This is such an overly discussed topic that I'm reluctant to bring it up again; but I'm concerned with what I'm finding on other real estate sites, about the houses and condos that I've listed. I was recently reading a post by Brian Brady about Zillow's new program that allows their advertisers to have their face and links show up at the top of their real estate pages, while Trulia is penalizing their advertisers by inserting the "no-follow" code into their advertiser's links. So I clicked Brian's link and sure enough, his face is at the top of every page I checked. But while I was there, I decided to check one of my Daytona Beach real estate listings, to make sure the information was accurate. Surprise, surprise, they have the wrong price. Over a week ago, this house price was drastically reduced to $100,000! So I checked another one of my Daytona Beach real estate listings. This one is right across the street from the other house, and owned by the same seller. It too was drastically reduced to $100,000 over a week ago. And it too has the wrong information on Zillow. I haven't even gone through all the others yet, but I can tell just by the number of listings under my name that Zillow is missing several of my MLS listings. The first listing that was showing just closed this afternoon =D I wonder how long it will take Zillow to remove it. But not only that, let's bear in mind that this is only ONE of many real estate sites that uses OUR hard-earned listings to pull buyers to THEIR sites, then tries to sell those same leads back to us! And we all know that every one of these types of real estate sites has bad/incorrect information. And they're not getting the wrong information from us! But they don't have to answer to our sellers, so why should they care?

So what does this mean to our sellers, and to us? When I meet with a real estate seller, and they decide to put their trust in me to sell their house, condo, town house or even a manufactured home, they expect me to follow through on what I've promised them. Well, here are a few things I promise my real estate sellers...

• I will take tons of photos, then spend hours editing the photos so they look professional.
  
• I'll write an exceptional description of the home, that will appeal to real estate buyers. I will also listen to feedback from the sellers if they want to add, remove or change something I have in the description of their listing. We'll then discuss the pros and cons of each possible change. After all, we're working together.
• I'll spend a couple of hours filling out all the paperwork that is required, to place their listing in the Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach area Multiple Listing Services (MLS's).
• I'll video tape their home, then spend hours editing the video footage and creating a professional video of their house for sale.
  
• I'll then upload the video to the real estate video sites I've chosen for their professional visual appeal, and the ability to embed the full video as well as the widgets on my real estate blogs.
• I will then spend more hours posting this real estate listing on my primary web site as well as each blog. And my real estate site also provides syndication for my listings by sending them to CityCribs, Yahoo Classifieds, Video Homes, House.com and the Xsites network, in addition to the sites that are covered by Postlets as well... coming right up!
  
• I will create a Postlet about the listing, which will then syndicate the listing to Google Base, Zillow, Oodle, Vast, HotPads, Backpage, Trulia, ByOwnerMLS, Properazzi, DotHomes and other sites as they are added to Postlet's syndication partners.
• I will send all the listing information to our office staff who will place the listing on our brokerage web site, where we now have an exclusive syndication agreement with Bank of America!
• And above all else for these real estate sellers who are trusting me as their REALTOR®, I owe it to them to provide accurate information and professional presentation to potential buyers so we can SELL the listing!
  

This last point, regarding accurate information, is where we experience the biggest problems; not because of the service WE as REALTORS® provide, but because of the many other sites that are picking up the listings that our sellers have entrusted to us. By all means, we want our listings in front of potential buyers! But it has to be accurate! And unfortunately, we have little or no control over the content that is displayed on other sites. They each have their own system of how they pick and choose which information to display. The irony is, in the past when Realtor.com was the only site of conglomerated real estate listings, and endorsed by the National Association of REALTORS®, even 7+ years ago, they had incorrect information.

In the years when I was doing floor time, I would constantly get phone calls from buyers who had found a house on Realtor.com, which I could find nowhere in our MLS. Over and over again I had to try to explain to these buyers that Realtor.com was NOT the actual MLS and that I could not change the information, even though they were looking at a real estate listing that had been sold or expired for several months. Now, years later, we have many sites that offer OUR real estate listings to the public, which if it's correct is a wonderful thing! But the public still thinks they're looking at the actual MLS information, when instead, they're finding outdated or just plain incorrect real estate listing data. Even worse, is finding that those photos I spent hours getting just right by altering the lighting, heightening the details, adding eye-catching borders, straightening them if they're crooked, etc., is nowhere to be found with the listing information on these outside sites! And then I get a buyer or seller on the phone wanting to know why there's no photo on the listing! And don't forget, many of these buyers and sellers still don't understand that they're not looking at the real MLS.

To wrap this up (since it has turned into somewhat of a rant), I have just a couple more points.

• First, right now, one of my sellers keeps telling me that they were on the MLS and it says the address can't be found. They have told me this several times. And I keep asking what site they were on, but they can't remember. And this is not their fault. Remember, the general public thinks they have the same information as we do. So in this case, my seller thinks I've been negligent with their house because a web site that has pulled only bits and pieces of information from our "data push", has left out, of all things, the address. And even if I did know which site is was, I don't know if I could do anything about it.
  
• Second; In our MLS, we have fields for both the living area (AKA "under air", or actual insulated and air conditioned space of the home), and the total area (AKA "under roof", or all porches, exterior alcoves, the garage, screened porch, etc...or any space that is not part of the air conditioned living area.) So, in the Daytona Beach area, when a local real estate buyer calls and asks us for the square footage, we tell them the "Living Area", or we provide the data from both fields and explain the difference if necessary. (Now here's where it gets interesting, for lack of a better word) Realtor.com pulls only the Total Area, and doesn't differentiate between the two! So a buyer who is shopping online will look at the prices of our listings on Realtor.com and think they're getting a great deal! But it's misleading information, unless they plan on using their garage as a living room.

I could come up with many more instances, but this is getting long enough and I'm sure you don't want to be reading all day and night. But we really do have a big problem when the information from the listings that WE, as REALTORS® and BROKERS are providing on behalf of our real estate sellers, is being misconstrued, then dispersed on a massive scale. There is blatant negligence found everywhere and the ensuing confusion that it causes is not fair to any of the parties involved. I'm surprised we aren't seeing more law suits already.

Now because I don't believe in complaining, unless a solution is offered as well; (That was one of my rules for my agents, when I was in management: Don't come to me with a complaint unless you suggest a genuine solution as well.) my suggestion is that any external site that wants to use information from our MLS listings, needs to be held accountable to a uniform list of the fields of information. And the explanations of each field should be on the site as well. Each listing should have a link at the bottom, to the page with explanations for each field. And the only way to accomplish this would be for each individual Multiple Listing Service to decide on the rules they would require of every site that receives their data "push". And before anyone brings up the possibility of a uniform, nationwide MLS again, just think of how differently business is done even from county to county. I'm a member of both the New Smyrna Beach and the Daytona Beach REALTOR® Associations. Our broker is a member of both of these, plus the Mid-Florida Regional MLS and the Flagler Association of REALTORS®. I can tell you from doing business in every one of these areas, and using each MLS, and dealing with the REALTORS® in each of these areas, that it is just not possible.

I don't know about you, but I take the work I do for my clients very seriously. This is a profesion where we rely on repeat business and referrals in the future. My goal is to go above and beyond the expectations of my clients. Now how can we do this when the multitude of real estate sites that are using OUR real estate listing and sales information, that we've spent MANY hours compiling, to invest in our futures, are taking that information and misusing it, misrepresenting it, and damaging our reputations, individually and as a whole?

I look forward to your professional opinions on this topic.

For expert Daytona Beach real estate information, make a Smart Choice and contact Lisa Hill with Adams Cameron & Co., REALTORS® for all your real estate needs.

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