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A Local Board of Realtors® Just Gave More Power To Zillow, Trulia, etc., Over It's Own Members?

Have you heard about the Indianapolis board of Realtors® decision to require their members to not allow Google to index their IDX listings (with the exception of the agent's personal listings of course)?

I wonder if this policy were to spread nation wide, how this would affect Zillow, Trulia, etc. Just today we received a listing for a property in Country Ridge. I did a search for 'country ridge richland wa' and noticed Zillow, realestate.com, etc., ranking for their property listings.

My guess is, if real estate agents were not able to index their website's IDX feeds then these national power houses would get even more powerful. As they (Zillow, etc.) would be the only websites indexing agent's listings. :(

•:*¨¨*:• Colleen Lane •:*¨¨*:•
My ActiveRain Blog / My Localism Blog | ColleenLane.com

I am the Realtor® that makes things move in The Lane Real Estate Team, while my husband Joe is the dude that provides the marketing that gives me the great clients I have. My sole purpose in life is to serve God, family, and clients. Joe's sole purpose in life is to serve God, me, and family (and ski). We have five children, all at home, all ours. We've been happily married for 23 years, and Joe has forgotten the anniversary almost all of those years! We service the Tri Cities Washington real estate market to include Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco, Washington. Visit our latest listing at West Richland Homes For Sale.

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Posted by Colleen Lane (& Joe!) •:*¨¨*:• SemperFidelis •:*¨¨*:• on 05/06/2009 07:45 PM

Comments (56)

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56 Comments on A Local Board of Realtors® Just Gave More Power To Zillow, Trulia, etc., Over It's Own Members?

MAY

I was going to write a post about this here, but after following the blog/comments on AgentGenius and tweets all day my head hurts even thinking about this. I agree with many commentors on the AG - this is going backwards in time. People want information, we need to do the best marketing we can to our sellers and the more places the listing shows the better (of course with the IDX information of the listing office on it). We are co-operating! If an agent doesn't want to co-op then it is their choice. I need to go get some ibuprofen. ~Rita

Colleen, thanks for posting. Apparently I've been totally out of the loop on this one. I wasn't even aware of this stipulation. Looks like I need to go back to my IDX agreement and read it over a time or two. Thanks again~

~Chanda (no 'r') :)

My biggest concern is the power this will give the big listing houses. Trulia, Zillow, etc., have got to be salivating over this development!

Ok the word needs to get out on this one.

So I encourage EVERYONE to go to Colleen's link and read the tread on Agent Genius about what happened to Paula and her Indy Board and how NAR actually agreed with it.

Some boards are crazy. Information is the key to getting clients. Those who share the information will survive

I think that we as a professional organization at the National, State and local levels need to refocus. It seems that some boards are enticed by monetary gain.

This seems not in the best interest of all us agents. thanks for the post.

as a total side note........do you guys ever write posts about canyon ridge? You should be able to rank first for the search term 'canyon ridge richland wa' rather easily if you wrote a few posts for that area. That's the epitome of hyper local.....

This is absolutely crazy if the board blocks their own agents from allowing them to expose the listings to the search engines. The reason for this is agents in that market that don't know what they are doing. They see their listings coming up on Google on someone elses site and they complain. This is helping them get their listings sold yet they are so antiquated they can't see this.

In the NWMLS a person can opt to not have their listings shared on the internet and then they don't go out. Again, crazy if you ask me, but that's a way they allow you to kill the hopes of your listing selling on your own accord......this move by the Indianapolis Board of Realtors is so short sighted it's not even funny!

If I was a member of that board I would be screaming bloody murder right now. Of course the dinosaurs were screaming it to begin with which is what got the board in this position.

Wow it seems totally in the dark ages. And what in heavens name were they thinking? That is so not the wave of the future for clients best interests. They don't want to be spoon fed by only the big guys/gals. thanks for alerting us all. We need to be vigilante in our states.

And Bob thanks for the tip on areas. I learn so much every day on the rain.

Yup, just did Bob Stewart! Just blogged about Country Ridge! We are into the hyperlocal thing. We'll see if it overtakes Zillow's listings. ;)

Regarding indexing IDX listings. I can see this thing taking hold nationally as the NAR is supporting the Indianapolis board's decision. I can see Trulia, Zillow, etc., knocking on NAR's door wanting their place in the search engines at our expense. Unfortunately, there are too many naive real estate agents out there oblivious to the storm approaching.

I don't see how they can enforce this but NAR seems to be working against us.

I just commented over at AgentGenius and decided to see if AR was all over this yet. I couldn't agree more with what you said Joe. We are clearly being led by some over paid and under worked hair brains at NAR.

This is not good at all... Wonder what they were thinking

It seems like they need to be educated about what is in the best interests of their members in allowing them to market their listings.

Realtors work hard for their money.

Between the NAR and local RE boards, they collect amlost half a billion dollars from 1.3 million Realtors (current membership?) to create a seller-serving Realtor Network. Aside from training, what do local Baord of Realtors do anyway? And they do charge for training too.

Buyers needed to be empowered. Zillow and Craigslist are bringing efficiencies to the real estate business. According to California Association of Realtors, the usage of Criagslist among sellers (yes sellers) went from 14% in 2007 to 56% in 2008; a 400% increase. FSBO's Are Nuts...Craigslist is Their Enemy!!!

The NAR, local Board of Realtors and MLSs have no clue how to deal with the Googlemania. They are trying where RIAA failed.

Resistence is futile...Newspaperization of the real estate brokerage business is in progress...that's all.

When Realtors post their individual listings and Zillow and Trulia index them, then we don't need MLSs anymore. Hundreds of millions of dollars in MLS dues would be saved by Realtors.

Realtors should not be trying to protect the oligapolies which will be no more. Realtors MUST upgrade themselves to the broker-level in short period of time so that they are able to act independently as brokerages fail in droves.

Colleen,

I am astounded that you have not kept up with your own local MLS's rules and regulations. Perhaps you should go to Paragon and view the rules as suggested by the MLS article in today's RAP sheet that you should have received and read.

This discussion does NOT belong here and I'm disappointed that Active Rain even allowed this. If you have concerns about MLS rules and regulations--take it up with your local MLS.

By the way, in Tri-Cities, we have a local ASSOCIATION (not a Board) and we have a local MLS. Two different entities. Our MLS will provide you an explanation if you're open to listening. I know because I attended several MLS meetings when this issue was being addressed in 2005.

It's very disappointing that so many REALTORS across the country have not taken the time to look at WHY this rules exists and ask questions. Instead, many are jumping to incredibly incorrect conclusions. This all started from an article on Agent Genius today from a broker that should know her local MLS rules, too.

Let's put this one to rest and allow everyone to get a little more perspective!

MAY

Interesting situation and especially the comments. There seems to be a differing opinion about what is going on. We will follow this one to see how it proceeds. Thanks for providing the information.

Mary

@Marchell - Joe and Colleen are talking about an issue that is taking place in Indianapolis not Washington. Does that change your viewpoint any?

Although this is a local issue right now - it has the potential to be a serious issue for MLS boards and committees across the country if this basic idea can not be conveyed. Search engines are not scraping IDX data, they index it and provide a direct link to the source of the information.

I am very glad to see that Active Rain made this a featured story because it is important to everyone who has a listing/IDX feed that allows individual listings to be indexed.

Marchell Mascheck- it is your comment that is truly dissappointing - you didn't even examine the subject matter being discussed before casting stones and getting on your soap box.

The rule (That we are ALL well aware of) is according to Cliff Niersbach at NAR and your own NAR IDX policy

"the NAR policy requires that participants displaying other particpants' listings on their websites make reasonable efforts to prevent scraping."

This has NEVER (in policy history) until now ever even attempted to be applied to search engines as they are NOT scraper sites - that (as many folks aptly put it) is asinine.

But now because some broker decided he wanted to kick up a fuss and demand that scraper sites and search engines are the same thing - he managed to get his board MIBOR to agree with him, they consequently took their one side of the story to NAR, who hastily also agreed.

If you read the comments comming out from NAR now, they readily admit that it does bear extensive further review.

I am one of (if not THE) largest "custom IDX" vendor in the world today - we are certainly are aware of (and have always abided by) all board rules and regulations including our responsibility to be aware of and abide by NAR IDX directives.

Fact of the matter is MIBOR then NAR and now YOU have gotten it wrong. sorry.

Welcome to the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors!

I am not sure how this is working in the best interest of our clients?

- Harrison Painter

I always find it completely amazing when a local board makes/takes the time to make an issue out of something that has nothing to do with truly protecting the consumer... or their members.

Making me weak...

NAR needs to focus on consumer service and empowerment and Realtor skill and knowledge.

The genie of information is out of the bottle, and we will all suffer at this crude attempt to partially stuff it back in.

Colleen - Thanks for bringing awareness to the situation we are facing in Indianapolis. This has much broader implications than many realize or are willing to believe could happen.

Marchelle - the point was obviously missed and this is exactly the type of reaction we receive from our board. I'm right, your wrong, shame on you.

BTW - I am not the broker, but I do know the MLS rules. It is not the rules I necessarily disagree with, it is the interpretation by both MIBOR and NAR.

Harrison - Thanks for the support from a local Broker! It's obviously not about what's best for the client -

I find this ruling by your local board and by NAR to be a complete double speak, unless of course they are trying to encourage Dual Agency, promoting sites that are paid and promoting lead generation companies. IS that what we pay so many thousand of dollars of dues for? Commerical sites to be able to give to the consumer what we the Specialist and Experts in the field of Real Estate as Realtors, can not?

Colleen - I joined the comments late last night after thinking about things all day (I had read Benn's tip off that there was something "big" coming the night before). What puzzles me the most is that the rules that everyone keeps touting were written in 2005. Okay, I understand that rules can't be written every 5 seconds to keep up with technology's ever growing changes, but if there is a problem and the rules are from 4 years ago and perhaps they don't cover the issue quite the way they should, shouldn't we (NAR) look at the issue and talk it over and then go for a decision? It just seems that the quick nod of the head from NAR caused this uproar. I can imagine NAR is frustrated by its membership so quickly and happily passing judgement on them, but perhaps it's a sign of a deeper issue. This isn't the first time NAR has been outright attacked by a vocal group from its membership. And it won't be the last...you'll never please all of us at once, but perhaps we need to look at how decisions are made and rules implemented. If we're going to make rules regarding technology and let them sit around for 4 years before changing them, we're not going to fair very well (in my opinion).

Cheers to Paula for speaking her mind. My opinion is that whether she is right or wrong (and its clear which I think she is), she deserves credit for calling attention to something she neither liked not thought was right. Just because you're a member of NAR, doesn't mean you can't question their methods and/or policies. I think a bit of questioning goes a long way and I'm glad to see that there are those out there that won't just shrug their shoulders and say, "that's just the way it is I suppose." Nice one, Paula - I liked you already, but now I think very highly of you.

Marchell Mascheck wrote: "This discussion does NOT belong here and I'm disappointed that Active Rain even allowed this. If you have concerns about MLS rules and regulations--take it up with your local MLS."

Wow. I had to read that comment 3 or 4 times. I am stunned.

WHY shouldn't this be discussed in the open? Do you understand the potential implications of this boards decision, and the NAR's support of it?

There was NOTHING in the IDX policy that made the ridiculous comparison of Google to a scraper site until some broker in MIBOR went on a witch hunt, and the clueless at both MIBOR and NAR -- ADDED AN INTERPRETATION that is uttely asinine.

This is interesting, I wasn't aware that this was going on.

The verdict is still out for me on whether Zillow is relevant.

On another note, to piggy back on Jay & Francy Thompson, why shouldn't we be having this debate on AR?

This old-school idea of holding on to our listing information, rather than sharing, is exactly what will bring the death of the MLS as more competing products develop. It's no different than the agents who refuse to embrace internet marketing. Learn and adapt or slip deep into obscurity!

I just don't see how this could benefit local agents. Hopefully I'm wrong, but it appears as if the local board is working against its members.

In Oklahoma we call that hiding your light under a bushel basket. As a former Board member of the Oklahoma City MLS I have seen lots of behind the scenes fights about where to draw the line on the control of data, but what you describe is ridiculous in 2009. I would also tell you that many Realtors just like to rant but never understand that they are like stockholders in a corporation since they are PAYING for the system. Sounds like you have some Board memebrs that would like to go back to the old days of releasing listings every two weeks in books and getting off that pesky internet. Get together, organize, and believe that you can make a difference. Five years ago a group in OKC did just that, created a write in candiate list for the realtor Board, and got in people who believed in progress, and wanted more money to be spent on more benefits for those who pay for the for profit MLS system. We now have Tempo Five on marketLynx, free virtual tours that go to multiple sites, economic and demographic information equal and better than eneighborhoods, automatic submission of your listings to sites you want them to go to, and finally a new public site that will have SEO to those minor companies like Google. To paraphrase Sean Connery in a movie, a revolution is a good thing every once in awhile.

I would have liked to hear your perspective Marchell, but all you did was tell us why we should not listen to someone elses perspective.

I often feel that the NAR, CAR, and the local Board feel we work for them and not the other way around. I have to compete for traffic with Realtor.com for client traffic, which they then sell. I wish I could allow my clients access to a full spread of national listings that easy and make the profit.

Isn't it Ironic... my theme for the day, it seems...

The local board is upset that Google is "scraping" the agent's site, and at the same time, they are sending the same information to Zillow and Trulia and who know who else... so that it can be "scraped" from there. Shouldn't the same rules apply to the feed going to Truillow? They aren't taking reasonable precautions over their information being scraped...

Marchell Mascheck,

I feel a response to your comment is necessary, as you've missed the point and misunderstood my intentions. I hope you are still subscribed to this thread.

For one, I (Joe) wrote the blog entry, not Colleen. Colleen is very much aware of our area's rules and regulations. In fact, Colleen is on our Association's Grievance Committee. Also, this blog entry was not directed at our area's MLS, Associaton, and/or Board of Realtors®.

In principle, my blog entry is about the short sightedness of the Indianopolis Board and the NAR's support of Indianapolis' decision. In reading the comments in this thread, there are many issues at stake. The issue I chose to take on is how the decision to not allow a real estate agent to permit Google to index their IDX feed only serves to weaken the real estate agent at the most basic level, while strengthening our competition for lead generation (happy new clients!) by allowing ONLY third party vendors like HomeGain, Trulia, etc. to index the same property listings.

There are other issues at stake, however, you'll need to read the comments and links I provided in the original post.

Joe Lane :)

Lane Bailey,

EXACTLY my sentiments! ~ Joe ;)

It is precisely the attitude of MIBOR (the Indianopolis MLS Board), Marchell Mascheck, and NAR that is leading people to believe that all they really need is an account on Trulia, Zillow, Craigs List or some lame FSBO site to successfully buy and sell property on their own. Shame on all of them for failing to adapt to the new world of the Internet and the need for consumers to access information about available homes for sale, as well as sellers' desire to advertise their listing in as many places as possible. This ruling is a joke that would do nothing but empower real scraper sites and give them an unprecedented opportunity to cash in. MIBOR wants to control data dispersion even if it hurts consumers, let alone Realtors and brokers. What a disgrace that they do not understand who puts food on their table and what serves consumers best. For shame!!!

My MLS is a non-Realtor MLS so hopefully they won't follow suit. We have our annual meeting in a couple of weeks. I'll have to see if this issue comes up.

I must had missed that email from the board, I was looking for this announcement.....thanks for the reminder.....

Bettina

can I add something to this...I just found out that NAR told MIBOR, that there are correct and for them to order then new ruling.

Here is another posting and I called Paula and her broker and asked her about that.

http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/blogs/morgan-carey/7732/show/

Bettina

As a real estate in Manhattan we are not members of NAR so its interesting to see what goes on. We don't have a MLS here either. Its quite interesting to hear how regulations are taking place with the internet and local MLS areas.

Joe - Nice Post, it never ceases to amaze me how the ridiculous few screw so many things up for the majority. It seems to me that most People/Boards/Committees will agree with a persistent whiner just to shut them up, since they know they will make a BIG LOUD STINK, and rarely give up, until they have satisfied their ego's.

Totally unrelated topic, but shows the "Whining Few" point very well: We used to go to a drive in Theater in Everett WA all the time, and for MANY MANY years Trucks and SUV's were allowed in the front row, and several back rows. Then all of the sudden NO MORE Trucks and SUV's in the front row, WHY??? because some belligerent whiner complained over and over again... 1 person!!! yet over 50% of the vehicles at the theater were Trucks and SUV's??? And they did not block the view of any rows behind them, because the screen is so far above the rows that it is impossible to block the next rows view with anything short of Bigfoot on those 10ft tall tires. Of course then, all the truck and SUV owners complained, but it didn't matter, because the theater had already changed it's policy for this Whiner, so now it felt that it had to defend it's decision no matter what. That really pisses me off, if you couldn't tell... and I know of a lot of situations where the Loud few wreck it for the Silent majority.

What ever happened to VOTING on an idea before it is changed, it can save a lot of headaches... as long as you are not using Florida's voting machines, that is :)

Wow, I haven't gotten that far up on my soapbox for a while :)

NAR has agreed to consider this issue and has offered to transport Jay Thompson and Paula Henry to DC to act as spokespeople for us in this matter. According to Todd Carpenter, Social Media Manager for NAR, this issue will not be the primary focus of the committee meeting they will be attending; an issue regarding short sales has that distinction. However, we think Jay and paula will represent us ably in the time they're allotted. Good luck, Jay & Paula!

We have an opt out or opt in policy. They have to sign a form giving full permission for their listing to be indexed plus priveliges (allow the address to be seen.) It's an interesting concept. I could understand REO companies NOT want a vacant foreclosed property to have the address spewn about the web. Owner occupied seller - different story!

Seconding Jay, Francy, Mark and others, we should be having all kinds of discussions here. I am sure that some of our clients are monitoring us here, and this is NOT one of the "Members Only" posts. :)

I am so glad I don't hang my license in Indiana! I am proud of our Assn. and our MLS service.

Collen & Joe,

In my haste to comment, I failed to recognize in writing your take on this. I apologize for leaving that out and not completing my thoughts to be more understandable. I should never shorten a rant at the end of a busy day. Again, I am sorry for that!

So many agents out there are only in this for themselves and don't realize what we, as REATLORS, can do as a group. We succeed together! (Aren't you glad we're not in a dog-eat-dog market?) One point that many of those same agents miss is that if their MLS is a REALTOR MLS, then they have adopted the NAR rules. When you read through the comments here and the ones on AgentGenius, you realize how many REALTORS are detached from their Association and their MLS. Very sad. These agents usually want to succeed in real estate and want everyone else to fail. I still don't get how agents can think that everyone is their competition when transactions are referred to as 'cooperating'! Does Zillow do that? They are in it only for themselves.

Anyway, I still don't think this discussion should be here. It's the wrong venue and I don't mean to offend you or anyone else on this thread. A lot of REALTORS and agents should be more educated and much more open minded when they are talking about an issue that they believe hurts their business while they have no consideration of the 1.2 million REALTORS whom the issue helps. There is not an easy nor unconfrontational way of saying any of this. Which is why I prefer this to be a proviate REALTOR discussion. Personal opinion.

I'm glad to see that my comments and yours have invoked much discussion, I just wish it were elsewhere.

MAY

The decision to not allow realtors to have their IDX listings indexed by Google by the Indianapolis board of Realtors® seems to be another one of those examples that the real estate industry kicks up every now and then just to see how much it can have the general public scratching their heads.

The general public have come to recognize Google as one of the most efficient ways of researching just about any topic you can think of. As our society has grown and developed we are constantly demanding that we get results quicker and quicker.

Pre internet, buyers would read through numerous magazines and classified ads trying to find a home that would match their basic requirements. If they were local, they could drive the neighborhoods, and narrow down their choices just be a cursory glance or a gut feeling about a property. The down side of using all this printed material was that a lot of the information was, by the very nature of the medium, out of date as soon as it was printed so a buyer could spends hours just driving around trying to narrow their choices down and find that the homes had already been sold.

With the advent of the Multiple Listing Service Realtors now could offer a valuable service of being able to show their buyers what was currently available through the listing books. Although not updated in real time, the MLS data allowed the buyers the opportunity to sit down with their Realtor, and review the information that had gleaned from the local magazines and classifieds.

With the advent of the internet, certain products and services were just made for online searching, and real estate was one of them. The ability to be able to look at homes with pictures and detailed information about the homes enabled the buyers to literally sit back and search from the comfort of their own home. As technology has developed buyers now have the ability to, in effect, tap into the MLS data, create their own searches, and do a lot of the leg work for themselves. Now they can actually present their realtor with a list of MLS #'s that they have found online and would like to see and the Realtor can then do the additional research and provide the useful professional knowledge the buyers have come to expect from using a Realtor.

This systems seems to have been working very well for the actuial people selling their homes through realtors, who at the end of the day use a realtor for their knowledge of the real-estate market, their ability to negotiate a good deal and perhaps most importantly, to the sellers, their ability market their home to the maximum effect possible!

Having the option to have your home marketed on high profile websites through organic rankings or traffic generated through the more traditional print ads can do nothing but please the seller. I'm sure if you were selling your home you want to see it being "advertised" in as many places as possible to attract as many potential buyers as possible.

As I understand it, the new requirement by the Indianapolis board of Realtors® would severely impact the listing agents ability to market their homes on "3rd party" realtor sites and give the lead generating sites the virtual monopoly on "advertising" all the listings in the local MLS.

It seems that the power that the realtor has left of providing detailed information from the database of their own organization is slowly being taken away and is in effect diluting the added value a realtor brings to the whole business of selling homes. Once that information is seen by the public to be only available from other 3rd party sources then another facet of the realtors ability to serve the public will have been removed from the Realtor.

In terms of the technical side of gathering data, scraping, and presenting the data on an independent realtors website I don't profess to fully understand the process but I do know limiting the ability of Realtors to allow their listings to appear on IDX sites will ultimately harm the real estate profession by stifling the ability of the individual agents to best serve the public in marketing their homes.

I think we should all remember that the general public is our customer and removing the ability to market their homes to best possible effect is doing a dis-service to everyone.

Gary Ashton,

Nashville, TN

Vendors and MLS Boards? Hmmm....say it ain't so.

MAY

Nice bunch of comments here Joe!

@Marchell - Just to clarify - this policy being implemented will reduce the number of co-ops and increase the number of dual agency or non-represented buyer situations. Some how that doesn't sound so great for the consumer public at large nor for the tech savvy agents that have taken great strides in representing the buyers in real estate transactions.

Listing agents that don't want their listings showing up on other sites (and perhaps getting indexed via search engines) should opt out of sharing the listings via IDX (it is on the listing agreement - be sure to disclose to your sellers that you don't want their property showing up in lots of places) - and then enter the property on your own site. Voila - problem solved - the listing agents that want to be greedy at the expense of their clients and their fellow co-op agents will have effectively stopped the other sites from getting indexed for their listings. The only purpose for IDX is for other agents to bring you buyers - if you don't want buyers for your clients, be sure to disclose that at your listing presentation.

As far as being the only site in town with the listing: I know many agents that have websites that know absolutely nothing about them and the sites can not be found in Google at all! They will never rank for searches for they are either too lazy or too uneducated on the subject to rank. It is to their benefit (and their sellers) for the properties to show up on ttech savvy agents websites and for those agents to bring them buyers! It is a win - win!

As for the technical side of this matter, I have shown that the Frameable IDX' can and do get crawled as well - http://www.mygulfcoastbeachteam.com/mibor-nar-grasp-internet-technology-works/

How would consumers be harmed because IDX listings wouldn't be indexed in Google? The IDX listings are still available on the agent's websites.

MAY

Confused Consumer, one of the answers was given above - if you go to only the listing agent's websites and want to view their listing, you will be in a Dual Agency realtionship. Most buyers prefer to have full Buyer Representation. Unless you are already working with another agent, you would probably call the listing agent to show you the property. Some believe in it and it is legal in some states. Many buyers don't understand this at all.

If you find the listing on Google through a huge portal such as Trulia or some other sites, there isn't always a guarantee that the listing is still active or updated. Why would you want to be searching outdated information when you can search an updated, local IDX?

Some of the sites you might land on are lead generating sites and could be providing you with a very new, inexperienced agent who needs to pay for their leads. That also might not be in your best interest.

Why waste your time searching any kind of national real estate portal for only part of the active MLS inventory in your area? Using a local real estate IDX search should provide you with the largest amount of accurate, up-to-date active listings only next to an automated search direct from the MLS set up by your local real estate agent.

The problem will be that many local sites will never have the chance of appearing in top spots on the search engines for you to even find. You'll only have the big portals and lead generating sites to choose from, at least on the first page. You should want local but few local sites will be able to compete if this new rule, or interpretation of an old, outdated rule, is adopted nationwide.

@ Judy Orr - My question didn't and doesn't pertain to any national real estate portals or lead generation sites. My question was, "How would consumers be harmed because IDX listings wouldn't be indexed in Google?". Preventing IDX listings from being indexed in Google will not harm consumers. An agent's personal listings can still be indexed in Google for consumers to find. IDX listings can still be displayed on cooperating broker's websites for consumers to find.

CC - I still feel it can harm consumers because once again, if only an agent's/brokerage's own listings will be indexed, then there is good reason to believe the consumer will start going to the listing agents. I am not alone in my feelings that a buyer should have their own representation and that dual agency is not the best thing. That is one way consumers can be harmed by only indexing a broker's listings instead of allowing indexing of all IDX listings on a site.

Keep in mind, with a large MLS not every IDX listing will be crawled and indexed on a small, non-authority local website. Depending on the power of each individual site, only some or even none of the IDX listings will be indexed.

As I mentioned above, consumers can also be harmed by the portals getting better search engine positions because a small, local website will find it even harder to compete. I do not believe it is in a consumer's best interest to use these kinds of portals for the reasons I already stated.

You're stating that you're not talking about portals, but this is definitely an issue of this. Local real estate websites have a difficult enough time competing with these behemoths. Yet in my opinion they do not provide all available listings and are not updated, confusing consumers.

I don't know how else to explain it. I can only service a certain number of listings at a time. I currently get called on many other listings on my IDX. I wouldn't get these calls, they would probably go to the listing agents. That would result in more dual agency transactions which I don't think is the best situation for either buyers or sellers.

When buyers call me on another agent's listings that appear on my IDX then I can give them full buyer representation.

I'm back from an appointment and had to finish my above comment quickly. This can also hurt the sellers that want their listings advertised wherever it is possible. I just showed a condo to a buyer that found it on my website, but it is listed by another brokerage. She is getting full representation and the seller is getting their condo shown. Good for both parties.

Many agents purchase a website, put their listings on it and do nothing else. Those sites are lost in cyberspace - probably never seen by anyone who doesn't have the exact url.

That means their listings are only getting syndicated via the IDX's of the other agents that spend the time and money to get their websites to the top of the search engines, thereby exposing those other broikerage's listings to the public. This is reciprocity at its best.

For those brokerages that just don't get it, they have the option to opt-out of IDX, at least with our MLS. Why they would want to is beyond me. My sellers want all the exposure possible. I want their listings to sell, and I prefer not to be a dual agent.

MAY

The issues that NAR creates for the members is going to force issues like what happened in Chicago years ago. I lived in Chicago in 2005 when Coldwell Banker, Koenig and Baird & Warner pulled their north shore offices out of MLSNI.

Five years ago we were discussing at industry conferences like RealTrends that because of technology today it was completely possible for companies to create aggregation sites for our own uses as real estate companies outside of the MLS.

It seemed this issue was headed in the right direction until now.

The absurdity is that NAR and the MLS' want to do anything but listen to their members.

JUN

I wonder how long local boards are going to be able to stay in business. Our brokerage has an intranet system where you enter the listing and it automatically goes out to about 10+ websites and posts it there. So what is the benefit from the local boards? Training? Support?

JUN

This is a sign of the time where the ones in charge of the program don't understand the program! As such they can do greater harm then good for the group they serve. This is why it is so important to make sure the right person, who is most qualified is elected for a position. Sadly our choices are limited sometimes and we have to do the best with what we have. Colleen it sound like you understand the system and need to get involved in the local board to improve issues.

It is my opionion the we have this same problem nation wide and even at the Federal level. An example it the current market condition have gotten worst not better after all that was done. We have wasted money with no results, now we are going to regulate our way out. When will we open our eyes ans see the light at the end of the tunnel.

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