It's More Than Stopping Zillow; It's Saving Our Real Estate Industry

I know some agents who paid "Z" for leads, and I agree they have their head in the sand!

All of us need to place the Short URL EVERYWHERE !!! ( and have our offices reading this post )

Our local board recently signed an agreement to put all of our listings on Zillow, and I still can't understand why.  They said that we'll gain more than we'll lose by doing this, but exactly who will be doing the gaining?  Certainly not me, the Realtor who has paid his dues and worked tirelessly over the past 14 years to give clients the best information and services possible.  Zillow is not a real estate website - it's a marketing website. 

If there was a way on AR to search past comments left on blogs...I would re-post some of the comments I made over the years lamenting how the folks who are forced to belong to NAR in order to be in the MLS were losing their industry.  

I advocated for a private, agent owned MLS that all could belong to.

Of course...I had many snarky replies by members of AR and a lot of indifference, such as some of the comments left on this blog.

Back when I was trying to spread a warning, I received very little encouragement...You see...at the time I was a version of Chicken Little and said your sky was falling. No one wants to hear that what they are doing is in danger of becoming extinct.

Well guess what?  Your sky really is falling in the traditional real estate industry. 

Thank you for sharing this Thomas J. Nelson, Realtor,CRS,e-Pro 

I have listened to the videos and will sign up simply because he had one line in the video...that it was open to ALL agents and Brokers.

As for the rest of you naysayers...I hope you are close to retirement...because you are about to become obsolete unless you get your heads out of the sand and become proactive in saving your industry.

Thomas, I personally see this effort as having a snowball's chance in hell.

Any business plan that includes "and then we take away all our listings" and  some magic as yet to be detailed killer feature that consumers will just have to have as the means of selling me on the concept, well as someone else mentioned earlier, it's sizzle, but I'm not seeing the steak.

I don't pay Z any money for advertising and never plan to.  Our organic work is doing its job.  But the consumer has spoken and they've gone for Z.  It'll take herculean effort and a mountain of money to flesh out a national concept before it could even begin to have a prayer of being on a level field with Z.  And that's assuming at some point the government didn't step in and claim some anti-trade activities by attempting to have a unified withdrawal of listings.  I think similar has been tried with banning discount brokerages and that didn't fare so well, and Z isn't even a brokerage.

And at the same time Greg is pushing $990 listings in AZ and touting agents as having "the most listings on Z".  I don't get how he can call Z the biggest threat to the industry and then at the same time touting an agent's presence on the site.  It's  a real credibility killer for me.  My money will be staying in my pocket.  Bill

Thomas J. Nelson, Realtor,CRS,e-Pro  I love the passion.  I have expressed this view to many agents over the years and met with Ho-Hum.  I sent a letter of protest to our MLS providor and as a member that pays them money, recieved not one ounce of response.

BUT, the next wave is upon us again.  And again, I see no anger, commentary or out roar.  5% listings are becoming common.  Images and marketing progressing to 5% value.  Soon, it will be 4%.  What the hell are agents doing with 5% listings??  Now a couple of years from now, agent's will say the rember the days of 6% listing.

I told Zillow years ago that they had the wrong information on a property our family owns - Their response was: "We get our information from the County records - so you need to have the County change THEIR records."  I told them they are WRONG and that the County is CORRECT in their records but ZILLOW has the info on a neighboring property with the incorrect address.  They wouldn't change it.. so I posted this on Zillow and it is still on the site: "Zillow's data is INCORRECT on this home.  They INCORRECTLY CONFUSED THIS HOME WITH ANOTHER PROPERTY and stated: Last sold: Mar 2011 for $400,000 - TOTALLY INCORRECT - IT SOLD FOR MUCH MORE A FEW YEARS PRIOR TO THAT DATE."

I like the plan, just staying real and going to use the system to my advantage in any way I can.

I don't find Zillow to be as harmful as others. I also believe that the lack of innovation and change has more to do with the rise of Zillow. I also believe that thgere are too many agents but I also believe that especially on this site we have a lot of people who constantly bash NAR without knowing what they are talking about. NAR is far from perfect but what is and what world do we have without it? Right now if everyone is worried about data control and they should be, NAR possesses the most comprehensive real estate database out there, RPR. If far surpasses Zillow, Redfin, and any other one. I didn't see you mention the elephant in the room, Google.

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.  - Dolly Parton

Zillow, Homie and the like are just the latest version of the same old lions, and will always be there to cull the herd.  Stopping them is a great idea, but it has to be done by making our light brighter, not by trying to remove them from the mix.  By this I mean our industry needs to wake up, quit thriving on average, and get really good at being at the job we are here for - being an advisor and FIDUCIARY.  We need to get better at our job while still generating leads.  AND we need to know how to deal with Zillow when they show up...

       I am in almost total agreement with BLiz comment #30.   The horse is out of the barn, the water is over the dam.   Too little, too late.

I have been on the stop zillow band wagon from the start. Why are agents being so lazy and giving up so much?

I have seen comments in some of my FB groups that this guy is crazy - that he's like a 'preacher,' asking for money, that we don't have a chance at ALL, yada, yada. 

The only good objectionable comment was, "What about IDX?" Basically, how would WE share our data with one another.

In my mind, it's simple - it's OUR data. Why do we have trouble simply saying, "NO, you can't have it," PERIOD? It just makes no sense to me but, when other members of our profession are professing that we are mice fighting the elephant, I just have to shake my head. 

#RantOver  

Looking back to 2006, it  all seemed like such a good idea:  More places to promote our listings! 

A few folks foresaw the direction things would evolve ... but not everyone...

Good morning Thomas - the only way to preseve local real estate is to fight back and show value.  I see that this has gotten plenty of support.  Go for it.

Hi Thomas, 

Thanks for helping Greg shake the tree.  We cannot bury our heads any longer. Follow the money. If agents don't think this is a threat then they must be invested in this. 

I don't play the agent game but there are agnets in my area that have good success with Zillow leads. i will need to talk to them and see why they think so.

The responses to your post are quite varied. When you face a giant you need a strategy that is up to the task. Getting people to agree on a strategy will be about as successful as getting Congress to agree.