Brokers whose multiple listings services have signed direct feed agreements with Homes.com, Zillow and Trulia could now have a new, easy way to manage listings that go to those portals and see which ones give them the most bang for their buck.
Homes.com, the nation’s fourth most popular real estate site, is the latest third-party portal to sign on to a new “permission gateway” from real estate tech firm Clareity Security. The portal receives direct feeds from more than 400 MLSs.
Dubbed Clareity Direct Connections, the tool allows brokers to opt into and manage listings that go to portals and connect with the portals’ data management platforms, such as Zillow’s new Data Dashboard, to gauge each portal’s effectiveness via analytics.
Since the tool’s launch in January, five MLSs have deployed the tool to their brokers: the Miami Association of Realtors, Greater Tulsa Association of Realtors (GTAR), Northern Nevada Regional MLS, My Florida Regional MLS (MFRMLS) and Intermountain MLS.
Twelve other MLSs will deploy the tool over the next couple of weeks, Clareity President and CEO Gregg Larson told Inman.
Clareity Direct Connections can be connected to the company’s single sign-on dashboard for easy access, but does not have to be.
“Our brokers really enjoy the concept, and like the idea of being able to go in (to their dashboard); one click, opt in, opt out, get reports, and see a snapshot of their listings,” said GTAR CEO Mike Cotrill in a statement.
Zillow was the first portal on board with the tool and Trulia joined after its acquisition by Zillow last month. A deal with RealtyTrac is in the works, Larson said.
“Implementing Clareity Direct Connections offers another resource to improve the accuracy and quality of listings on Homes.com, while providing MLSs and brokers a user-friendly way to opt in to display their listings on Homes.com and Homes.com marketing products,” said Andy Woolley, vice president of industry development, in a statement.
Multiple MLSs are getting in line to deploy Clareity’s “easy button” to help brokers manage a tedious process, keep control of their data, and avoid disruption of the listings they are currently sending to Zillow via listing syndicator ListHub, Clareity said.
After some legal wrangling, syndication agreements between ListHub and Zillow Group subsidiaries Zillow and Trulia are set to expire April 7.