While much has been made of the recent decision to not continue the IDX feed for Diverse Solutions from Metrolist, a decision which leaves many REALTORS scrambling for a new IDX provider and website solution, Santa Barbara MLS has also decided NOT to renew the IDX feed. They cite "concerns over misuse", which is being denied and not tied to any specific misuse but rather the concern over potential misuse.To many REALTORS who are customers of Diverse Solutions, these feel like they have been … [Read more...]
UPDATE: Santa Barbara MLS also dumps Diverse Solutions after Zillow aquisition
February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Metrolist Ends Relationship with Diverse Solutions over Zillow Ownership
February 6, 2012 By 4 Comments
In an email sent out to Denver area customers of Diverse Solutions, Metrolist said the following:As you may be aware, your IDX vendor, Diverse Solutions, was recently purchased by Zillow and no longer holds a valid Agreement for Internet Data eXchange (IDX) with Metrolist. This means that they will no longer be allowed to provide you with Metrolist IDX on your website.Diverse Solutions (Zillow) will be able to continue receiving IDX data from Metrolist until April 2, 2012 to allow you … [Read more...]
VA loans rise in popularity, lower foreclosure rates than others
February 4, 2012 By 1 Comment
The VA loan program had a monster year in FY11, and it's in the middle of a monster stretch, triggered in no small way by a more restrictive lending industry. The VA backed almost 360,000 loans last year, a 14-percent increase from FY10. That's good for a 168-percent increase since FY07, when the agency guaranteed a little more than 133,000 mortgages.What's more, the VA loan has emerged as the safest lending product on the market. VA loans have had the lowest rate of foreclosure and serious … [Read more...]
San Diego Brokerage pulls syndicated listings and opens conversation.
January 28, 2012 By 6 Comments
Abbott Realty Group (ARG) in San Diego may not have fired the first shot in the "to syndicate or not" battle, but they may have fired the loudest one by far. The 25 agent office in San Diego today officially pulled their syndicated listings, and released a video to their clients and colleagues in the real estate industry to open what looks like a long running battle. Their listings will be pulled from Trulia, Zillow, Realtor.com, Craig's list and all third party sites.In the video Jim … [Read more...]
ListHub launches Real Estate Network
January 11, 2012 By 6 Comments
With RE/MAX, Coldwell Banker, and Century 21 among the first franchisor / publishers to join in, Move Inc owned ListHub, a syndication service, has formed the Real Estate Network or REN. As announced in their press release, ListHub envisions this as a way to better control how listings are viewed."ListHub's Real Estate Network answers an industry need to promote listings on high-visibility franchisor and broker network websites in a way that maximizes and ensures broker control," said Move … [Read more...]
Edina Realty dumps Trulia and Realtor.com
November 22, 2011 By 2 Comments
In a move designed to retain control over where their listings are displayed, Edina Realty in Minnesota has announced that it will no longer send listings to Trulia effective November 30 and will stop syndicating listings to REALTOR.com effective the end of this year.The real estate blogging community has been mixed in its reaction to the news, with some brokers reconfirming their commitment to post listings EVERYWHERE that they can be syndicated, while other applaud the decision by Edina to … [Read more...]
Zillow buys Diverse Solutions
November 2, 2011 By 4 Comments
In a post on Zillow's blog today, it was announced that they have acquired Diverse Solutions, a company most known for providing IDX tools and solutions for REALTORS.According to the press release the company has 6,000 REALTORS as clients who it provides IDX services and other marketing tools to. The acquisition price of Diverse Solutions according to SEC filings was reportedly $5.5 million in cash and 75,000 shares of class A restricted stock in Zillow, which will vest over the coming three … [Read more...]
More people looking for rentals on the web
September 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
It goes without saying that the economic times have altered what people are looking for online. According to search statistics and trends one of the fastest growing segments of real estate related searches online is for rentals. This would be totally expected. That said, for REALTORS who market online, this can create a difficult and confusing problem. Some call it white noise.It is a flood of registrations and leads on a REALTORS website that are inquiring about rental opportunities that … [Read more...]
TigerLeads, Market Leader, and Other Dangers Of Hiring a PPC Company – a Review
June 25, 2011 By 3 Comments
Publishers Note: This is the first in a series of Technology and Marketing Product Reviews that we will be publishing as part of Real Estate Industry Watch. We will provide equal space to those having opposing views. The views in each of these reviews are those of the author and not neccessarily those of Real Estate Industry Watch.This summary is by no means a slam on any one PPC (Pay Per Click) company, but a discussion on the consequences of hiring a company to manage your paid search … [Read more...]
Zillow files for IPO
April 18, 2011 By 2 Comments
Tech Crunch just posted that Zillow has filed for an IPO valued at 51.75 Million . While that number is simply a starting point and does not means much, it is interesting to note that Zillow has an accumulated deficit since its founding of over $78 Million. According to Tech crunch:"In terms of financial specifics, Zillow appears to be losing less money each year. The company lost $12.8 million in 2009, and lost roughly half of that ($6.7 million) in 2010. The company, which launched to the … [Read more...]
