Rounding up your real estate listings
Realtor Notebook
By Teresa Boardman, Thursday, April 30, 2009.
Flickr photo by smaedli.It is 10 o'clock; do you know where your listings are?
After moving to a new real estate company a few weeks ago I had to update my profiles, which are scattered all over the Internet. It forced me to review my online presence. It took some time, but I learned a few things in the process.
There are a number of national real estate Web sites where property listings information can be advertised. Some are also social networks where we can interact with buyers and sellers if we choose to do so.
The sites are beautiful and have more to offer consumers than the Web sites created by real estate brokerage companies or by the National Association of Realtors. However, the information on the sites is not always accurate or up to date.
I went to one of the sites I am using and clicked a button to have my listings put in. I ended up with two of my listings, one of which was sold a month ago. It shows up as a sold listing in our multiple listing service -- I checked. Another listing showed up that is also off the market. My active listings did not show up.
On another site I checked my listings and noted that one had the wrong price. When I tried to do a manual update, it failed. Often when I change prices I spend hours updating Web sites, and to be honest I sometimes miss a site or two.
On yet another site I found my listings, but the same property is listed with two different prices and under two different brokerages. We have laws here that prevent one agent from working under two brokers, but that is a separate issue.
After checking one of the Web sites I was so discouraged by what I found and my inability to put my new logo in my profile that I decided to delete the account. I contacted technical support a couple of days ago asking for help because I can't even delete it.
The reason I advertise my listings on these sites is because my competitors advertise on them and my clients expect it. I know that the listings get some traffic but nothing close to what they get through our MLS and through my own sites. ...CONTINUED
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Submitted by Judy Orr on April 30, 2009 - 1:15pm.
This is one thing I like about these portals, they are not updated, therefore not accurate, and they do not offer every listing that is active in the MLS. This used to be how Realtor.com was in the beginning.
That made it easy to make a buyer prospect shift from using those portals and get them to use my local site instead and better yet, have me set them up with an automated search to their e-mail. I do not take the blame for any of my listings not showing up properly, I blame the website - stating that unfortunately, I don't have control over how they present listings.
Of course, we can only try to convert those prospects that actually contact us, but that's OK with me. When buyer prospects realize that these portals don't offer everything they'd like (no matter how pretty they are), the more likely they'll try a local website.
Judy Orr
Oak Lawn Homes For Sale
Classic Realty Group
708-536-8200
Submitted by Scott Hoyt on April 30, 2009 - 4:02pm.
It is great you brought up the fact that the MLS would punish you for the same mistakes many of these aggregators make.
It is also strange that the MLS's will give away data for free to many of these sites, yet put paying customers like you under more stringent rules.
Real Estate agents are the only content providers I am aware of that do not have strict standards on how their content is used or displayed.
How many aggregators have a higher market cap than our country's biggest brokers? I think the providers are missing the boat.
This worked in a Bull Market because many mistakes were hidden by great sales, maybe we were wrong.
Thanks for an interesting post on a great topic.
Submitted by Dirk Knudsen on May 3, 2009 - 8:17am.
Ok your right on here. I am a big contributor at Trulia Voices but they are ruining their site with too many data streams and sources and seem to be advertising every home in America even if the home is not for sale.
I get many consumer questions throughout the week asking questions about homes that are sold, pending, off the market etc... Trulia will need to fix this and in a Hurry or they are going to loose their place in the value-chain for consumers.
I have never been an advocate of Realtor.com. It is beyond me why we as agents and boards continue to allow this site to under perform and not give consumers what they want. That and making brokers pay for a simple upgrade to allow our names and web links to appear where our own listings are posted. Come on.... until we get this right as an industry sites like Zillow and Trulia will continue to separate us from what should be our online consumer base. There is hope however.
Your article would have been a little more to the point if you would list the sites that are frustrating you. That I would like to see you do. Your feelings are shared by many of us out here.
Best of luck to you in 2009. Just remember the buyers and sellers you want to serve right now are in your own local area. Make sure you take care of them first.
Regards;
Dirk Knudsen
Broker
Re/Max Metro Gold
Portland, Oregon
Re/Max Hall of Fame
Submitted by Mara Hawks on May 4, 2009 - 4:04am.
Since I read about your switch to the boutique-type agency, I've been wondering about how much is involved with re-organizing online presence. It seems that many of the companies that take your listings, are really focused on the manipulation of the Realtor, not the consumer---although the front end picture seems to be presented as a strong attraction for the consumer. It keeps me wondering, too, what MLS is doing behind the scenes, while it appears on the front end that they are giving away lots of (highly paid for by Realtors) information for free. This topic will only get hotter, I'm sure, once it's better understood how many of our listed properties are going out to pasture. [BTW, I love the cow crossing...I just love cows and their stories and humor :-] all the best for the rest of your roundup.
Mara Hawks
REALTOR® 3345242220
FIRST REALTY, a Realty South Company
Auburn,AL
www.marahawks.com