on the MLS but blanket opting out of mls feeds

[jdm2008]

Originally Posted by cobble

I don't really think having so many third party websites is good for the consumer. The information is being pulled from so many sites it's nearly impossible to track it back to an agent that even knows the property. We can't help a consumers make sense of the data when it is pulled in a hundred different directions. .... Realtor.com needs to fire their designer, what a mess.

The real question to consumers is whether realtor.com has made it easier or harder to sell your home. The opinion that it has made it harder to sell your home is at best hard to justify and at worst silly and transparently self serving. A seller listed on "realtyoffice.com(or whatever it will be called)" has a better chance of selling his house than if he was listed on realtor.com? Where there is a good chance that about half of home buyers have never heard of and will never visit "realtyoffice.com.

[cobble]

Originally Posted by jdm2008

The real question to consumers is whether realtor.com has made it easier or harder to sell your home. The opinion that it has made it harder to sell your home is at best hard to justify and at worst silly and transparently self serving. A seller listed on "realtyoffice.com(or whatever it will be called)" has a better chance of selling his house than if he was listed on realtor.com? Where there is a good chance that about half of home buyers have never heard of and will never visit "realtyoffice.com.

I never said that, I said realtor.com's site a mess. I started this thread, I'm all for sharing information. I just passionately hate Zestimates, they are misleading crap. Those site aren't all sunshine and daffodils, they take realtor data for free and try to sell consumer data back to us. frustrating no? Realtor.com is a good concept it just needs a huge overhaul.

[Brandon Hoffman]

Originally Posted by cobble

Realtor.com is a good concept it just needs a huge overhaul.

Except ever since they sold out they are the same as all the other 3rd party sites, just costs me more with less return.

[cobble]

Originally Posted by Brandon Hoffman

Except ever since they sold out they are the same as all the other 3rd party sites, just costs me more with less return.

True, true... I see a return on investment being on the mls but getting to use the word "Realtor".... not so sure.

[jskov]

Originally Posted by cobble

This IS exactly why Zillow must die. Nothing makes me want to scream more than when I am saying how well priced a property is (using my legitimate market knowledge) and a Buyer busts out with a Zestimate.
I'm surprised to hear that mls's are actually feeding data to these shlubs. My websites have syndication features... I think it's time to pull Zillow's plug.

I didn't have time this morning to read all 9 pages of this forum

HOWEVER, I did read enough to see that there are a lot of people talking about the "market" from a limited position. A few notes:

The Real Estate Market and Zillow (et. al) are absolutely closely related. Zillow, Trulia, and others are simply taking advantage of market weaknesses. If the Real Estate market does not exist for both buyers and sellers, then it has no purpose, and neither do real estate agents.

So, here's the deal. If people want Zillow, Trulia, and others to dissapear it is rather simple (though not immediate). It isn't done through a governing body or rules, it is done by real estate companies working harder to keep up with technology.

I can't tell you how many offices/agents I have worked with (and I work with thousands of agents) who have no clue how to use technology to benefit a client. They are stuck thinking that just because they happened to run into the person and they work hard, the person ought to pay them a commission...

Bottom line, if I am a potential client (buyer or seller) I will, of course be looking online. If Zillow, Trulia or someone else ends up "owning" the online real estate, and an agent/office/brokerage/company can't figure out how to compete online, it is the tough situation of survival of the fittest - even though they scrape the home data. Most agent's website providers that provide IDX services don't work that much harder than that to connect to the actual MLS, and most of them under-serve their agent clients by providing terrible tools as well - until someone with better technology moves in.

ahem... (jumping off soap box)

[cobble]

Originally Posted by jskov

So, here's the deal. If people want Zillow, Trulia, and others to dissapear it is rather simple...... it is done by real estate companies working harder to keep up with technology.

Amen.

Originally Posted by jskov

ahem... (jumping off soap box)

Since you quoted me I feel compelled to reply but I don't exactly understand how what you said applies to what I said that you quoted? Does your soap box exist in the corporate office of Zillow?

Originally Posted by jskov

I didn't have time this morning to read all 9 pages of this forum

I wish you would, I'm sure you have interesting perspective.