Well put Kathleen. I think most consumers still don't realize that the aggregator and portal sites like Zillow, Trulia et al pull their information FROM us...and there is always a lag. Not to mention that for some reason they don't always reflect closings. Go figure.
Raiza- I agree, the clients do not always know what is what because they are getting a very one sided peek into the MLS.
Beth- the cusumers think that they are on top of things because they do spend a good deal of time pouring over the on- line listing sites. They need to start with an agent and then looky loo on -line while their agent is working hard behind the scenes serching for that perfect property.
I have had the same problem, telling the buyer that the property is under contract, and their response that you must be wrong since they are looking at their computer right now and it is still available.
I wish that this was a known fact to prospective clients. I know it's fustrating to me when a client argues that it's current just because it's still on a website.