It’s a shame that he’s ” throwing in the towel ” because the comments speak to the value that his site has brought to his community, but it’s good that the site will continue. … Two Three Four points (just read the whole thing) with which I particularly agree, and if I could copy and paste his entire post, I would, because each one is poignant.
you searched for cracks
Days on Market penalties
One of the most important statistics offered via the MLS is the Days on Market – the number of days a particular property has been on the market is a good guide to the seller’s motivation, an indication as to whether they may be more willing to negotiate, etc. However, with every system comes those who try to “game” the system, by withdrawing a property and re-listing it, to make it appear as if a property is new, or “fresh” on the market. Any system with no form of punitive measure to deter this behavior is potentially worthless. From an agent in the Charlottesville area:I won’t mention names, but… I know one agent who changes the listing agent to another one of her partners and then relists the property so that it looks like she has been fired and a new one brought on. It doesn’t benefit anyone to have this kind of practice.Behavior and practices such as this damage the credibility of the MLS system and opens up more cracks in the MLS armor. For this reason, I was and am quite pleased that my secondary MLS, MRIS, just came out with the following announcement regarding fines:Sweet.
Realtor.com pushes traffic to Google
That said, we firmly believe that the value rendered by REALTOR.com® Marketing Systems are monumentally greater than the price charged to REALTORS®.Just as REALTOR.com® carefully evaluates a number of factors before arriving at the aforementioned business decision to raise prices, so too do we encourage each individual REALTOR® to carefully evaluate the value you receive on behalf of you and your clients in relationship to the costs, before you make your individual business decision…. In order to carefully contemplate REALTOR.com® value, we are providing a minimum of two months to a maximum of twelve months advance notice of the price change (depending upon the REALTOR’S® product renewal date), because we believe this should be a carefully thought out evaluation…. Google is fast becoming a “no-brainer,” but one must “carefully consider” using Realtor.com.Details of the price increase: Beginning January 15, 2007, prices for the Showcase Listing Enhancements Marketing System, Standard Listing Enhancements, Featured Homes™ Marketing System and Featured CMA™ Marketing System will increase by 10% and the Featured Community™ and Featured Agent™ Marketing System will increase by 7%…. And again, on behalf of everyone here at REALTOR.com®, we thank you for the privilege of serving you and helping you better serve your clients.Sincerely,Mark MathisSenior Vice President,REALTOR.com®Realtor.com’s cushy arrangement with getting all (or most) of Realtors’ listing data is swiftly coming to an end.