Today I was reminded by one of my "pet peeves" in real estate.  So, the morning started off as usual, getting up a 6:30 AM.. getting the kids ready for school, re doing a science project for my son (Don't ask...), a quick breakfast, and checking my email before heading to my real estate business. 

Great! A flow of new leads and another new buyer wanting to see a home on the weekend. Wow, this house looks fimilar... Looking it up on the MLS, indeed it looks really fimiliar (This was an EXPIRED listing of mine, that was re listed by another agent). Congratulations to the agent for getting the price to market value, however, the new agent used my photos from the previous listing.

When I list a property, I spend a lot of time making sure the photos show the property in the best "light." On average, I take about 60 photos of each property and then put them through a program, such as Picasa, etc... The pictures are the first step in strategic and well thought out listing marketing plan.

So, when an agent uses my photos, this really bothers me. It amazes me, that more sellers do not question more agents about their ability to invest in taking better and professional photos. Hire a photographer if you can not do the job!

According to my local MLS board, it is a VIOLATION to use the photosof the property from the previous agent/broker.

Yes, I did send a very nice email to the agent in question, and stated that I will show your listing this weekend, however, you need to take your own photos, please...

Bob McTague, CNYAgent Realty Group

Give Me a Call @ 315-882-6610

Visit Our Website

It seems like every time I turn around, I am amazed to see that our real estate industry is being corrupted by those individuals that want to confuse the public even more.

Internet listings are under attack. Yes, the home listing is the gateway to more listings and buyer leads and it took almost 6 years for many of the major website portals and real estate agents to figure this out. But what is happening today is making some real estate agent very mad!

You see, with the ever growing popularity of 3rd party lead generation platforms, IDX, and other buyer initiated services, the war has begun on who can capture the lead the quickest and then provide that lead to the many ready and willing real estate agents who subscribe to these portals. Yes, it will only get worst as time goes on... The smart agents have already moved on to bigger and better systems and will let the agent fight it out for Internet market share.

Now on to Craigslist. Do you know what IDX stands for? INTERNET DATA EXCHANGE or commonly called "Broker Reciprocity."

This is the cooperation between real estate agents to facilitate the purchase and sale of real estate.

To protect the consumer?

Some agents are moving beyond the walls of an IDX solution, and posting listings on Craigslist, as if they were their own listings, and directing the link back to the agents IDX website.

Crafty yes, but is it ethical in the real estate agent community??

They are however complying with the rules of IDX and stating that the listing is "Courtesy of XYZ real estate"

Who wins and who loses? The consumer/seller get more exposure right?

Do you think there is a difference between direct posting to sites like craigslist v. a 3rd party IDX solution?

What if you listing was hi jacked and manually put on Craigslist by a fellow real estate agent in hopes of generating buyer leads from your listing?

Where does it stop?

Share your mind...