From Houston RealNews:
The Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) may be a whisker away from providing listings data to real estate valuation site Zillow.com.
HAR Chairman Rob Cook released a statement today:
“Zillow receives four million visitors per month so we would certainly like to have our listings on the site…”
HAR already provides its listings to Realtor.com, Google [as noted in this HRN report], Homes.com and more.
So releasing them to Zillow would not be entirely unique.
If RE/Max and Keller Williams make deals with Zillow, they will have half of the MLS, nationwide, in two strokes of the pen. We are as excited as we are about the advent of FBS Systems’ flexmls system in Phoenix because Realtors on the ground need to deliver a convincing value proposition about searching for homes on our sites, rather than on national listing.bots.
Technorati Tags: disintermediation, technology, real estate, real estate marketing, Zillow.com
Sean M. Broderick, CCIM says:
Maybe I’m missing something here, but what’s to stop Zillow, Google, et al from taking customer listings directly from the homeowners (I know they do already) on a much larger marketing scale and making the local MLS systems irrelevant. The more these local boards feed data to technology players, the more nails they’re supplying for their coffins.. IMO..
October 10, 2007 — 11:35 am
Michael Wurzer says:
This development validates a lot of what I’ve been saying on the FBS Blog about aggregating listings, namely that the genius of the MLS has nothing to do with technology and everything to do with the little bit of cooperation the MLS maintains among competitors. Zillow or Google or Trulia can’t get the critical mass of listings on their own, because competitors won’t, en masse, go to any one site or all sites together. Instead, they’ll choose different sites to gain a competitive advantage. The MLS, in contrast, is able to create enough common ground to allow for comprehensive aggregation among competitors and HAR is again leading the way in working with their brokers to distribute the listing data far and wide. I’ve long advised MLSs not to hold back on distributing listing data (after all, Google’s mission, unlikely to be denied, is to collect the world’s information) to any site willing to agree to the terms of the license the MLS and brokers require to continue the cooperation necessary to sustain the aggregation. If HAR is about to strike a deal with Zillow, it would be tacit acknowledgment that Zillow can’t aggregate the data without brokers and the MLS and that there are acceptable terms on which an MLS will syndicate data. What will be even more interesting is to watch the traffic of HAR.com, Zillow.com and Google.com for listings to see where the bulk of the traffic ends up.
October 10, 2007 — 12:41 pm
andrew says:
Well, zillow made a deal with our MLS (MLSPIN – PRIVATE COMPANY) which is the most advanced MLS in the country. They are willing to partner with everyone and the list keeps growing. They partner with all the major sites as well as little ones. We get noticed every few months about new third party partners.
October 10, 2007 — 1:48 pm
Benn says:
My prediction is Zillow Real Estate is coming to a city near you- Hi, My name is Joe, Zillow Agent. I give it a year.
October 10, 2007 — 4:51 pm
Red Wagon Jay says:
Zillow raised 57 million in venture capital…I wonder what they plan to do next?
October 10, 2007 — 6:22 pm
Benn says:
Let me clarify. I predict Zillow Real Estate w/o the need for MLS. I do not know why this is so insane. Under current state laws, the local board is not required in most states. Rather than MLS, simply List on Zillow. Zillow could actually pay agents for marketing the property on Zillow, and re-coop the loss on the transaction side. Simply make Zestimate a buyer tool, and bingo- no need for boards and you have an alternative… They certainly have the cash to pull it off.
October 10, 2007 — 10:44 pm
Jeffrey Owen says:
Wow. Are they going to provide the simple consu,mer information or the more important Realtor info?
With all the foreclosures make sure you guys get good home inspections. If they did not pay the mortgage what else did they not pay!
Jeffrey Owen
Owner/Chief Home Inspector
IonHomeInspection.com
Houston, The Woodlands, Katy, Sugar Land
October 12, 2007 — 5:04 pm
Frankly says:
They got Remax!
Shortly they will have the entire MLS, and then they can sell it back to us. Yeah!
Brilliant of them. At some point they will reach a tipping point and the Realtor mantra will become: “If you can’t beat ’em…”
Frank Borges LL0SA FranklyRealty.com
November 13, 2007 — 12:52 am
David G from Zillow.com says:
Frankly, it’s David from Zillow;
There’s no cost for brokers (and agents) to post listings on Zillow. Those listings can include links to your website or virtual tour, 50 photo’s, your contact details etc. etc. There is no cost to you if you are contacted by a client via Zillow.
We’ll gladly sell you advertising on the site but we don’t sell the leads that result from your free listings.
November 13, 2007 — 9:12 am