What if Zillow’s reach becomes so great, their data become so vast, that they impact what is fair market value?
Browsing Category Technology
The MLS is merely a guide
With every day of innovation and aggregation by competitors, the MLS is becoming fast becoming a guide toward property offerings and valuations rather than “the” or even “a” definitive source. There are at least two reasons for this change – 1) The innovation of data aggregation competitors with whom many are familiar – Zillow, Homegain, Trulia, Yahoo, AOL, Google, the list seems to grow every week…. 2) Realtors seem to have taken the MLS for granted as something that has always been and will always “be there.”The MLS is in the process of devolving/evolving into just another data source. The root cause is the lack of accuracy of the data input by the agents. To be the best data source, one has to input the best raw data. That simply has not been the case for some time, due partially to the strength of the real estate market for the past six years, but also to simply laziness and lack of accountability. How can one maintain a market lead when the data lack integrity?What differentiates the MLS from its competitors is the offer of cooperation between Brokers and the fact that at this moment, the vast majority of properties are marketed through the MLS. The MLS remains the single largest aggregation of property data out there.
Way off topic, but – AOL is scary!
I am not even remotely smart enough to understand the ramifications of this, but AOL has released tons of personal search data into the wild. If you value your online privacy, take a few moments to read this story. To those of you who still have aol email addresses – please, please for the sake of all that is human, understand that those raised eyebrows you get from people when you tell them your professional email address is “blah-blah-blah @aol.com” – it’s for a reason!When I find the time, I might download the file and analyze who is searching for “homes in Charlottesville” and send them a hand-written note asking for their business. Now that would be a personal touch!
Challenges facing Realtors
1) Disintermediation2) No longer control the data3) Technology is evolving more rapidly than ever4) Consumers’ perception of empowerment5) The Market shift.
Cable upgrades coming?
Will be finally get our HDTV? Or extended cable internet access? With the pending sale of bankrupt Adelphia, will the Central Virginia region finally see much-needed cable expansion beyond the City limits and the immediate urban ring? If we do, at least maybe Doc will be happy about something.My clients now list high-speed internet access among their needs: water, electricity, a roof and internet access. Adelphia’s languishing behind the advancement of competitors (not locally, they’re a monopoly) has harmed the expansion of internet access. I would argue also that , the housing market to a certain degree has been impacted as has peoples’ ability to telecommute, thus having an impact on sprawl. The other side of this, of course, is that currently people are forced to live close-in because of this limitation, thus artificially contracting sprawl (to a very minor degree).Who will we get?… -OR-What if our region developed a wireless cloud?A 2002 quote:”We feel like this cloud will be just one more service we can offer to high tech industries that may want to relocate to Athens,” said Turner.If this is successful, couldn’t we do the same?Just a thought.
What I want in a real estate website
This discussion, and the comment by Mike in particular, got me thinking. Finding a real estate website developer that meets all of my specific needs has been a near-impossible task. So, I will ask everybody out there – do you know anybody/company that can help?Starting with Mike’s criteria:- Listing/IDX integration, mapping, RSS of listings, email notifications.- High quality content and integration of this blog (I have sort of implemented this already)- CRM tools that will integrate with MS Entourage.- ROI tracking system for leads- Good traffic analysis- Pages/content/design specifically targeting buyers. – Pages/content/design specifically targeting sellers.- Take the best ideas here and integrate.- Will work on Macs, PCs, Linux boxes and all (or most) browsers- Will be easy to updateI cannot stress enough the need for comprehensive, sticky, intuitive mapping tools. My read is that that is what the consumer wants. I want a site that will accomplish several things:- High traffic- Will appeal to high- and low- tech consumers- Will become the only site that consumers visit – they will want to come back every day.- Will be easy to useMany feel that using solely their blogs works for them. That is great, but I think that the separation of the two – the site and the blog – works for me and helps achieve my goals…. Scott has the mapping down.What are the best real estate websites that you have seen?
Craigslist, Google, Yahoo, and fair housing
One reason that Craigslist will have At stake is whether online sites should be compelled to actively police the postings of their users to ensure compliance with federal and state laws.