In syndication decisions, consider your real estate clients
Letter to the Editor
By Inman News, Monday, January 30, 2012.Re: 'San Diego broker pulls listings from third-party sites' (Jan. 27)
Dear Editor:
 Real estate syndication image via Shutterstock.com. |
After reading yet another article about a broker pulling its listings from syndication sites such as Trulia, Zillow, and Realtor.com, I have to wonder why the brokers have not published the information that they use to come to the conclusion that the aggregation sites do not serve their customers.
If the evidence was so compelling, why do they not make it public?
I have always been of the opinion that getting a home out in front of the public is a good thing. As was stated in the article, as long as an agent has taken five minutes to set up a free account on the syndication sites, (that agent's) profile always appears next to the listing.
An estimated 90 percent of consumers today start their home search on the Internet, and the three major sites account for millions of hits each month. Unless all of the brokers in the area follow in their footsteps, it will not cause consumers to stop going to these websites.
What it will do is remove the broker's listings from being found by these consumers and the thousands of listing alerts that these consumers get each day.
In today's real estate market, many buyers utilize their agent to search for homes for them, but they also take matters into their own hands and search for homes on their own. When they do, they typically use a large syndication website.
Jim Abbott said that oftentimes the "lead" generated from one of the websites is given (sold) to an agent who is not familiar with the area. The big three syndicators sell their advertising by ZIP code and not by going down a list of interested agents (at least in the Dallas area).
These advertising purchases are expensive -- especially in a large area like San Diego, Calif., and I doubt that most agents would purchase a ZIP code that they were unfamiliar with just to "reroute" that buyer, as Mr. Abbott contended in his YouTube video.
The questions that I have for brokers:
1. What was your methodology in researching the effect that syndication has had on your brokerage?
2. Did you send out a letter to every single person who bought one of your listings to find out if they found the home on Trulia, Zillow or Realtor.com? Or are you simply making suppositions?
I would also like to see a follow-up from brokerages that have banned syndication for six-plus months with the following information:
1. Did your average days on market increase or decline after removing syndication as compared to the rest of the market?
2. Did your average sales price compared to original list price increase or decline as compared to the rest of the market?
3. Did your percentage of double-ended transactions (on a brokerage basis, not agent basis) increase or decline compared to (the time prior to) removing syndication?
My major question to everyone is: Could this be considered a breach of fiduciary duty to a client? To me, this sounds like protecting the broker's interests as opposed to protecting the client's interests.
Also, how many competing brokers will use this this as an added value to choosing a brokerage (with syndication) over the brokerage that does not allow for syndication?
(Consider your response) when a client asks you, "The agent from 'X' brokerage says that he can put my home on 50-plus websites to get maximum exposure for my home. You say that you will only put it on the multiple listing service. Why is that?"
Brokers who don't syndicate better have a lot of evidence to back up their reasoning to clients if they are competing against a broker who does syndicate.
Brian Rayl
Keller Williams Elite
Dallas and Park Cities, Texas
See related items:
San Diego broker pulls listings from third-party sites
The video that will rock the industry
Inman News Facebook discussion
Discussion in Facebook group: "What Should I Spend My Money On?"
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Submitted by Gary Peters II on January 31, 2012 - 3:37am.
Dear Brain,
This is a rather interesting debate. I think what is going on is that MLS is a dying system and Aggregators merely saw a "Hole" to extract more money from agents posting their info on their domains. This is perfectly legal but in theory the information is not real time, not accurate and is often delayed as the source is the Agent, who submits to the MLS and then the MLS sends off to Listhub (IDX) and then finds its way to the sites we know as Realtor, Zillow, Trulia or Luxuryhomes.com. What is quit funny is the SD agent uses IDEX / Listhub in the same way Zillow does and therefore shot himself in the foot with his comments. While I tend to like what the SD has to say, he fails "Big Time" as he abuses the same techniques as those he points the finger at in the first place!
He could have take the video to a whole new level, something we are creating which is a place for the agents to protect their information and give up on this old MLS system which is doomed to fail. Zillow, Trulia and Realtor (ZTR) are great if they do not charge agents for "Premium services" You have to be an idiot of an agent to pay those fees given you already pay, MLS, NAR, etc. ZTR should allow all the listings and merely Banner advertise the hell out of third party suppliers as in the end ZTR will all wind up becoming the next EXCITE or YAHOO as they failed to address the main problem in the industry. ZTR is making money in the short term until the problem is fixed. Agents need to realize competition is a good thing and those agents who do not know how to promote better find a new job. Our Sd Broker owner needs to realize he is part of the problem and ranting will get him no where as most Sellers and buyers will question his real motivations and more importantly is understanding of Marketing and promotion.
Submitted by Saul Klein on January 31, 2012 - 3:22pm.
I believe that portals (destination sites) prefer data from an MLS as opposed to other sources. Why? It is the best data there is. We can all debate as to MLS data quality, but someone show me where there is better quality data on active inventory, more accurate information on available properties. I don't believe it exists anywhere. And remember, this data is being updated as property circumstances change.
MLSs are not dead or dying. They have what every destination site desires in their attempt (yes attempts) to generate commerce.
Do what you believe is in yours and your seller's best interest...nothing less, it is your fiduciary duty. If you don't syndicate, do you disclose that to prospective sellers?
Submitted by Brian Rayl on February 4, 2012 - 5:42am.
Gary and Saul,
Thank you for your comments.
The problem is that many MLS/IDX companies fail to innovate. My local MLS is this way -- and I don't live in a small area. I live and work in DALLAS TEXAS. While they are very good at promoting excellent classes that help their agents, they are far behind in technology when it comes to displaying MLS listings. There is no consumer-facing home search in our area. The MLS uses FLASH, which means that agents cannot access this information on platforms like the iPhone or iPad. The MLS does not allow an agent to display a custom foreclosure search because banks "don't want people to know the home is a foreclosure".
HELLO! Foreclosures are a huge market right now and not allowing agent to provide this information automatically on their website is a disservice to the agents and the consumers.
Aggregation websites fill a void that many MLS are not providing.
Let me say this: I am not against eliminating these syndication portals, but in order to do this, it has to be done on a WIDE SPREAD basis. A single Dallas broker won't be affective at stemming these issues. Even 10 brokers won't do it.
I don't know why they haven't done it already, but why can't the STATE associations provide this service as a benefit of being a REALTOR in their state? If you can't find a Texas home on TZR, then you will be "forced" to go to the state association website where realtors benefit, not TZR.