Where do Listings come from?

Now, the consumer has The Rest of the Story Lyn! Thanks for a FUN read and congrats on the feature.

The ones to blame is MLS sites. Warren Buffett blocked the sell of rets string data to these companies. Yet, I see people coming and use these sites.... The good thing each site has its own estimates.  Trulia and Zillow are different. Hey, listen to your local realtor.

Good advice! All those other sites are so deceptive, they just capture the info to sell leads back to us.

I love this post more than any thing I've read lately. I preach that to my buyers. There's nothing worse than falling in love with a house on Zillow that has been sold for weeks already.

I had an incident yesterday where one of my Buyers found a listing for a property that was sold in 2010. They looked it up by the address and there was still a link to a virtual tour for it.

This Buyer is loyal to me but they still do lots of their own research.

Got into a disagreement with a woman about a listing of mine and she was so sure her information was more correct than my own. Often you just show them the door.

Great post Lyn!  But I did want to point out that these sites do allow FSBOs which are not a direct feed from us.  I can see why Z & T would do it, but I am steamed that Realtor.com allows it.

We have a section on our RMLS homepage where an agent can opt out of having their listing feed go to ZiT.  Why listing agents aren't doing that is beyond me.  I do think if they did, ZiT will fill up the void with more agents who are "working" that system.  Keep in mind Lyn Sims , "accurate" information is not a requirement of ZiT sites.  I've seen unscrupulous agents upload a listing . . . and the property is NOT for sale!  They do it, and will continue even more so when they realize ZiT isn't going to do a thing about it.  They are trying to fill the void.  Talk about being a "Realtor" and presenting a true picture in the agent's advertising . . . that is laughable.  Someone would have to bring another "Realtor" up on ethics violations to get that ball rolling.  The big box brokerage managing brokers are not even monitoring their agents' advertising, which is a violation of Oregon Administrative Rules . . . but again, unless there is a complaint filed for the OAR rule violation, nothing will get done, and more and more agents will be posting BOGUS for sale listings.  The Zillow SSO agreement between "participants" (i.e., member of the RMLS aka real estate listing agents) and third-party sites. 

Very true!  So many buyers start out on Zillow or Trulia and think they are seeing all listings.  I will say they do find FSBOS on those sites...and the 'make me move' listings--ugh. Never met a serious seller using that tool

Lyn Sims -- Nice Post!

Listings originate with Agents who build their business around helping Sellers get their homes sold. We do LOTS of work learning to be the Neighborhood and Community experts.

Zillow and the rest make their money by selling the leads back to Buyers Agents who are too lazy to develop their own stream of leads.

When Buyer's Agents subscribe to Zillow and the rest, they are perpetuating the system and are essentially paying for referrals. 

Lyn Sims Soooooooooooo True!  Just wish there was a Universal way to let the buyers know.  But for now, I explain this to my buyers one by one.  But together, we can make a difference.

Lyn loved this post and indeed listings come from Realtors who put their listings in the MLS.... not Trulia, Not Zillow Group, not Redfin...but the MLS. love it, Endre

Our mls has stopped syndicating to Zillow/Trulia, so there will always be a big discrepancy between what's really listed and what some of these sites show. And then there's the issue of updated status. Sometimes, it takes a while for a client to "get it" that what I provide them through my mls is the most up-to-date data available.

"There is only one source for listings of houses for sale in your area...  the MLS"

Amen Lyn Sims! Congrats on a well deserved Feature.

The big thing I hate about these feeds is that it doesn't show that a home is under contract ("Back-up"), it still shows as "active". So many times buyers have said, "but what about that one" and that's the problem. There is also a problem with bathrooms, yes, bathrooms. If a house has 1.5 it just shows up as 1. If you tinker with that directly, it comes out as 2, also not correct. And, of course, Zestimates. In some areas they are pretty much on target, in others, it's way out of whack. One home owner added a pellet stove to his list of what's there, and it added $20,000 to his value. He was so proud! I was dumbfounded.

Hi Lyn Sims, I love this blog and am going to remember this to share with people who think that Z, T and R.com are the be all end all!

This post should be posted in the windows of every agency and on the main page of all personal web sites.  Well done.  mark

Just got here via re-blog and enjoyed your post! You got straight to the point. If a buyer doesn't want the guarantee of seeing everything a Realtor can provide, that's fine. But there is still a real role that can be played and you make that clear!

Thanks for sharing the secret Lyn, now to get this to all the confused buyers out there.