Some Agents Not Happy With Zillow, Trulia

• February 29th 2012

by Shilpi Paul

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Zillow and Trulia, which aggregate real estate listings from the multiple listing services (MLS), brokerages and individual agents, have been gaining popularity with buyers who want to take control of their real estate search: last month, Zillow got about 30 million hits. However, real estate agents have started voicing their frustrations that the websites are hurting, not helping sales, according to a recent article in Business Insider.

From the article:

San Diego real estate agent Jim Abbott argues that inaccurate web listings frustrate potential buyers and may actually drive them to look elsewhere.

Abott (who released a video outlining his firm’s reasons for leaving) along with real estate firms like Minnesota-based Edina Realty and Denver-based Metrolist, a local aggregator, have opted out of Zillow in the last few months. It’s hard to tell if this amounts to a trend; as Business Insider points out, some industry insiders worry that agents will lose business by pulling out of the aggregator sites.

Brad Andersohn, Zillow’s Outreach Manager, even signed on to comment on the article, and seemed to speak directly to worried real estate agents:

It is free for any listing agent to receive prominent placement and leads from their listings on Zillow as long as they’ve created a free profile on the site…thousands [of visitors] even come to find an agent or lender just to write a review on their services and in many cases, hire them to help with a loan or buy/sell their homes.

UrbanTurf reached out to Trulia to get their reaction to the story.

“We believe consumers, agents and brokers all benefit from open, accessible listing data on quality consumer sites like Trulia who are committed to providing the best search experience possible for consumers,” Trulia’s Ginger Wilcox told us. “Any broker who removes their listings from top search sites will dramatically decrease internet exposure for their sellers, resulting in fewer inquiries and more days on the market.”

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/fight_brewing_between_zillow_trulia_and_real_estate_agents/5208.