… which may grow up to be full-blown posts some day.
This is the problem…
…with having my listings submitted on my behalf.
From the company web site and on ours, this is the same home. If we agree that buyers want information, how is the buyer better served by redirecting them to a site with less information than more? And how is the seller better served in the process?
I know, I know. It is impractical to feed tens of thousands of listings while allowing a redirect to tens of thousands of different agent sites. Still, it is something that continues to trouble me, not in the “global warming” sense nor in the “Look at the price of gas!” sense, but it bugs me nonetheless.
This is the problem…
…with third-party search sites which rely on indiviual feeds (for instance Trulia, Zillow, and now Front Door) rather than IDX arrangements with the MLS providers (for instance, Redfin, Realtor.com, and even SanDiegoCastles.com).
The home I linked to above is in escrow, has been, actually, for 17 days. It is still displayed on Trulia, but at least the savvy shopper with a keen eye for the fine print will eventually find the little “pending” descriptor somewhere along the way. On Zillow, this home is shown as For Sale with 42 days on Zillow, as is another listing of ours which shows 6 days on Zillow yet was sold prior to entry in our MLS and was therefore active for approximately the one nanosecond it took me to enter the data and push the “change status” button. I find it amusing that the property description for the latter active offering says “Sold prior to MLS input.”
There is clearly still an ongoing feed problem, a problem I have been fighting since January. As I recently admitted, I have all but given up on trying to control where our listings are being displayed, how, and by whom, but I do care that they get it right. Note to Zillow: If you are going to accept feeds, please do some periodic auditing to confirm that they are indeed being regularly updated. Incorrect or inconsistent feeds compromise the integrity of the data and may eventually compromise the integrity of your site. When our latest listing goes live next week, I would like to think (as would my clients) that you will get the memo.
This is the problem…
… with trying to take advantage of people. The fourth and latest in my string of extortion letters arrived this morning.
krisberg.com was previously priced at $457, but as part of a very limited marketing test, I’ve decided to discount our inventory of domain names for just 24 hours. How big a discount? Up to $250. That’s a huge savings. But, you do have to act right away though… because this offer is only good for the next 24 hours.
I feel a Blue Light Special coming on.
This is the problem…
… with beer. As reported in the San Diego Union Tribune this week:
The more beer a scientist drinks, the less likely the scientist is to publish a paper or to have a paper cited by another researcher – a measure of a paper’s quality and importance.
And I haven’t even been drinking.
Have a great weekend!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kris Berg is Co-Owner and Designated Broker of San Diego Castles Realty. If not-so static web sites are your thing, go here at once where you will find loads of real estate information including homes for sale, market trends, floor plans and more. Kris's hobbies include fencing and spot welding. She likes kittens. 
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Is it wrong to start Happy Hour before noon?
Hey, It’s 5pm somewhere.
Radio show still on today?
J- Nope. We are on a temporary “rethinking the value” sabbatical.
Don’t try to time the bottom price for Krisberg.com, or it will be too late, and you will be priced out of the market for “krisberg.com” forever.
If you like the domain name, can afford it within your means at its present price, and plan to use the domain name for at least 5 years, you should buy it. So what if it may go down in price after you buy. Some things are more important than saving a buck.
People need to remember that a domain name is not just an investment (although it has been a great investment through the years for so many others), but is a reflection of who you are (in this case, literally). Users posting dumb-a#$ comments (like this one) on your own special domain name will make for cherished memories to look back on in your old age.
Don’t let the domain-name bubbleheads tell you what to do. They are just jealous domain name renters, bitter that they did not buy their own domain names back in 1998. There has never been a better time to buy Krisberg.com.
LOL Smithers.
Yeah Kris, they’re not making any more domain names. Domains are always a great investment. You can’t time the exact bottom. It’s a buyers market right now, so get off the fence and start building domain name equity.
Savvy and discerning domain name buyers know they should use a “full service” DOMAINITOR(R) for guiding and advising them on the most important domain name purchanse of their lives.
On the other hand, you may want to use DomainFin(R) to represent you, and get a kick-back of 2/3 of their commission at closing. Caveat: DomainFin will charge you $100 for each click on the domain address prior to closing (the first two clicks are free).
Or just go directly to the selling DOMAINITOR(R) and keep all of the commission. However, by not having a seasoned professional on your team, you risk getting unexpected surprises like viruses and spyware with your domain.
Thanks guys! This is great. Now I see that I need an agent to negoitate the deal for me. I am officially coming off the sidelines, because I am emotionally invested.
They want $207. Sure, I could have bought the domain from the builder for $8.95, but they have since repackaged it, and it will now cost me $207.00. If my agent can negotiate a price of, say, $25.00, I would be willing to pay a 3% commission. This means $7.50 to the agent, which would be considered a windfall by any reasonable individual. And, I will take it AS IS. If some unsuspecting individual types “chrisberg.com” or “krisburger.com” into their browser, I agree to hold harmless. Ken Palmer makes a cool $16 plus change, my agent makes $7.50 (for doing nothing but being an “order taker” because, afterall, I did all of my own research) and I get my name back!
But, wait! What if I authorize the payment through PayPal, and the domain continues to redirect to MikeHukabeeForPresident.com? Do I have any recourse? What if I change my mind, yet these guys decide to tie up my money in arbitration? What IF Ken Palmer dies AFTER I have wired my money but BEFORE my domain gets transfered?
I’m so confused.
Instead of a DOMAINITOR(R), you could hire a DOMAINATRIX(R), although this type of representation is not for everyone.
I really like this post and it is very interesting to see the information available. I have to say that I am a big fan of Trulia even though at times I have also found it to not have updated information. I think they have the best real estate site going with the best features. Thanks for the info and great post!
Alternatively, I could rent you my last name. Definitly unique. I can only find 10 of me in the web world. Having reflected on this as my fingers do the talking it might not be equitable as you would have to adopt an entirely new mantra. Maybe we could work out an 01 or 02 thing. .>)
Hi Kris,
We do audit feed updates daily – that’s not the problem here. We’ve determined that a software bug is causing us not to react to your listing’s pending status. Our developers are working on it – a fix should be on the site within a couple of weeks – sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for letting us know!
The issue about links on your listings is more complex. Zillow has a simple answer to this problem; listing agents can manually update their listings on Zillow over-riding feed-supplied data. But you don’t have that option on other listings sites. This is ultimately between the listing agent and their broker/franchise. Surely it is in both of your interests to direct a buyer to the best source of information about your listings?
@ David G: Hallelujah! As a Realogy and a P2A agent, Zillow is getting at least 2 feeds of my listings. I would be out of business keeping all these outbound syndication feeds current. When Zillow starts taking HARMLS feeds, that will be another one.
As Kris points out, there is no way for us to put our best presentation of the listing forward without all the other ones polluting the cloud. From the MLS, the data must be stripped of my contact information, other syndications have different ways of allowing me to promote my listings. As an aside, I do not want my listings dumbed down to the MLS level where we see 8 front photos of the door so the lazy listing agent doesn’t have to take pictures inside.