Will Zillow devour real estate information or distribute it?  Will Zillow compel the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to become an Open Source for real estate information or will NAR and it's thousands of real estate Associations become more entrenched? Will NAR do battle with Zillow, aka NIMBY, or embrace it as a tool that guides Buyers to properties? Will Zillow's appetite for revenue bite the hands that feed it or will Zillow trod quietly through the china shop? One thing for sure, Zillow is here to stay so the players better make nice afore the regulators get in the way.

The internet loves real estate.

The internet is awash with real estate; real estate companies from literally every corner of the globe, real estate associations, brokerages, Realtors, lenders, appraisers, surveyors, contractors, etc.  Visitors to the Top 10 real estate web sites have risen 15% in a year, triple the Web's overall US audience growth. Most of the US is well into a real estate recovery, for Key West 2014 is year five of positive growth. As such, 90% of home buyers, whether staying local, moving across state or buying a vacation home across time zones, search the internet before contacting a Realtor.  The competition to be on Page 1 of a search result is fierce - and expensive. The preferred search site for homes for sale used to be realtor.com.

At the head of the pack now are Zillow and Trulia.

Zillow and Trulia togther have more than three times the number of unique visitors then the #3 site, realtor.com, which is operated by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Move, Inc.  Zillow, focusing on innovation and the customer, flew right by NAR and its focus on Realtor membership. And yet, despite the enormous growth and popularity of Zillow and Trulia, particularly the mobile apps of both and Zillow's popular (though often misleading) Zestimates, Zillow and Trulia only absorb approximately 4% of the real estate industry's advertising dollar.  The remainder is spent on locally focused print, TV, radio and mailings. Why such an enormous split?

Because when you get right down to it, buying a home is a local thing. And therein lays the rub.  Local real estate associations, local boutique brokerages (even the offices of national and international companies are locally owned and operated) and local Realtors have successfully defended their territory since before the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). 

And so, just who exactly does Zillow think they are?  Trying to globalize a local enterprise. Taking information freely from the MLS' of real estate associations, providing it free to the public and then charging Realtors a fee to either be seen next to the listings of other Realtors or to prevent other Realtors from being seen next to their listing?  Who is Zillow to charge Realtors for information about the listing the Realtor worked so hard to obtain?  No matter how you cut it, Zillow is taking cash out of the pockets, and pocketbooks, of Realtors. 

Zillow Go Home!

Engel & Voelkers protects its sellers from having their property hijacked.

Engel & Voelkers has an exclusive marketing and lead management contract with Zillow and Trulia.  The benefits to the owner/seller of the property are simple yet significant:

• No Realtor photo or contact information will be seen next to the property on Zillow or Trulia except that of the Engel & Voelkers agent who listed the property for sale.
• This guarantees the owner/seller of the property that any and all inquiries about the property will be directed only to his or her Engels & Voelkers Realtor. 
• This guarantees the owner/seller of the property that his or her E&V Realtor will provide immediate and factual responses to all inquiries about the property, control follow-up and provide feedback to the seller.
• This guarantees the owner/seller of the property that his or her Engel & Voelkers Realtor is there to sell their property.

The exclusive and costly marketing and lead management agreement between Engel & Voelkers and Zillow and Trulia clearly shows how Engel & Voelkers abundantly places the interests of its sellers above its own.

Property owners/sellers who list their property for sale with a company that does not have an exclusive arrangement like Engel & Voelkers' risk having Realtors who are not associated with the sale of their property seen next to their property as if they are. These Realtors are less interested in selling someone else's listing and more interested in stealing away potential Buyers and directing the Buyers to a property of their own.  Sellers properties get hijacked.

As yet undetermined is how involved Zillow and Trulia will become in the transaction of listing and selling real estate.  Selling real estate is not as simple as making an airline or hotel reservation.  One important innovation is the use and legal acceptance of electronic signatures on contracts. A contract originates with the Realtor and can be sent to multiple parties for signature. The process occurs entirely on the computer with a simple click of the mouse.  (I use the system made available from the National Association of Realtors - called Form Simplicity).  Contracts would live in a Zillow cloud.

Another possibility is, there are a host of legally established performance deadlines. These deadlines could reside too in the cloud in the form of checklists and performance arrows showing whose is responsible for what and by what date. With an access code, everyone involved could participate and monitor progress.

Conclusion

Where Zillow and Trulia are going in undetermined.  The scope of their investments and the innovations of their web sites will attract buyers and sellers across the market spectrum.

Clearly, Zillow and Trulia are placing the interests of internet-based Buyers at the top.  Zillow is my friend. The marketing arrangement between Engel & Voelkers and Zillow and Trulia shows that Engel & Voelkers is placing the interests of the Seller at the top. 

Let the Engel & Voelkers Realtor at your door be your friend.

If you have any comments or questions please contact me here.

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