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realtor.ca

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Real Estate Agent with Royal LePage Foothills

So what do all Realtors think of the new www.realtor.ca?  It is up and running now and publicly accessible,  although I see they are not forwarding www.mls.ca to it just yet (still a few kinks to work out I suspect).  I think it is nice, but needs some tweeking:

1. It's a bit awkward to zero in from the provincial level to the level of detail that I think most people will want - it took me about 7 clicks and 30+ seconds to zero in on downtown Calgary after I selected Alberta.

2.  It's got a bug - it wouldn't let me close my browser when I was done viewing the site.

3. It shows property addresses.  I am surprised by this, as this is a key incentive for people to contact the listing Realtor (will they start contacting our clients directly?  Will FSBO systems start contacting our clients using the addresses?).  And the Calgary Board (CREB) has a rule that only people who have a relationship with a Realtor (ie are registered online with the realtor) can view listing addresses on our own websites, so realtor.ca seems to be breaking one of the CREB rules by showing addresses.

4.  You can't zoom in the map far enough in my opinion.

But overall it looks pretty good.

 

realtor,ca mls listings calgary

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Larry Estabrooks
Independent Real Estate Agent - Moncton, NB
100% representation means NEVER DUAL AGENCY !

Andrew, they need the addresses so the mapping will work.
And anyway, when the consumer already has an agency relationship with a licensee as agent for the buyer, what incentive is there to contact the listing agency or salesperson?

Jul 06, 2008 01:16 PM
Andrew Kyle
Royal LePage Foothills - Calgary, AB
Calgary Condo Realtor

Hi Larry,

Yeah I imagine mls.ca has always had the addresses behind the scenes to to map the property, but I am surprised to see realtor.ca displaying the addresses so readily.  It kindof gives realtor.ca an advantage over individual Realtor websites here in Calgary and I would imagine the Calgary Board will have to rethink it's rule on this.  Are Moncton Realtors allowed to display property addresses on their websites so readily?

 

Jul 06, 2008 02:19 PM
Larry Estabrooks
Independent Real Estate Agent - Moncton, NB
100% representation means NEVER DUAL AGENCY !

We didn't automatically display the address on mls.ca until last year. However we could always put the address in our property advertising comments for mls.ca. Boards cannot restrict a member's advertising unless it is false or misleading. After all, mls.ca is advertising.

Jul 07, 2008 02:58 PM
Anonymous
Anonymous

Andrew, the new site is hateful! I gave up trying to figure out where I wanted to look. The map thing has to go, the old site was much much muuuuch easier to use.

Heather

Oct 02, 2008 10:00 AM
#4
Andrew Kyle
Royal LePage Foothills - Calgary, AB
Calgary Condo Realtor

> Andrew, the new site is hateful!

Yeah, I agree.  They seem to be having some major techincal problems with the map application - it's been going on 3 months now.

I was actually a bit worried that realtor.ca might be such a good site that it would hurt my own site www.andrewkyle.com, which I spent a lot of time and money developing, and which the public seems to really like.  But I am not worried about that any longer. :o)

 

Oct 02, 2008 10:45 AM
Marg Scheben
RE/MAX four seasons realty limited - Collingwood, ON
Edey - Collingwood, Ontario

I'm not sure yet how I feel about it but will say that I've had a client tell me today that they LOVE the new interface.  There are mapping problems indeed.  What bothers me is that realtor.ca is still far inferior to what you can find at many commercial listing sites.  I recently read an excellent brief by Saul Klein on the future of MLS® in which he rightly stated that we'd better start adding value such as links to neighbourhood info, sold data, agent ratings, links to blogs, community bulletin boards, relevant social networking and so on.  That's where we should head and best head there fast is we wish to remain relevant to the consumer.

Oct 02, 2008 11:45 AM
Anonymous
Mike

http://www.TheOldMLS.com

^^ for those who liked the old site better.

Uses the same current data, but with the old MLS.ca interface.

Oct 17, 2008 03:28 AM
#7
Scott Owens
Scott Owens Limited - Halifax, NS
REALTOR

There are many things that make this new site non-user friendly.  I have had clients complain about navigation issues, and about how specific you have to be in your searches.  However, not enough of us have been letting CREA know.

I urge everyone who is having a particular problem with the site to e-mail CREA with the specifics - it's our site, and they won't fix it if we don't let them know.  Please send your issues to info@crea.ca

Oct 17, 2008 01:33 PM
Mark Ferro
Guelph, ON

What do realtors think of the US version realtor.com and how it functions?  I think it showcases homes and realtors better.  But I realize there is a cost for that. 

Why don't realors start using sites like zoocasa or househunting.ca?

 

May 14, 2009 02:48 AM
Larry Estabrooks
Independent Real Estate Agent - Moncton, NB
100% representation means NEVER DUAL AGENCY !

Hi Andrew. I have to put my two cents in on this since Mark also asked me about zoocasa and househunting on one of my blog posts.

Zoocasa is only in beta and is not yet ready for prime time.

Househunting is full of nasty ads and nasty lead aggregators who try to sign up potential customers and clients and then sell their names back to us.

Neither have ads for every property listed on every real estate board Multiple Listing Service in Canada. Consumer's want to see ads for every property that meets their criteria, not 10 or 15 % of them. 

www.realtor.cahas no (nada, zip, none) ads other than those for the properties for sale on MLS.

www.realtor.com is also full of ads.

 

May 14, 2009 03:42 AM
Mark Ferro
Guelph, ON

Thanks Andrew, I guess from my experience seeing whats out there is that realtor.ca, compared to realtor.com or even zillow.com, does a poor job at showcasing properties and even agents.  I guess I just wish there was something better here in Canada, I know there are several excellent sites in the US that really do a great job by providing tonnes of large photos, I didn't find that realtor.com was full of ads, they do have a few but not really distracting.  

May 14, 2009 03:54 AM
Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers
Serving the Greater Phoenix and Scottsdale Metropolitan Area - Scottsdale, AZ
Haven Express @ Keller Williams Arizona Realty

False Advertising of any kind is a hot topic for me right now.  It's incredible and appalling how some agents that are clueless when it comes to Short Sales boast of hundreds of transactions and high closing ratios - neither metric being supported by the MLS.

Aug 26, 2010 02:00 AM
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