A Nevada multiple listing service has agreed to send its listing data directly to top real estate portal Zillow on behalf of participating brokerages.
Reno-based Northern Nevada Regional MLS is the latest MLS to join the Zillow Partnership Platform, a program that allows MLSs to send listing data to Zillow as often as every 15 minutes to ensure its accuracy on not only Zillow.com and Zillow’s mobile apps, but partner sites like Yahoo, HotPads, AOL Real Estate, MSN Real Estate and HGTV’s FrontDoor.
NNRMLS has 2,600 members and 6,500 active listings, though it is unclear how many of those listings brokers will choose to send to Zillow.
“Our members have made it clear that they best serve their customers when they can guarantee that the many home shoppers who use Zillow for their home search find timely and reliable information,” said Shelley Specchio, CEO of the Northern Nevada Regional MLS, in a statement.
“By partnering with Zillow, our members benefit from the immediacy of publishing on Zillow while maintaining direct control over their listing data. We believe it’s a win-win for everyone.”
Broker members who opt-in to the program will also be able to include their logo in the “Listing provided by” section at the bottom of their listing pages, according to Zillow.
Regardless of whether their listings are sent directly to Zillow, if listing agents have claimed their free Zillow profile, they appear first in the list of agents next to their listing along with their name, photo and a link to their Zillow profile, which includes their contact information.
If they do not send their listings to Zillow directly and have not claimed their Zillow profile, their name and phone number do not appear among the list of agents next to their listing, but do appear in the “Listing provided by” section, according to Zillow.
All listing agents who claim their Zillow profile — regardless of whether their listings are sent in a direct feed or not — receive analytics reports for their listings, including a weekly email recap with impressions, pages views and lead count for the past four weeks and by month, Zillow said. Firms and their listing agents can also get access to a daily file of the same information on a listing-by-listing basis.
Zillow had previously touted free linkbacks as a perk for brokers and MLSs who sent their listings in direct feeds, but the portal has recently said it has always included a linkback to a broker’s website when that information is included in the listing data it receives, whether through a direct feed or not.
Zillow has declined to comment on how many MLSs participate in the Zillow Partnership Platform and on whether MLSs receive perks for their participation. A couple of MLSs that have recently signed up include New Jersey MLS and Northeast Oklahoma Real Estate Services.
Trulia, the nation’s second most highly trafficked online real estate portal, has direct feed agreements with more than 100 MLSs and recently launched a $5,000 sweepstakes to entice more brokers to opt-in to those feeds. Zillow plans to acquire Trulia in a deal that’s expected to close next year.
