Zillow + Yahoo Real Estate Partnership Goes Live
Shortly after Google announces they will be removing real estate listings from their maps, Zillow and Yahoo Real Estate’s long awaited partnership goes live today. Is this strictly a coincidence?
Strategically this is a great move for Zillow, and will effect the real estate industry in several ways. From a real estate agent’s perspective, this expands marketing reach and puts everything into one user interface…saving agents time and allowing them to focus on other tasks.
On one of the MLS committees I sit on in Maui, there is a lot of opposition to large real estate sites like Zillow. While I understand why some Realtors might see these types of sites as a threat, I encourage you to think about this as an opportunity to gain more exposure for your client’s listings.
So, back to my question. Did Google dump their real estate listings because of partnerships like this between Zillow and Yahoo (and Trulia and CNN)? Well…yes and no. Google does state that one of the reasons they cancelled this service was because of, “the proliferation of excellent property-search tools on real estate websites” (and this blogger would argue that Zillow is one of the best real estate research tools around). However, Google has some of the brightest minds in the industry, and if they wanted to throw their programmers at real estate, they could blow everybody out of the water.
Personally, I think Google has bigger fish to fry. I don’t think Larry Page is taking being dethroned by Facebook as the most visited website very lightly.
drewmeyers
Posted at 20:53h, 03 February“Is this strictly a coincidence?”
Yup – it is.
“However, Google has some of the brightest minds in the industry, and if they wanted to throw their programmers at real estate, they could blow everybody out of the water.”
While I agree Google has brilliant engineers — success in the real estate industry requires people. Someone has to talk to agents, someone has to talk to brokers, someone has to talk to MLS’, someone has to talk to consumers. And all of those people have to care enough to take their input and make product changes as a result. So, no, I don’t think Google could simply throw engineering resources at real estate and win.
Justin Britt
Posted at 02:13h, 04 FebruaryGood point. It wouldn’t be as simple as throwing their programmers on the task.
Sam DeBord, SeattleHome.com
Posted at 16:07h, 04 FebruaryI see this as a positive for Zillow, but I have to admit I’m a bit skeptical of the data integrity. Zillow has some great tools that no other sites offer. Then there’s the zestimate (agents insert negative comments here). Zillow’s popularity is clear, and the map overlays/tax data/parcels are unmatched in my opinion.
However, I’m not sure how Yahoo decided that their best listing source would be going through another syndication site. Agents create listings, upload to an MLS, upload to a syndication site, picked up by Zillow, then over to Yahoo. There has to be a more direct route for data integrity. Zillow’s listings now are feature-friendly, but certainly not a full picture of the total listings available. Outdated listings (and erroneous “foreclosure” listings) always seem to be the downfall of Z and T’s inventory. If I get one more email about the $50,000 foreclosure in Madison Park…..
I guess it comes down to our MLS organizations not allowing their feeds to be available directly to 3rd parties. I’d much rather have everyone displaying accurate data than just our brokerages having the right data and everyone else trying to replicate it.
Sam DeBord, SeattleHome.com
Posted at 16:07h, 04 FebruaryI see this as a positive for Zillow, but I have to admit I’m a bit skeptical of the data integrity. Zillow has some great tools that no other sites offer. Then there’s the zestimate (agents insert negative comments here). Zillow’s popularity is clear, and the map overlays/tax data/parcels are unmatched in my opinion.
However, I’m not sure how Yahoo decided that their best listing source would be going through another syndication site. Agents create listings, upload to an MLS, upload to a syndication site, picked up by Zillow, then over to Yahoo. There has to be a more direct route for data integrity. Zillow’s listings now are feature-friendly, but certainly not a full picture of the total listings available. Outdated listings (and erroneous “foreclosure” listings) always seem to be the downfall of Z and T’s inventory. If I get one more email about the $50,000 foreclosure in Madison Park…..
I guess it comes down to our MLS organizations not allowing their feeds to be available directly to 3rd parties. I’d much rather have everyone displaying accurate data than just our brokerages having the right data and everyone else trying to replicate it.
drewmeyers
Posted at 17:52h, 04 FebruaryI believe Yahoo! didn’t want to be bound by MLS data restrictions (and I
don’t blame them). Listing data aggregation is a tricky business, and the
goal for them was to get out of that business and let someone else worry
about it. Hence, Zillow (which already spends tons of time on data cleanup)
is now handling that component of their business for them — which makes
total sense to me. Before, both Yahoo! RE and Zillow were spending
time/resources dealing with the exact same listing feed issues.
Sam DeBord, SeattleHome.com
Posted at 21:06h, 07 FebruaryIt makes sense from a business efficiency perspective. No need to do the work twice. I just wish there was a more transparent transfer of data directly from the MLS database–no aggregation needed. Of course, that’s not going to happen.
Sam DeBord, SeattleHome.com
Posted at 21:06h, 07 FebruaryIt makes sense from a business efficiency perspective. No need to do the work twice. I just wish there was a more transparent transfer of data directly from the MLS database–no aggregation needed. Of course, that’s not going to happen.
Sam DeBord, SeattleHome.com
Posted at 21:06h, 07 FebruaryIt makes sense from a business efficiency perspective. No need to do the work twice. I just wish there was a more transparent transfer of data directly from the MLS database–no aggregation needed. Of course, that’s not going to happen.
Sam DeBord, SeattleHome.com
Posted at 16:07h, 04 FebruaryI see this as a positive for Zillow, but I have to admit I’m a bit skeptical of the data integrity. Zillow has some great tools that no other sites offer. Then there’s the zestimate (agents insert negative comments here). Zillow’s popularity is clear, and the map overlays/tax data/parcels are unmatched in my opinion.
However, I’m not sure how Yahoo decided that their best listing source would be going through another syndication site. Agents create listings, upload to an MLS, upload to a syndication site, picked up by Zillow, then over to Yahoo. There has to be a more direct route for data integrity. Zillow’s listings now are feature-friendly, but certainly not a full picture of the total listings available. Outdated listings (and erroneous “foreclosure” listings) always seem to be the downfall of Z and T’s inventory. If I get one more email about the $50,000 foreclosure in Madison Park…..
I guess it comes down to our MLS organizations not allowing their feeds to be available directly to 3rd parties. I’d much rather have everyone displaying accurate data than just our brokerages having the right data and everyone else trying to replicate it.
Jay Myers
Posted at 00:45h, 05 FebruaryWell one thing Google has not been able to conquer is “social” as it has been pointed out in multiple articles lately. Maybe real estate will be another on their list or maybe they just don’t to mess with broken systems of so many MLS’ thoughout the country.
Jay Myers
Posted at 00:45h, 05 FebruaryWell one thing Google has not been able to conquer is “social” as it has been pointed out in multiple articles lately. Maybe real estate will be another on their list or maybe they just don’t to mess with broken systems of so many MLS’ thoughout the country.
Jay Myers
Posted at 00:45h, 05 FebruaryWell one thing Google has not been able to conquer is “social” as it has been pointed out in multiple articles lately. Maybe real estate will be another on their list or maybe they just don’t to mess with broken systems of so many MLS’ thoughout the country.
Jay Myers
Posted at 00:45h, 05 FebruaryWell one thing Google has not been able to conquer is “social” as it has been pointed out in multiple articles lately. Maybe real estate will be another on their list or maybe they just don’t to mess with broken systems of so many MLS’ thoughout the country.
Jay Myers
Posted at 00:45h, 05 FebruaryWell one thing Google has not been able to conquer is “social” as it has been pointed out in multiple articles lately. Maybe real estate will be another on their list or maybe they just don’t to mess with broken systems of so many MLS’ thoughout the country.
Jay Myers
Posted at 00:45h, 05 FebruaryWell one thing Google has not been able to conquer is “social” as it has been pointed out in multiple articles lately. Maybe real estate will be another on their list or maybe they just don’t to mess with broken systems of so many MLS’ thoughout the country.
Jay Myers
Posted at 00:45h, 05 FebruaryWell one thing Google has not been able to conquer is “social” as it has been pointed out in multiple articles lately. Maybe real estate will be another on their list or maybe they just don’t to mess with broken systems of so many MLS’ thoughout the country.
Jay Myers
Posted at 00:45h, 05 FebruaryWell one thing Google has not been able to conquer is “social” as it has been pointed out in multiple articles lately. Maybe real estate will be another on their list or maybe they just don’t to mess with broken systems of so many MLS’ thoughout the country.
Jay Myers
Posted at 00:45h, 05 FebruaryWell one thing Google has not been able to conquer is “social” as it has been pointed out in multiple articles lately. Maybe real estate will be another on their list or maybe they just don’t to mess with broken systems of so many MLS’ thoughout the country.
Jay Myers
Posted at 00:45h, 05 FebruaryWell one thing Google has not been able to conquer is “social” as it has been pointed out in multiple articles lately. Maybe real estate will be another on their list or maybe they just don’t to mess with broken systems of so many MLS’ thoughout the country.
Jay Myers
Posted at 00:45h, 05 FebruaryWell one thing Google has not been able to conquer is “social” as it has been pointed out in multiple articles lately. Maybe real estate will be another on their list or maybe they just don’t to mess with broken systems of so many MLS’ thoughout the country.
Jkoslky
Posted at 16:46h, 05 FebruaryI just want to add, zillow needs to take steps and stop allowing cyber bullying to weed out unwanted professionals on the site. All should have the same rights inside zillow.
Real Estate Roundup – Week 5
Posted at 18:22h, 05 February[…] Zillow + Yahoo Real Estate Partnership Goes Live by Justin Britt at Geek Estate Blog […]
World Spinner
Posted at 12:05h, 09 FebruaryZillow + Yahoo Real Estate Partnership Goes Live | GeekEstate Blog ……
Here at World Spinner we are debating the same thing……
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