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The fear of Trulia

Ok, so now that I'm back from the NAR conference I can actually find some time to blog. I was pondering the following question on my flight down and thought that it would make a good post/question.

The real estate industry typically approaches new "real estate technology" companies with a lot of apprehension and often fear. Now I can't really blame them, the last five to ten years have produced a huge number of companies that have expoited exploited the real estate industry for a profit or have set out along the goal of disintermediating the industry. I believe agents are very correct in there feelings against the lead aggregation companies such as HomeGain, HouseValues and Lending Tree, and while I think the fear/anger against Zillow is probably a little overblown, I do see a lot of validity to the key points.

One company I'm still trying to understand the views of the industry on, is Trulia. Trulia works with brokers to aggregate listing data (not the full listings) in order to create a national real estate search. To view the full listing the viewer is directed back to the broker's site. They make money primarily off of allowing brokers to feature listings (which appear at the top of the search) and additional adsense advertising at the bottom of the page.

Most of the brokers I've talked to have a very positive view of Trulia (hey, it's free advertising), while the views among agents seem to be divided. Unlike many companies Trulia seems to be very transparent and upfront in their intentions, stating specifically on their site:

Brokers can opt in/out at any time.
They will not display the full listing but rather direct the consumer back to the brokers site.
They will not capture leads or personal contact information.

Trulia's FAQ

I also had the opportunity to talk with their CEO Pete Flint several weeks ago and left with a fairly positive impression about their overall approach to the industry. There was several times in the conversation when I brought up points and got the response, we couldn't do that, it would upset brokers. At least in my impression of things they are doing something that can be compared to a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. I would be much more apprehensive about something such as Google Base where there isn't as much transparency to the intentions. How many agents can you think of that wouldn't want their listings to show up in Googles search.

At the same time I can see the fear in that once Trulia has the listings of them changing their model. Even a sites like Realtor.com who is beholden to NAR seemed to go against their communicated intentions, once they had the listing data. Anyways I want to get agents views on Trulia whether they think they are providing a very benificial service or our worried they are going to take over the industry. I know several people from Trulia frequent ActiveRain so it will be interesting to hear their responses too.

Posted by Matt Heaton on 11/15/2006 12:04 AM

Comments (32)

trulia, real estate listings, real estate industry, listing aggregators

32 Comments on The fear of Trulia

NOV

2006

As an addition to your post, Robert Scoble just posted two video interviews he did with Trulia. I just posted them on our forums five minutes ago and saw your post come through on my Reader. Here they are for other interested parties:

Scobleizer Post - Robert Scoble's post regarding the two Trulia videos, plus a few other items.

Direct Link to the Video Pages on the Scoble Show:

A Look Inside Trulia

A Demo of Trulia

- Kristina

Tried to hear the video but had to load something to what I already have loaded on my computer.

Trulia, Right now we have enough information highways to drive down.

I've been using Homegain since they started. Its useful to me, and I like the fact they have Brokers at the company in every state they operate in. I have more respect for Homegain because of this.

The only reason to fear these Internet companies is if we truly believe that our only value-add is access to information. If that's the case -- and sadly there are many who believe it -- then it's time to leave the business. Trulia, Google, Yahoo, etc. -- all of them are significantly better at online real estate search than most industry sites, and that's ok. The folks who <i>should</i> be worried about them are the newspapers. Why should I spend several hundred bucks a week advertising in my local paper when for much less, I get much more focussed, trackable attention online?

I am still skeptical but not fully against. Like in the post, I have seen big companies do the "features listings here" and then sell back leads which enahnces my skeptism. It is hard for me to trust right now on the net.

I signed up too see how our listings could be featured but i am tired and must go to work tomorrow :P

Matt - I also appreciate what appears to be some degree of concern for brokers. They've done an admirable job at ranking well, and people are using their platform. Certainly their approach will garner more support than other similar sites. But they still don't address the gaps that AR will no doubt fill.

My company started putting our listings on Trulia last month. We are on many websites to expose our listings. I think they crawl our website to get the data. On our website we have current listings and recently sold. I guess there was a glitch at first and they picked up the sold listings as well.

I didn't know we were on Trulia but I started getting calls on properties I sold last year. I always ask the customer where they found the listing. The first caller said she liked this particular building so she did a google search of the address. I was suprised she was calling my sold listing when there were current listings with other brokers.

She never mentioned Trulia. She called me because the price was lower than the current listings. It looks like I will be selling her a new apartment and listing her old apartment. The next day the President of my company sent an email about the glitch and said to apologize to callers. It was a pretty good glitch.

As long as these websites can help expose listings and give the listing agents contact info. I think they are great. But if they change their business model to capture leads and sell to another agent then they would be useless.

Our data and content will make them relevant and drive traffic to the listing agent. I have concerns about some sites once they get the data that is all they need to get visitors like newspapers have editorial and advertising.

Since listing data is timely anyway it's not content they can use for ever. I look at them the same way as The NYTimes.com which has been the best place so far for Manhattan listings.

I still am fairly nervous about all of these un-regulated companies (non-licensed) advertising homes... Where are the checks and balances....

Bill,

What do you mean abut non-licensed companies advertising homes? Are you talking about the Trulia platform? or people that are adding lists to it?

As a new agent, in a small independent office with a lot of gray-beards that have yet to (and probably will never) wake-up to the technology -- I'm loving these cheap and nice places that I can list their homes and have the chance to pick-up buyers off these deals.

Personally, I really like how Trulia is going about its design...

And Kevin - I say AMEN! Ninety-nine percent of the people on this site have NOTHING to worry about when it comes to these sites. It's people like the gray-beards in my office that have NO IDEA that Zillow and these other sites exist - that are still making outdated information based listing presentations ... and wondering why they aren't getting a response.

I agree with Kevin Boer, I think that Real Estate 2.0 is going to push agents to find new and creative ways to add value to the consumer. With the release of MLS info to the general public, that old time keepsake is now gone and agents must find a way to change their business models to provide other benefits, besides the "sacred mls."

Scott

Here's one of the huge problems with sites like Trulia; they try to be all things to all people.

For example, here's a listing on Trulia I just pulled at random from my town, 3300 Ocoee Trail, which is a nice, blue collar neighborhood, above average for the area.

This home is listed for $164,900 and from what I see is probably worth it.

Here's what Trulia's valuation says about it:

List price for this home:	$164,900
Avg. list price for similar homes:	$108,415
Avg. list price for 37917:	$96,583

Do you think that might encourage the average buyer surfing for homes to conclude this home is overpriced and either pass it by or make some ridiculous offer on it???

I also did the "Knoxville home values compare homes for sale and recently sold homes" option to see what happened.

I got a huge list of properties close to Ocoee Trail but most of them were not valid comparables for the subject property.

My point is buying and selling real estate is not a "do it yourself" activity, there is simple too much at stake for a novice to try to arrive at their own valuation from this obviously flawed information.

That's one of many reasons my listings won't be appearing on Trulia or anthing similar.

And while my beard shows some gray (when I don't shave ;-) ) ; I've been doing business successfully (that means I make money doing it) on the www since about 1994.

Still on the fence about Trulia. Like you stated, they could change the way they do things at any time. When middle men get involved in an industry, its generally the customer that loses. -Charles

My broker has been with Trulia for some time now. I attended a class held by one of the President's of our Brokerage a few weeks ago and he was genuinely pleased with Trulia. We had a discussion about it in class and he was very positive. I think their approach is what won my Company over. Like anything else, there are good models and bad ones, and since exposure is a goal for all brokerages, we need to support the best ones?

My company feeds our listings to trulia and I'm very happy to see my listing posted that leads back to me. However, I find all sold info is always dated on web sites - it's at least 30 days behind and they don't compare apples to apples. The consumer, I don't think understand this and has a false sense that he has researched and knows the market.

Jim seems to make sense about consumers not having correct information. This could lead to greater problems affecting the agent-client relationship.

-James

Trulia is the next Yahoo it`s only a matter of time. I pray they don`t wind up like Yahoo though!

Hey Matt and Activerainers,

This is Pete from Trulia.com. This is my first post on Activerain - but I've been following its huge success over the last few months, and often spend hours reading and learning from the community. Thanks again everyone for your fantastic support, it means a huge amount to the entire team to hear the encouraging words about the service.

While I can't say for certain why Trulia has been embraced by many agents and brokers who typically reject technology companies, I think one of the key reasons has been our keenness to listen and learn and that we don't for a minute think we have all the answers. Prior to launch, we spent almost 18 months speaking to some of the most senior people in the Industry as well as dozens of local agents across the US. The service has grown and evolved considerably since then as we have incorporated feedback from the thousands of emails that we have received about ideas on how to improve the website and model. We truly believe that real estate agents and brokers are the most important part of the real estate puzzle today and in the future; we want Trulia to help them as much as we want it to help consumers, and we think you can do both. While we don't think our service is perfect (that's why were still in Beta) we're working on correcting any problems, enhancing the experience and building new products – if you or your readers have any suggestions, please let us know.

Matt, I echo a take away you gave me when we met that the secret to your popularity is listening to what your users want and reacting, we feel passionately about the Industry and are here to try and make a significant positive impact. We think we can do it and are excited to be given the opportunity by the many thousands of agents and brokers out there that support us.

Pete

Hey Pete, thanks for stopping by and chiming in on the conversation. I think the fact that so many brokers are buying in to Trulia shows that you guys have the right approach to the industry.

NOV

2006

Creating the "feed to Trulia, at least for us, has been the difficult part. We would like to feed direct yet, after a few attempts and speaking with Trulia, seems to be an impossibility. I would like some input from others with regards to this. Is there and "easier way" to create an office listing feed? We are pretty tech savvy yet, this one seems to be difficult for us to grasp. For now, we just add the information to sites that feed to Trulia...Easy enough but would like a more direct approach.

As for fear of Trulia.....I had heard that Trulia is a part of Prudential California....OK with me but if Trulia is, in some way affiliated, their ultimate goal my be suspect.

For now....Trulia seems to be what consumers are looking for. An easy to use tool that is free, with good content and contains valuable tools. It will be interesting to watch the progress and the inevitable changes.

The comments with regards to price discrepancies when comparing to other homes is going to happen. Zillow is a great TOOL, in my humble opinion, for consumers to research property values etc. All of these are simply TOOLS. The consumer or agent that uses them must realize that they provide valuable information that their are too many variables that will effect the valuation tools on any site. Based on that, there will be no definitive and 100% valuation tool ever available. Some will still use the information, without validation, and be dangerous to themselves...or others. Use your tools wisely and they will help you.

We, as professionals, must know all of the tools available on the web, learn them inside and out. Go where your clients will certainly be looking and become knowledgeable. Reject these tools and you will alienate yourself from the very consumers that drive your future business.

Christopher Walker

Mission Grove Realty

www.missiongrove.com

I am an avid advocate of the new real estate website. Trulia, Zillow, PropertyShark, etc are filling some large gaps in the real estate industry.

If you are a Broker, with great listings, in a great neighborhood, but only have one office and a small budget you cannot compete with the $10,000's/month that large brokers are spending online. By placing your listings with companies like trulia, you are reaching a far greater audience than you would if you hoarded the listings on your site only.

As the writer above posted, the "grey beards" of the industry LOVE control of information. However, they have not realized how easy the consumer can get that information. The more tech-savvy agent is willing to give the consumer what they want - information in a timely manner, and they will lead the next gen real estate broker.

Trulia.com, Propertyshark.com, local real estate blogs like curbed.com and Brownstoner.com (in nyc) are the answers for an industry that still doesn't know the question....

Where is the business going?

Once Trulia and Zillow nail their algorithims, and accurately account for discrepancies that occur in markets like NYC, where a 18 million home and a 800,000 home are 60 feet apart - they will really strike gold.

If you're a broker in an MLS, you can agree that our data is quite "dated", my MLS has listings on it that have been sold for months - yet they still have them up on their site wasting time and phone calls.

Trulia even manages to fix that problem by removing duplicates and old listings from their database.

My company uses Trulia, Craigslist, point2agent, postlets and many more to advertise all of our listings. We are the market leader in the borough and have over 2M hits a month, from 250K unique visitors.

nuff' said.

I am the director of e-business for Fillmore Real Estate in brooklyn, NY. Fillmore is NYC's larget PRIVATELY owned brokerage with over 20 offices and 500 agents serving the Borough's of Brooklyn and Staten Island.

NOV

2006

Matt,

Our brokerage also has it's listings on Trulia, but unlike MaryAnn Morrar who said "My company feeds our listings to trulia and I'm very happy to see my listing posted that leads back to me." , our broker doesn't lead back to the listing agent.

Instead it leads back to the Relocation Dept. of the brokerage which in turn assigns those leads to an agent for a 30% refferal fee which is on any transaction that buyer ever makes with the brokerage, any of that buyer's family, or co-workers.

I can see why brokers would love it, and agents would not.

David, yeah I kinda figured that might be a reason many agents would be a little more apprehensive. Though I don't get the fact that most broker sites refer the possible client back to the listing agent. The listing agent will get benefit either way if their listing is sold and it brings up a lot of possible "double dipping" and conflicts of interest.

NOV

2006

I think the bigger strategic question that agents/brokers need to ask themselves is why would they want consumers going to any other website except their own?

As an agent, consumers can search the entire local MLS on my site, as well as research "legitimate" and valuable neighborhood information. I have invested a lot of time and effort in strategic SEO and marketing efforts on and offline to drive people to my site as the only place they need to go for real estate information in my local area and have been extremely successful at finding and closing leads from my website.

The majority of cosumers to my (or any) site start their real estate search with a keyword on Google or Yahoo!. It used to be that for a mjaority of local real estate keyword searches on Google, my site and other good agents/broker sites would show up near the top. Now for many local real estate searches on Google the results are littered with 3rd party pages (Trulia, Homegain, Realtor.com, etc...). In our market, it looks like Trulia only has about 11% of the total listings (and 2 out of the 10 I looked at say "active", but are really "pending"). Homegain doesn't have any useful information except for a form to fill out.

Perhaps the experience is different in other markets. But as a progressive Realtor who fully understands the use of technology and the true value of the "next generation Realtor", I can't see how Trulia (or any 3rd party aggregator) is useful to a consumer or to me. From my experience, it's just been basic disintermediation.

Christopher, yeah, for me, the feed's the sticky-wicket. I have created a semi-automated way to add new listings to my feed, but I still end up hand-coding for the most part. It's simple XML(start tag/end tag stuff) -- but it's still one more dumplin' to plop on an already overloaded platter.

Pete, if you're still reading, a basic input form on the Trulia web site so I could delegate the listing input job to the secretary would be a godsend for us little guys.

Hi Cheryl,

This is Pete from Trulia.com. Thanks for the comment. I agree that we could make the process of adding listings to our search results a little easier than we do right now. We'll definitely look into your suggestion and see if we can do it. In the meantime, thanks for the your patience and apologies if it is a little painful for you right now - thanks for the useful feedback!

Pete

Pete/Christopher/Cheryl -

"Creating the "feed to Trulia, at least for us, has been the difficult part."

We just released (to beta) a new blogging extension that allows you to blog about a property and also add data fields of a property through a Trulia form template. You kill two birds with one stone for this idea because your create your own direct search engine visability for your listings (in your blog) while also seamlessly integrating the data to Trulia.

As soon as you hit the save button on the blogpost, the Trulia integration feed is generated - 2 jobs done. If you'd like more information about this, contact me (or Real Estate Blogsites) and I'll be happy to explain it in more detail.

NOV

2006

Cheryl;

You will have to cantact me with information about you little work around on the feed. I have been playing with a few different things to get the automation thing done but........postlets.com is a bit easier for now. Too busy this time of year out here in sunny CA.

Have you figured out how to get the logo to feed up to the search page? I will continue to work on it but think we should compare notes. Maybe I have what you need and you have what i need to get the job done! Hat to do it this way but....you can find my mail by going through the main Mission Grove Realty site at http://www.missiongrove.com I am certain that you will figure out the rest.

While you are there....search for a home out here in Hemet. You might be surprised!

Thanks!

Christopher Walker

Mission Grove Realty

Has anyone else figured out how to automate a feed creation from postlets.com, craigslist.com or similar? Postlets.com would seem to be the easiest but....I dont know enough about that side of things. Anyone who knows of a way.....let me know. Someone from out of state that knows??? Maybe they would not feel threatened.....? Maybe someone from an independent in California that would like to share resources? Contact me through Mission Grove Realty web site: http://www.missiongrove.com

Any help would be appreciated.....

NOV

2006

Christopher -

I'm not familiar with the RSS services available from the two services you mention, but are you simply looking to take portions of their content and transform it to RSS? Is that the challenge?

NOV

2006

Christopher and Bill,

Since my response is rather wordy, I wrote it up in a blog post here: http://activerain.com/blogsview/21999/My-Inelegant-Trulia-Kludge

Bill, be sure you swallow all your coffee before reading my post, elsewise, the coffee might end up on your monitor. :-)

Cheryl -

"... swallow all your coffee before reading my post ..."

Ha ha - that was spookey - I was sipping my first cup when I read your comment - I had to look behind me to make sure you weren't looking over my shoulder. ;-)

You have misjudged me as well - I'm a big fan of XML solutions, even early attempts to simply make life better.

JAN

2007

Trulia is too easy to integrate - check out this for the Phoenix listings....

http://www.arizonaloans.com/phoenix/homes-for-sale/

APR

Whether or not we should trust online real estate companies really depends on the site you go to. I went to findbuyers.com and after completing the buyer's profile, I was matched with sellers that met my crtieria. My information remained completely anonymous until I actually wanted to communicate/meet with the seller. I don't know about Trulia, but findbuyers is very professional and they do it for free!

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