word on the street.

third party real estate websites.

Below is a video by ARG Abbott Realty Group Broker and President Jim Abbott explaining why ARG listings will no longer be permitted on 3rd party syndicator sites such as trulia, zillow, and realtor.com.

 As a Sotheby's International Realty Agent, I have the privilege of being on the above sites, as well as sites like New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, James List, The International Herald Tribune and many more. Sotheby's International Realty pays big money to be on the sites, as a lot of sellers these days expect it. Sellers know that 90% of buyers start their home search on the internet and sellers want to make sure their homes are represented.

 There are many different third party websites and I think it is important to recognize the difference between them. Sites like New York Times and The International Herald Tribune are fed from our Sotheby's International Realty data base, CREST and can be regulated by the date we enter in our own system- other third part sites like trulia, zillow and realtor.com feed from our Sotheby's International Realty data base as well, but they also feed from the MLS and other sites, making a lot of these third party sites unregulated. Some listings have the wrong agent information listed, an incorrect picture and even can feed you to an out of area phone base to answer questions about your listing that THEY have NEVER even seen. There are a lot of ins and outs to this and that is why I am not 100% sure how I feel about this issue. If they could regulate these third party sites it might be a good solution- or maybe require them to use an approved IDX feed like most company websites do. Whatever the solution, I am not surprised this issue is rearing its head. I sense it will be a long road ahead and who knows how searching for home on the Internet will work in the future.