If a listing is fed to an FTP folder and no one sees it, does it exist?
The old line about the tree falling in the desert kept bounding around my head after a debate I had with a colleague earlier this week. The issue? Whether consumers notice – or care – that most home listings sites offer them only a partial view into any market.
I notice and care. And the number of people like me will grow. Why should we believe that the educated, tech savvy people who search for homes online will endure hopscotching between sites to get a complete picture of available inventory if they don’t have to?
Let’s say you’re a fan of sci-fi. Would you find Amazon a compelling destination if the company offered only 60% of the titles in that genre? Or maybe you’re a shoe horse. Would Zappos have nearly as much appeal if you weren’t comfortable knowing that they give you a look at everything Kenneth Cole has to offer? There’s a reason these sites are category leaders.
There was a time, those misty golden days of 2005, when a mashup and a nice UI made for a beguiling home search experience. A site like Trulia made Realtor.com and your locals broker’s IDX feed look pretty antique, as indeed they were. But the emergence of slicker IDX products like Diverse Solutions and the innovative spin of Roost are changing the game at the very time real estate search and classified sites are proliferating. Even Realtor.com’s got a refresh in beta.
The listings legerdemain can’t be sustained. Consumers who bowled over auto dealers, travel agents and insurance brokers may never roll real estate, but it’s fanciful to think they won’t wise up to half-stocked shelves.
So, no, I was not too stoked about Zillow’s announcement of a deal with NCI.
I think we’re headed for a major shakeout in the listings space over the next 18 months. A site like dothomes may pull enough levers to play the traffic arbitrage game; horizontal classifieds sites like Oodle and craigslist may get some casual browsers; but they certainly won’t emerge as category leaders. Consumers – at least those who are serious about finding a home – won’t settle for partial vision. Would you?
Who wins?
Brokers who leverage the killer tool (IDX) sitting under their nose.
MLSs that wake up and vote for Lincoln.
Media companies that create a more broadly conceived online real estate experience
Internet companies that leverage IDX
Am I off base? If so, tell me. It’s an important question.
– Brian Boero
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Brian — I agree wholeheartedly. I don't know why a consumer would use a web site with 50%-80% of available properties. And you offer a very interesting insight relative to how (some) IDX sites are becoming more user-friendly and slick, and how this might affect consumer behavior.
Here are my only doubts/questions:
– Aside from eventually sensing it, how does a consumer know what percentage of the listings they are viewing? If they don't know that Trulia has (for example) only 60%, perhaps they'd keep using Trulia as their main search tool??
– Related to the above, perhaps agents and brokerages need to be marketing the contrast in the percentage of listings available on their IDX sites versus other sources of real estate information?
– How do we help consumers get beyond assuming that a brokers web site either doesn't have all of the listings, or will somehow manipulate them into using that brokerage for real estate services?
I ran a comparision of Trulia, Zillow, and one of the two local MLSs a couple of weeks ago. It was amazing what the difference was. Of course, Trulia and Zillow don't want to admit to consumers that their sites don't have complete or up to date listing info. That is the real problem. WE know that the IDX is the most up to date and complete listing… but we haven't effectively gotten that word out to consumers.
@ Scott … Good questions. I think all these things are in the brokerage or agent's hands. They need to rethink how much of what they know about messaging and marketing, which is a tall order. But this down market works in interesting ways.
Hey Brian,
You're singing Teresa Boardman's song with this post. I agree that we're probably headed for a shakeout in the listing aggregation & syndication space. And as an Amazon alum, you don't need to convince me of the importance of selection. Jeff Bezos beat it into us; "price, convenience, selection, price convenience, selection" (there's a recurring nightmare in there somewhere.)
Now you're going to have to explain your comment about the Zillow / NCI partnership. NCI are one of most productive shelf-stockers on Zillow. You seem to be contradicting yourself.
At Zillow, we're only 3 months into the bulk listings game and already count over 900K for sale listings nationwide. At that rate, the gap between Zillow's and all listings will be dramatically closed in 2008. We've got a long way to go but progress to date has exceeded our projections and we continue to run a backlog of submitted feeds that are yet to be integrated. Frankly we're battling to keep up with the interest among brokers that want to post their listings to Zillow.
Don't forget that IDX sites are also only a partial view of the market. It's admittedly a large part but most IDX sites have no plans to be comprehensive and many have in fact decided to never include a complete for sale inventory. Consumers will realize this too and the buyers' agents who truly differentiate their services will be the ones who scour multiple sources of inventory beyond the MLS. There are 100K Make Me Move postings on Zillow that you won't find anywhere other than on Zillow.com.
Zillow also has an interesting story to tell (and a more work to do) w.r.t. listing quality. My team has been integrating the broker feeds. Stale listings are sometimes an issue. When they are, the interesting thing is that these old listings have gone unnoticed on other websites for months and in some cases, for years. But because homeowners and neighbors search for homes on Zillow constantly – even when those homes are not on the market – we have a quality control feedback loop that's unique to Zillow is helping us to keep listings on Zillow fresh.
I hope that I've added some perspective Brian – this issue is an important area of specialization and differentiation for listing agents – and you've got some 'splaining to do about your NCI comment.
Desi, sorry — David:
Thanks for the response. You always bring useful perspective to these sorts of things.
You are right: IDX opt-in rates are pretty poor in *some* markets. And I am quite sure your quality assurance folks are as good or better than any out there.
But it's not the first million listings that matter. It's the balance, the nooks and crannies of the market, that are the devil. I hope you can get your arms around all of them, but it's going to be tough.
Regarding NCI … my knowledge of and experience with this feed leads me to conclude that it's not exactly, shall we say, pristine. Perhaps you can disabuse me of that opinion.
And are Make Me Move homes on Zillow really listings? Or are they the product of idle time spent day dreaming on the Web? Have you done any research on the profile and intentions of the folks posting MMM homes?
Brian
I have noticed David's name popping up reguarly whenever Zillow's accuracy/relavancy/intentions are questioned on the web or blogs. Is this I wonder a paid damage control employee or a reputation management consultant??
Hi Peter –
I work at Zillow. I manage customer service, site moderation and social media marketing. Blogs and blog comments are the new frontier for effective and transparent customer service. Helping bloggers to understand Zestimates and get the most out of the site is possibly the most rewarding thing I do at Zillow. And blogs are a also great source of product feedback; I only comment when I feel I can add to the discussion but I read almost everything our site's visitors write about Zillow and I pass on those insights to our developers.
Brian –
What was your specific complaint about the NCI feed? Like any listings syndication service, the quality of NCI's data is a function of the frequency with which their Realtor clients maintain those listings. Most Realtors do a great job of this but there are always a few that don't. I definitely don't agree that NCI is a sub-par source of listings from a quality perspective and they certainly beyond impressive w.r.t. quantity.
Agreed that the nooks and crannies matter.
Many Make Me Move values are fantastical but it's being used as a serious pre-marketing tool to a far greater extent than we'd imagined. When we last checked, the median difference between a MMM price and its Zestimate was only 14%! We're constantly receiving news from folks who sold their homes via MMM without even having to mow the lawn. The funniest was from a guy who sold his home within a week of posting his MMM price. His advice; don't do this without discussing it with your wife first.
Hi Brian!
The challenge for any real estate search engine is to have a complete and comprehensive database. Unfortunately, no one is there yet. We are doing our best to create the most user friendly search experience for consumers and agents. It’s not just about having a comprehensive database, rather, It’s about being able to find exactly what you’re looking for within that database. Our new keyword search is a step in the right direction. Now, consumers will be able to fine tune their search. But, in order for this to work efficiently, listings need to contain more details. The more details a listing contains, the easier it will be for the consumer to find what they are looking for. So a better search experience starts with a more detailed listing. Then consumers can stop searching and start finding. In regards to “Partial Vision”, if a listing only has basic information, is it considered a partial listing?
P.S. Hi David – Have you checked out Trulia.com lately? Just pulling your leg my friend…… FYI – A feedback loop was already in place when Trulia launched in September 2005 and has been doing quality control for almost 2 years now. We are constantly fine tuning things. Our growing audience constantly tells us if there are errors in the feeds. All feedback is valuable…
Could you share some examples of some brokers who you feel are leveraging IDX to full capacity?