Hey, Zillow - the world-famous Computer-Modeled Home Valuation and Promotion Website?
You hear me? Do ya?
I think we have a problem here! Really, we do!
And it is steaming me more than the 90-degree Chicago temperatures this afternoon!
Tell us why - yes, why - our listings via Zillow now each have links on them to other, competing agents on their property pages?
Now, I'm not talking the managing broker of the Listing Agent's office. I'm talking other competing agents, on my listings, in the right-side index! Low!
You know, we Real Estate Practitioners work hard, and spend lots of money distributing our websites via the Internet. Pay per click, SEO, Virtual Tours, the whole nine yards!
The objective, of course, is to gain web presence, higher search engine ranking, and, ultimately, to sell the listing for our clients.
For the seller, a link back to the Listing Agent assures immediate response. A link to a competing broker - often, hit or miss! Might the affected sellers be losing phone or email inquiries about their home for sale if they go to another, potentially-not-as-responsive agent?
Within the past year, major Real Estate Sites like Zillow, Trulia, and others have begun charging for premium positioning, placement, and promotion on the Internet. I've got no problem with that! Everybody has to make a buck, you know, especially in these challenging times in Real Estate.
But to place other agents - perhaps those who have paid the premium, I am not sure - on another agent's listings. Heck, I am not sure if that is even legal in most states, without prior Virtual Office Website (VOW) consent!
I noticed from an email today that our Keller Williams Executive Director of Technology, Cary Sylvester, has challenged Zillow to reverse its practice of posting multiple agents on an agent's listing. Apparently, they have agreed to the reversal - but only for we Keller Williams Associates. Not for anyone else - yet!
Even so, two of my own listings, sent via feed (Dean's Team Chicagodoes not pay for premium Zillow services) STILL have other agents links on my listings.
We believe you have gone too far, Zillow - against the agents, as well as the Seller Clients they represent! The Keller Williams central Internet philosophy - "My Listing/My Leads," should be pretty much universal.
Sending them to the Office Broker or Manager - not most desirable for the agents, but better than this kind of syndication.
This really makes me mad - and it should for you as well, whether you are a real estate professional, or an seller simply wanting your house SOLD!
Do you agree? Please, spread the word . . . SHARE!
DEAN MOSS & DEAN' S TEAM CHICAGO
I'm with you on this it would make me made it is you who did the work to obtain a listing and you who should get the lead not another agent.
Hmmmm....Is this the same Zillow calling me three times in a week to buy zip codes? With specials that are up at the end of business today! At the low low price of 350 per mo. with an iron clad one year contract?
Glad we research where our marketing dollars go Dean.
Thanks for the heads up!
I agree, Pat! This galls me - not right, against the spirit of Real Estate Promotion via the Internet.
Kind of like airlines charging for bags, getting away with it, then charging for things like pillows and blankets.
Come on, people!
This ain't no discount house!
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
This drum needs to be beat until the cows come home. This is not right, it is a land grab in the wild west and someone bigger than us has to step in and make sure that this is 'policed". They currently have a listing of ours with a zestimate. Our agreement with the MLS signed by the seller says that the seller does NOT want a price estimate on the web, associated with the listing. How is this right?
Robert Earl
Shouldn't happen - potentially embarassing to the Listng Agent, Robert, and often misleading.
Zillow did an estimate on one of my listings that had been on the market for weeks, unsold. Their Zestimate was considerably higher than my listing price.
Sellers refused a price reduction, despite the weak market reaction, citing this Zestimate.
"Perhaps you, the Listing Agent, should be doing more to sell my home," they complained!
Who is being kidded here?
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
Dean: I hadn't noticed that about Zillow, I'm so rarely on there, but I can believe it. I found Homegain.com stealing listing data in our market however. They have the same type of site in your area as well, http://www.byownermls.com/zip60618.htm. In Des Moines I found that these listings were from the MLS.
I have seen this a lot in Fact most MLS IDX interfaces do this and make the portal they are coming thru look like the listing agent. Personally as long as it sells....
Charlie -
In my opinion, this is different than an IDX/VOW, where you have to consent to share listings. In essence your listings get other agents contact info on their IDX pages, and theirs do on yours.
What Zillow is doing, however, involves adding multiple additional competing agents to the Listing Agent's page. Without the Listing Agent's permission.
If the other agent fails to follow up with the client who clicks on them, you have lost the lead - in fact, you don't even know you had a lead to begin with.
That''s why it is not cool!
My two cents, anyway.
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
Hey Dean - Ok, I hear ya, so let me try to explain as there was a lot of testing done around the page redesign. The goal was to make sure the consumer was indeed getting follow up. You sentense here was the heart of it:
"For the seller, a link back to the Listing Agent assures immediate response. A link to a competing broker - often, hit or miss! Might the affected sellers be losing phone or email inquiries about their home for sale if they go to another, potentially-not-as-responsive agent?"
When Zillow looks at the leads we send from consumers to agents - guess what percentage were even OPENED? 40%! Then apply NAR statistics to how many of those actually get responded to - and you can see the problem. So what you describe above isn't happening, listing agent are more often not responding than those that are.
First of all let me say, we always list the listing agent at the bottom with their name, phone, URL out (which is a lot more than Realtor.com and other IDX sites do). Secondly, if the agent has activated their account (free), they are always first and the default in the contact module.
The other agents presented are those who are active on the site (maybe a paying customer, or maybe someone with a lot of contributions in the area). Because of their involvement on Zillow, we feel that they are exponentially more likely to respond to the consumers request (an thus get the home sold, like Charlie #7 said), than your average agent that has never been to the site.
Here is the really interesting part, since we have made this change, the raw amount of leads we send through the site has increased 10x! That is a lot. It seems that when you provide the customer with choice, they are more likely to take you up on it and send a lead. Further, a vast majority of the time, they are picking the listing agent to go to (again, when the listing agent has activated their free account).
The overall point is to drive leads to people who are going to respond. If the listing agent is active on Zillow, it will likely be them the consumer turns to. If the agent is not active (meaning they haven't even created a free account), their info is there, but so are other agents who are much more likely to follow thru with the user's request for more info.
Wanted to address the second part of your blog, as it pertains to Keller Williams, seperately. We indeed had this same conversation with Cary, and others at KW, and presented with the facts such as those above. Even though the module was driving more leads, they chose to have it removed to abide by their internal Your Listing, Your Lead philosophy as you stated above. Because we value the KW partnership, we had it immediately removed once they made this choice, however I personally think (know actually) that this will result in less leads being sent through the system. However, the other agents are gone. Not all Brokers we have talked to have come to this conclusion, while others have.
Please note that our agreement to do this was with Keller Williams corporate, so any listing that is sourced by them has the module suppressed. The treatment applied to the entire feed, not to just KW listings in general. What I mean is, these other listings that you reference with the multi-agent module, are not likely sourced by KW corporate. If you scroll to the bottom of the listing, you can see who is sending the data.
Hey, Sara -
Thanks for the very detailed response, very much.
Of course, I don't disagree with the need to increase response. However, potential response should be directed to the Listing Broker as a fallback, not competing agents!
There is no guarantee that the other agents will follow up, and the Listing Agent or their Managing Broker would be most incented, financially, to do so.
The thing needs to be fixed! I'm not saying Zillow's heart wasn't in the right place. They just missed the mark. Sorry!
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
I've been checking back for a Zillow repsonse to this, and I will continue to do so.
When I notice a link to someone else's listings any site that I link to, that link is terminated. Of course, there's not much we can do on a 3rd party site like this.
Margaret,
Sara Bonert (comments #9 and #10) works for Zillow, as do I.