By following others.

Apparently my griping about how C21 was going to be left behind by KW may be for naught. Realogy (ERA, Century21, Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s) is stepping to the plate:

From a press release:

Tomorrow, Realogy Corporation will announce a new online listing distribution strategy that will result in all CENTURY 21 listings becoming accessible through the Google and Trulia Web search portals. This strategic move will make it easier than ever for buyers to find a home perfectly matched to their lifestyle and needs, while providing sellers with unprecedented marketing exposure. This strategy is a fantastic point of differentiation from our competition.
…
It’s a fact that over 58 percent of all Internet searches on “real estate” and related terms are conducted on Google and its search partner sites. Meanwhile, Trulia.com is one of the fastest growing sites in the real estate category and reports that it refers over two million buyer visits to external listing sites each month. Seventy percent of Trulia users surveyed indicated that they

This is good for buyers of real estate, as both offer better searching capabilities and data display than many local MLSs, and good for sellers as it expands the reach of their Realtors’ marketing. But … how will redundant data be dealt with? What is to stop a seller from uploading his or her house to google, the Realtor, a friend, etc? How will data integrity be ensured?

How long until the local MLS‘ are irrelevant?

Sometimes leading is knowing when to follow.

Update: Inman has coverage as well, as do Trulia.

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