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Many Realtors working for larger companies have smart IT groups who manage systems and processes so they don't need to bother with whats under the hood when they decide to use Zillow or Trulia systems.
But for smaller Independents my advice is to read the attached RealGeeks article and understand exactly what you are letting yourself in for. As a Zillow cynic I wasn't surprised, but I am sure many independent realtors may be concerned. The Flowchart itself is a useful tool for understanding what the Widgets are and how they enable Zillow and Trulia to outrank you with predatory linking. It is an excellent well written article that should be essential reading for all Realtors.
The story is based on a very conspiratorial and naive view of how housing market functions, namely: the idea you can fool the market. While it's true that a buyer or seller can take advantage of asymmetric information, biased in one or the other's financial favor, these sites work to reduce these asymmetries and make housing markets more efficient, meaning housing markets, as a whole, generate higher "welfare", part of which can be measured in financial gains and part of which can be measured in the increased value of the housing services enjoyed by buyers.
Sure, these companies are doing it for profit. That's how markets work. Since they are early entrants in the market for the information services they provide, they will earn higher profits than lággerd firms. That's fine with me, because they generate higher welfare for buyers and sellers. My son and his wife recently bought cross-country; bought a house entirely based on Zillow+open houses. Their search time was one week and the seller agreed to the Zillow price after some gentle nudging. The seller needed to sell their house in a hurry; their opportunity cost was substantially reduced.
People who try to fool markets get kicked in the ass by the market most of the time, as fools do.
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