National real estate website portals going for quantity - not quality!

Zillow and Realtor.com do state the property is not for sale, however, I don't see that on the Trulia site.  I guess they don't say it "IS" for sale either. They do have a tab to contact an agent, but what is the agent supposed to tell the buyer.  Are we expected to go knock on the door to see if they might be willing to sell?

Zillow's range for this property is from $108K - $358K.  Really?  No where on the listing does it mention it is zoned industrial, it actually states it is a single family residential listing.  Really?  They had the value in August 2009 at $275,000 and the very next month, it spiked to $639,000.  Really?

Trulia at least breaks down the taxes to show that the main value is in the land, not the home but still doesn't mention the zoning.  They also refer to it as a single family residence.  they claim the average list price of "similar" homes is $127,783.  I am curious if they found other homes in industrial zoning to compare with or if they were comparing it to single family acreage, or just the zip code?  When I pulled that MLS data for the zip code for all active residential listings, I got $152,075.  Our MLS doesn't cover a lot of the commercial market, so I am not even going there.  BTW, as far as how recently it was posted on their site it only says "days ago".  Really?

Realtor.com also has some unique twists with this property.  For some reason, they show the 2010 taxes as N/A.  I am not sure why since other sites found it and I can definitly find it on my tax assessor web portal.  At least this site says it was last updated on July 7, 2012 and they don't even venture a guess on the value range.

I think my new response when people call or email me about a listing they found themselves online, I will have to respond with "Oh Really?"

I know some MLS systems are withdrawing their listing syndication so the consumers have to come back to the source for the data.  I think if I ran the MLS, I would take a strong look at that option.

Bill, our MLS fines the agent $100 if their data is not updated within 3 business days so it is very accurate most of the time.

Lyn, maybe it is time to post copyright your listings and collect damages when other sites scrape them.  I know Getty Images is sending out thousands of letters seeking damages for copyright infringement for their photos online.

Mark, on a $100,000 being 8% off could mean 8% high or 8% low so the range will actually be 16%.  Don't worry, the buyer can market it themselves and save six theoretically.  LOL

Christina, having switch properties is the way to close the gap.  Good job!

Carla, these sites don't actually say the homes are for sale, they just appear to imply it since you are supposed to contact an agent about them for more details.

Janis, I agree.  I remember when we first started sharing our listings online, MSN used to pay our MLS $1 per listing a month.

Jennifer, good job having a VOW that they can go to for more accurate data.  The more convoluted these interloper sites become, the more profitable your VOW should be.  Keep it up.

Thanks for your comments everyone.  

Silvia, I know I ended up subscribing to one site for a month just to prove to the buyer that our MLS covered  every single bonafide bank listing posted by the "subscription service".  The $50 or so I spent saved me two or three hours of chasing up and down the block to find listings since they don't post addresses until you "subscribe".  Then you find out that some were just Notices of Default, others were short sales that had offers for months, etc.

It was just pointed out to me that Trulia does state "This property is not currently listed for sale on Trulia"; howver, if you didn't mouse over the "public record" you wouldn't see the disclosure!

Erica, thanks for sharing your results.  I almost fell prey to Realtor.com again but did some research and opted out as a result.

Brian, your are ahead of the pack marketing your website and using key words in your blog.  Keep it up.

Wendy, I think I will try Google Adwords again for my online marketing.  At least I can set it up so that if I don't get leads, it doesn't cost me.  If I do, it is up to me to convert them.

Mike, I don't mind the solds as much as the one's that don't exist.  Those take a bunch of time that like Wendy mentioned could be better spent.

Joan, as a matter of fact, I have been in contact with the CEO of our MLS whom also happens to be the 2012 President of the Council of Mulitple Listing Services (CMLS) about this very topic today.

Feedback from active onliine agents is the key in effecting change.

I think our role as a Realtor has morphed from the keeper of the data to the analyzer of the data.  There is so much data out there and it keeps accumulating that we need to point out bad data to our clients so they can learn to appreciate that just because you found it online, doesn't make it true. (although I have friends that don't realize that some websites like www.theonion.com are about as accurate as Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.