MLS Operations. Listing Data Distribution Task Force. February 19, 2015

Transcription

1 MLS Operations Listing Data Distribution Task Force February 19, 2015

2 Online Presence is a MUST A poll by the National Association of Realtors, reveals 90% of buyers go online to search for a house. Moreover the research showed that even the home buyers using agents still use the Internet to supplement their home search. The majority of home buyers are still using real estate agents, but they're utilizing online sources to conduct research and look for homes first. ZILLOW TRULIA MERGER The Economist s Case Study Challenge SDA BOCCONI MBA TEAM MATTEO COLOMBO TATIANA ZAKHAROVA ATHINA PAPAIOANNOU SDA BOCCONI SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

3 What are the Online Options? The Big Three aka ZTR Zillow.com Trulia.com REALTOR.com Plus hundreds of other syndication sites Broker and Agent Websites Which sites are beneficial to the Agent/Broker?

4 Who is News Corp? October, News Corp purchased Move Inc Move Inc The company began by working with the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to host and manage the listings of Realtors nationwide in the mid-1990s - the company operated as RealSelect, Inc better known as Homestore. In 1999, Homestore went public, and raised $140 million. NAR retained a significant equity position. Products and services Realtor.com ListHub - acquired in 2010 Plus: Move.com; Top Producer;FiveStreet;Moving.com; SeniorHousingNet; HomeInsight; Homefair; Socialbios; TigerLead Solutions; Realtor.com Feb 10, The National Association of Realtors may no longer hold an ownership stake in realtor.com operator Move Inc. or have a seat on the company s board of directors, but the trade group appears to be committed to promoting the realtor.com brand. Listhub Syndicator - Zillow made the disclosure in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission filed on Tuesday. In the SEC filing, Zillow said it is ending its fouryear listing agreement with Threewide Corporation. Threewide operates Listhub. Threewide is owned by Move, Inc., which operates Realtor.com for the National Association of Realtors. And Move is now owned by News Corp (NWS). Sept. 4, 2014 Move, Inc., today announces the acquisition of the listing syndication arm of Point2. Simplistically : NewsCorp = Move Inc = Realtor.com = Listhub = Point 2

5 Who is Zillow? Zillow is a media company that generates revenue by selling advertising on its web site. It operates the largest real estate and rental advertising networks in the U.S. in partnership with Yahoo! Homes! Through the Yahoo!-Zillow Real Estate Network and the Zillow Rental Network, advertisers get the value of having their listings distributed to the largest audience of home shoppers and renters in the U.S. via Zillow.com, Zillow Mobile and Yahoo! Homes. Zillow is divorcing from Listhub On July 28, 2014, Zillow announced a deal to buy Trulia for $3.5 billion

6 REALTOR.com 1. Realtor.com is not NAR NAR owns the URL realtor.com 2. Realtor.com is operated by Move Inc=News Corp=Listhub 3. Their business model can equate to that of Zillow, Trulia 4. Realtor.com is ONE of 2 sites that are provided a direct feed, by Cincinnati MLS, on behalf of the Brokers. 5. Point 2 Syndicator was also provided a direct feed on behalf of Brokers who was just purchased by ListHub

7 Issues with Syndication 1. Inaccurate / Untimely information 2. Misguides the Consumer 3. Can create stress for the Agent After hearing enough noise from our agents and clients (about problems arising from inaccurate data), we decided to make the move, Pat Riley, President and CEO of Allen Tate Realtors - Inman News Source: 21 st largest Broker in the Nation in 2014, based on Volume

8 For Profit Businesses These Marketing Sites are For Profit and get their money: 1. Through premium membership to get priority for leads on agents own listings. 2. Advertising What do they pay to get the listing data to run this business: $0.00

9 Weighing the Options Is the headache of educating your clients on why it s inaccurate worth it? Do we want to distribute our data to these companies for FREE just to turn around and buy it back? Do we keep our information private (modify Cincinnati MLS distribution policies) and allow Brokers to distribute their own listings when and where they choose.

10 Weighing the Options (cont) As REALTORS, we need to come together and choose to only use accurate, pro-agent, resources that build our personal businesses and industry. As REALTORS we need to decide the best path and stay the course. If we boost the online presence as individual brokers then we can provide accurate information to consumers and maintain control over the leads. (what will the impact be to smaller Brokers?)

11 New Corp Zillow Trulia MoveInc Realtor. com 7/2013 Allowing Non MLS Data to be Displayed ListHub Many Syndication Sites Minus Zillow Point2 MLS Data Feed Cincy Public Facing Website National Broker Portal