all the rich and powerful information on the Internet like there is today. Information on schools, walkability, crime rates, distances/time, and so much more is provided online and you don't need to count as much on a realtor for that type of information.
In the future, we will most likely move to a system where realtors have a menu of services. Some people need more handholding and others don't so we will probably see a menu of services.
I can't see realtors totally being replaced but their role with all this technology will most likely change.
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