Comments on: Listing Syndication? Not for this Broker!

By: Keadle Real Estate Group

Keadle Real Estate Group — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:25:24 +0000

I feel like users are becoming more educated as to the pros and cons of these national sites. While I feel like not sharing this information is a great idea, we still have to do what is best for our sellers and getting their house out there by all means is it. I think that SEO is evolving where users will have a bigger say in what places and users like the details and local knowledge that these small local sites bring.

By: Michael Sosnowski

Michael Sosnowski — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:05:47 +0000

Excellent post! I have always been against syndication for the simple reason that these site are competing with me locally in the SERPS. There is simply no way to dispute this. Syndication is a lazy form of marketing that really results in minimual leads. Most agents, however, do not have the type of website that can compete locally, so they end up thinking that syndication will help them and their clients. The numbers simpy don’t bear this out.

The analysis of 6 million vistors vs number of listings vs number of actual viewings is a great one.

By: Paul Heim

Paul Heim — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 02:16:01 +0000

I must admitt I have done VERY WELL with syndication, problem is you really have to work it. Go in and make sure you claim your listings, sometimes monthly. pain yes but I have generated a great number of leads from it. I average about 40 listings at any given time and the value of it is only worth the time if you do carry a lot of listings. I have also used point2agent and found it a good bang for the buck. I do however HATE Listhub and they do rip your listings off.

By: Byron Robinson

Byron Robinson — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 21:03:44 +0000

I use truilia and zillow just to place a link to my website on them and nothing else. I do not participate in their gimmicks to keep their site in the front. This is a great article even though it was written some time ago, it is still relevant today.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:51:30 +0000

@ Jason – Hey Jason, thanks for the comment. In response to this remark: “We owe it to our customers to maximize their opportunity to be seen.”

I would respond with 2 items:

1. Syndicating the listings provides a false perception of benefit that quite simply doesn’t actually translate for most persons. Its merely perception that you are “maximizing” exposure.

Its easy math. Zillow is promoting that they are getting around 6 million visitors per month.
And, they also have around 6 million listings.

So, 6 million visitors per month / 6 million listings = 1 visitor per month per listing. Does that sound like an overwhelming powerhouse of “leads”?

And thats not even taking into account RELEVANT traffic. How many of those “visitors” are the sellers themselves looking at their own listing? Or are the listing agent checking it out?
or better yet – how many of those visitors are just there for the Celebrity house articles?

Almost any agent’s website will generate WAY more traffic than 1 visitor per month viewing their client’s listing – and its going to be WAY more relevant than someone wanting to read about the latest Celebrity home in California that came on the market.

2. If you owe it to your customer to “maximize their opportunity to be seen”. Why don’t you take out a Superbowl ad and put their $100,000 condo on it? Or advertise their property by taking out a full page ad on the front page of the New York Times?

The point being its because it doesn’t generate sufficient Return On Investment (ROI) for you to stay in business. I’d argue that for the vast majority of persons, listing syndication generates a negative ROI, where it costs them more directly (either through featured agents/listings/zip codes) or indirectly (by increasing competition in Google/Internet) – than any alleged benefit that they get by syndication in the first place.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 27 May 2011 20:43:35 +0000

I agree that national sites use our own work against us. Is it possible that we can set a precedent that IDX info can not be displayed on sites that feature outside advertising on the same page? Or must be clearly branded with the listing broker’s information?

Houston MLS boasts HAR.com that features agent info alongside the property listing. I think if we organize our MLS’s in that way we can compete with the national sites and offer a better customer experience that better represents real estate agents and our business.

We owe it to our customers to maximize their opportunity to be seen. If we don’t do it, someone else will.

By: Scott Grace

Scott Grace — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:45:36 +0000

We just had IDX become available in our province(love it!!) in Canada and I’m hoping that large sites like trulia will stay away from our market place. We have enough competition on the web already!

By: Kevin Hughes

Kevin Hughes — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 06:06:59 +0000

My team is consistently hearing from folks inquiring about why they haven’t received listing updates for one property or another they have found on the syndication sites. In most instances, the properties in question have been expired, pending or sold listings. We are gathering loads of experience in explaining same to buyers. The syndication sites have some kinks to work out to best serve the public’s need for information.

By: Mark Ciochon

Mark Ciochon — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:58:35 +0000

I had a client send me a listing from Homesdotcom and the listing was canceled over a year ago. She did not understand why the home was listed if it was canceled. She asked me to double check to make SURE it wasn’t listed. The problem with Pointtwo and the like is the agent is responsible for putting accurate information out there and responsible for taking it down. The listing syndication is a good tool to get a listing but in the end it can cause a lot of frustration. Listing syndication IMO was more important in the past but has less relevance as times change. If you google address’ in Omaha you will find Realtordotcom has stolen first place for almost every address.

By: Carmen Brodeur

Carmen Brodeur — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 01:39:41 +0000

I feel bad for his clients. I am sure they have no idea about how this affects them. Their homes will simply get much less exposure than if they were syndicated.