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I wish someone would start a competing site with good user interface. Zillow's interface is pretty bad. They also don't show homes that are pending, making viewing many homes a waste of time since they are pending or contingent.
Realtor.com is better designed than Zillow, but someone should be able to design a user friendly page that can show all of the important information to buyers and compete with Zillow / Realtor.com on a shoestring budget. The internet has democratized information but seems like Zillow holds so much power because no one can design a simplified, friendly, and easy realtor site that can compete against Zillow.
I wish someone would start a competing site with good user interface. Zillow's interface is pretty bad. They also don't show homes that are pending, making viewing many homes a waste of time since they are pending or contingent.
Realtor.com is better designed than Zillow, but someone should be able to design a user friendly page that can show all of the important information to buyers and compete with Zillow / Realtor.com on a shoestring budget. The internet has democratized information but seems like Zillow holds so much power because no one can design a simplified, friendly, and easy realtor site that can compete against Zillow.
on a shoestring budget? I doubt it seriously, or it would have been done - given the market cap of Zillow.
It is odd that Zillow switched quickly from showing Under Contracts to not. I'm sure it has something to do with them opening brokerages "everywhere" and becoming MLS members (an IDX feed vs individual brokerage agreements). It's still odd, since local individual (and even franchise) brokerages will likely show you that same info.
Now, if you want the best info, and all the Coming Soons and all the Pendings and all the true Recent Closeds, that's called an agent and the MLS, currently.
ahhh, Rex. The "we'll market you by social media, and you can save all the commision!" company. Yes, they'll most likely be another here today, gone tomorrow outfit.
Don't get me wrong, there's some nonsensical quirks to real estate BROKERAGE, MLS systems, data-sharing, co-operation, etc. Highly-fragmented, since each state has its own rules.. And no nationalized player (Zillow, Redfin, Relo companies) care to understand that - that is, to develop a system that works for 80% of transactional needs and then have 50 different add-ons for the different states. They've got their algorithm and thus far it works for them.
But none of these "newbies" - and that includes Zillow* - understand the non-data need in the process. Some folks are data-dependent, and so it all works well for them. But the vast majority need an actual expert in their weird individual market that can help them navigate everything.
The MLS's are databases. Basically nothing more, and nothing less. Hell, call them computer programs.
Do they have any duty to allow anyone to see their database? Their program? Has Zillow ever revealed their algorithm?
The answer is no to each.
*Just the other day, I had some first time buyer say they were Trulia fans. They were unaware that Trulia was owned by Zillow. I'm not a consumer - is there a difference between the 2 platforms?
I saw an article recently that showed some people are using Tik Tok now to market rental properties. Such a shift came out of nowhere to real estate marketing.
I think someone could potentially create a game changer to real estate listings on a shoestring budget by hitting with a combination of useful information, social media conversations, and real time updates that are more useful than what Zillow allows.
The bigger they become, the harder they fall, by a small / more nimble competitor, especially these days.
I saw an article recently that showed some people are using Tik Tok now to market rental properties. Such a shift came out of nowhere to real estate marketing.
I think someone could potentially create a game changer to real estate listings on a shoestring budget by hitting with a combination of useful information, social media conversations, and real time updates that are more useful than what Zillow allows.
The bigger they become, the harder they fall, by a small / more nimble competitor, especially these days.
Nope. It would be a massive undertaking. Zillow and other online sites are fed by IDX feeds which means you have join all the fragmented MLS across the country to get the data. Oh, to get an IDX feed you need to a broker or a big tech that can buy your way into MLS. Oh, and did I mention there isn't one MLS provider, there are several which means their tech is different and it's customized for location sometimes. It would be expensive and time consuming, and then you get eaten up on tech support. Through in that many property management companies aren't listing on MLS so you have to get that data from other sites.
I would never waste time advertising a rental tik tok. That sounds dumb as hell to me. I'd rather reach a wide audience and have the property easy to find and searchable. Tik tok isn't there, may never be there.
I don't know what you call a shoe string budget, but on a shoestring budget I could build a website for 1 MLS.
I saw an article recently that showed some people are using Tik Tok now to market rental properties. Such a shift came out of nowhere to real estate marketing.
I think someone could potentially create a game changer to real estate listings on a shoestring budget by hitting with a combination of useful information, social media conversations, and real time updates that are more useful than what Zillow allows.
The bigger they become, the harder they fall, by a small / more nimble competitor, especially these days.
Nope. It would be a massive undertaking. Zillow and other online sites are fed by IDX feeds which means you have join all the fragmented MLS across the country to get the data. Oh, to get an IDX feed you need to a broker or a big tech that can buy your way into MLS. Oh, and did I mention there isn't one MLS provider, there are several which means their tech is different and it's customized for location sometimes. It would be expensive and time consuming, and then you get eaten up on tech support. Through in that many property management companies aren't listing on MLS so you have to get that data from other sites.
I don't know what you call a shoe string budget, but on a shoestring budget I could build a website for 1 MLS.
Quote:
Don't get me wrong, there's some nonsensical quirks to real estate BROKERAGE, MLS systems, data-sharing, co-operation, etc. Highly-fragmented, since each state has its own rules.. And no nationalized player (Zillow, Redfin, Relo companies) care to understand that - that is, to develop a system that works for 80% of transactional needs and then have 50 different add-ons for the different states. They've got their algorithm and thus far it works for them.
But none of these "newbies" - and that includes Zillow* - understand the non-data need in the process. Some folks are data-dependent, and so it all works well for them. But the vast majority need an actual expert in their weird individual market that can help them navigate everything.
as you & I both have said.
What problem does a new method solve? That's the question.
Zillow was "lucky" that they came along and were able to raise a bunch of capital to spend on tech/software development while the NAR and thus Realtor.com slept. In the beginning, Zillow was nothing but a "what's my home worth?" website. Then they started breaking the law and scraping data from the internet. Then they adjusted, and then Realtors, under obligation to have accurate info/advertising claims, through their MLS's, told them to quit taking our data. They had to make agreements with every brokerage in most markets. I remember 2 years ago many listings suddenly not appearing on Zillow, because they were with small independent brokerages (think MikeJ for example). If the 5 big franchises with agreements with Zillow have 50% of the local market, how does Zillow reach the other 50% that's split among 2,000 individual companies?
See, the Zillows and Homelights and RatemyAgent and Rex's and whatnot of the world saw:
"The US Housing market is $1.5T annually" and
"Realtors charge 6%"
and did a little math. Who wouldn't want to grab a sliver of $105B?
Where is this separate listings tab (non NAR listings) on Zillow?
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