Open Letter to Dale Stinton

Danny...

I guess we brought it on ourselves by making our data available to these services to start with, but a house buying consumer should know that they are NOT the customer of the aggregator.

Interesting. I was not aware that the MLS was not the leader in the top 100 markets. I guess the additional perks and aggressive online marketing must be getting the job done. Also the fact they announce "DISCOUNTS" to all looking most people care less who gives them the info they just want it.

Hmmmm

Danny, will have to jump over to Todd's post, but Realtor.com is definitely behind in the race to the top for consumers.

     Good job, Danny!   HAR has set a great example for other Boards and Associations.   

     For those who may not know:

      Realtor.com is NOT owned by the National Association of Realtors.  It is owned by Move, Inc. and is a for-profit Website.

     Move is the only Entity or person that is allowed to use the name "Realtor" and not be bound by the Code of Ethics.  

     NAR goes to great efforts to conceal this Fact, and it works.    The majority of Realtors believe that Realtor.com is owned by NAR, and that Realtor.com works in the interests of Realtors.

     Also of note:   ActiveRain is owned by Trulia.

Danny, like government, realtor.com has become indifferent to us as Realtors and nar has basically done the same thing. We as Realtors always advertise our morals and caring and when you do that too much people become apprehensive. We are always on the defensive about who we are so drop this I am a nice guy ad. Instead of telling people who we are really not, spend the money on how to be a better service business to the  customer. We are not in the Real Estate business, WE are in the INFORMATION business.

Danny,

I prefer local sites with local agents. We, in the industry are enabling sites to compete, and charge us...makes no sense. Great domain name, but I don't see a need for Realtor.com.

Rich

Danny, I've seen users praise your MLS and I was very impressed. The real estate industry used to "own" the process and subsequently, still thinks itself as "owning" the data, the customers, and the market. Adding consumer perceived value was, honestly, not really high in that equation. 

Technology has unleashed not just the data, but the "how to do things." Realtors no longer "own" how to buy and sell a house and consumers smell that blood in the water of the industry more than most RE agents.

That said, the same technology, if implemented as a value to the consumer, is a way to add value to the process and engage consumers that genuinely have a long list of unmet needs.

Good stuff, thanks for sharing the info and link. I had missed it.

G

Danny, once the MLS data is made accessible to other sites, it's now going to be difficult to change people's mind - and take them away from Zillow or Trulia.

BTW, ActiveRain is owned by Trulia and Realtor.com is for-profit company whose monopoly is broken by Zillow and Trulia. 

It would behoove NAR to listen up and pay attention.  In our community, at least 1 in 4 homes...maybe 1 in 3... is sold without the use of the MLS and Farm ground is probably 95% sold outside the MLS and NAR.

I hope the day comes when Realtors do NOT post with Trulia, Zillow and the like.

The travel industry is gone as far as agent s go.

Guess who was behind that? What do you think the Trulia and Zillow long term game plan is?

it's less move.com that's indifferent, then NAR!  Our rights to distinguish ourselves through expressing our individuality is crushed for the good of the collective. Or perhaps the good of the "Central Committee" members.  Where have i heard that before?

Great post and letter. I hope action is taken.

Danny - I'll have to take a look at the letter.  Realtor.com is not doing well in the race with the other aggregators.

Zillow and Trulia have proven once again that competition is the key to innovation. Consumers prefer them over REALTOR.com, and the NAR needs to learn from them and set out to unseat them as the leaders that consumers rely upon for home search data.

Danny that is very impressive about your mls. All mls's could stand to pick up pointers from you.

Fred I had no clue realtor.com was not owned by Nar. That is so surprising.  Isnt realtor.org Nars agent information site?

As a Director and as a member of the NAR MLS committee, I spoke up at the DC meeting to tell why I was against sending back to committee our decision to make a public facing MLS site a basic service as Houston has done so well. We were able to defeat it but the big brokers will I am sure protest this in November but we are ready. The meeting coming up will also be an important piece of regaining some control of data, at least I hope so. I also think that it will be a discussion that will go beyond just taking off controls for realtor.com. I also want to discuss some of what I see is taking advantage of agents. Realtor.com needs to be a better buy for us than Z and T. Those companies if they wern't legititmate would not be a difficult problem, but they are legit, very well run, and they understand that data is more than data, it is also entertainment, so as media companies they entice the public. I would also add that more agents need to embrace IDX and I would recommend a direct RETS feed that updates in my MLS case every 15 minutes and not every 24 hours like most. These three offer some resolution.

Great stuff here.  Trulia use to get my dollars, but when they decreased the amount of leads they were sending me and then tried to re-sell them to me at a higher price,  I left.  However, I agree with what was said above, competition breeds innovation.  Realtors have to offer the consumer something better than T or Z.

One of the problems that I have seen with sites like T and Z is that they do not report listings as sold or withdrawn so that they can get more views and inquiries. I have seen several rants in the Trulia questions area about invalid listings.