In an effort to increase the accuracy of listings on its platform, Trulia is redoubling its efforts to get direct data feeds from multiple listing services with its new “Data Connect” program.
MLSs who agree to feed Trulia their listings directly will ensure that their member brokerages receive increased branding on the portal on their agents’ profiles, in lead emails to consumers and in Trulia’s agent directory.
Accurate listings are important to the real estate industry, said Alon Chaver, vice president of industry services at Trulia. “That’s why Trulia is investing heavily in partnerships with MLSs who wish to help their brokers improve the accuracy of the listings they market on Trulia,” he said in a statement.
Participating MLSs receive weekly, premium listing performance reports that they can pass on to their member brokers. They also have their data updated on the portal as frequently as every 10 minutes — a capability often touted by rival realtor.com which, thanks to its ties to the National Association of Realtors, receives listings directly from nearly all of the nation’s MLSs.
Third-party portals like Trulia and rival Zillow receive listings from a variety sources, which can affect the accuracy and timeliness of their data. They also don’t have complete sets of listings in some markets because they don’t have complete feeds.
In March, ZipRealty conducted a study that revealed that 17 percent of the listings listed for sale on Trulia in the markets it looked at were not for sale in the local MLS. And, the study showed, the portal had an average of 78 percent of the listings that the local MLS had. Zillow had similar results.
In July, Bob Bemis, an industry vet Zillow brought on board in 2012 to secure relationships with MLSs to get direct feeds for the portal, left his job with the portal, citing a belief that many MLSs would not choose to send direct feeds to Zillow anytime soon.
Currently, Trulia receives direct data feeds from a handful of MLSs including the Houston Association of Realtors, Midwest Real Estate Data LLC (MRED), Boston-area MLS Property Information Service Inc., Bay Area Real Estate Information Services Inc. in the San Francisco Bay Area, Connecticut MLS and the North Carolina Mountains MLS.
Trulia’s new program complements the “Trulia Accelerate” program it rolled out for brokers in July. In September, the portal announced 15 brokerages had joined the program, which launched with franchisor Re/Max as a member.