There are several reasons real estate agents hate Zillow. These include their inaccurate values, business practices, outdated information, lack of responsibility, high cost for agents with few results, users' vulnerability to scams, and their lack of protection of the seller's intellectual property. Real Estate Agents Have Always Hated Zillow. In the minds of agents, Zillow “steals the information from the listings of the MLS agreements, repackages that information on its elegant site, and then sells it to the agents who owned it in the first place, while charging agents expensive advertising costs.
Real estate agents also objected when Zillow sold agents “positions” on its website alongside listed homes. This redirects some buyer inquiries from sales agents to agents who pay Zillow. Real estate agents say this hurts their sellers because buyers get information from agents who have never seen the house. Zillow sells advertising to real estate agents and brokers based on the traffic they receive (which is a lot).
To help encourage people to use real estate agents instead of sites like Zillow, providing faster and more accurate information through the MLS gives buyers more power over their options and can save the agent and buyer a lot of time wasted on irrelevant posts on Zillow. This advertising space is purchased by agents willing to pay Zillow and, in return, can be connected to homes for sale. Since sites like Zillow obtain information about homes for sale indirectly and through multiple channels as publications are added, the information is not as relevant or as efficient as the MLS, where real estate agents can directly control the homes they sell. So while people may enjoy flipping through Zillow posts in bed at night or when they're bored at work, reminding prospective buyers and sellers of the benefits of a relationship with a real estate agent and the tools and value they provide is a great way to keep them The right people in the homebuying process.
While Zillow (and its competitors like Redfin and Trulia) can be somewhat informative and, at the very least, offer great entertainment, it can also be harmful to both real estate agents and those in the process of buying or selling a home. According to the Huff Post, “real estate agents also objected when Zillow sold agent positions” on its website alongside listed homes. Instead, real estate agents need to talk to potential sellers and explain to them why they can earn much less from a sale than they originally thought, according to Forbes, and, alternatively, explain to potential buyers why a home they like can cost much more than they expect. In Zillow's mind, it stepped in where NAR failed to transition the industry to the Internet and provided a valuable service for online consumers: a one-stop shop for searching homes anywhere in the U.S.
UU. and, at the same time, efficiently capture leads from quality buyers and sellers to sell them to agents. Instead, agents buy their leads, whether through their own AdWords campaign, MarketLeader, BoomTown, TigerLeads, or Zillow. Real estate agents hate Zillow because it offers inaccurate home appraisal values, contains outdated and misleading listings, and provides zero value for its paid potential customers.
The agents are very familiar with both the sales process and the local market, so they can recommend the right counteroffers to you. If a real estate agent tells the landlord that they are overestimating the value of their home, many don't believe it. While an MLS may not be as beautiful as sites like Zillow, according to Investopedia, it's a great resource for agents, “competing brokers to work together toward a common goal of helping buyers find the properties they want and helping sellers sell their properties.”. However, by creating good lasting relationships, using tools such as Homebot and the HPI calculator, and creating a strong network, real estate agents can be well-equipped to be the go-to resources and the best option for prospective buyers and sellers.
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