Are Zillow, Trulia, Yahoo! & Google Ready to Adopt RETS?
January 3, 2008 by Andy Kaufman · View Comments
Yesterday, in an open letter to the heavyweights of real estate tech, newly-elected chair of the Real Estate Standards Organization, Michael Wurzer called on them to join together with the real estate community in supporting the Real Estate Transaction Standard (”RETS”).
In response to his letter, he got commitments from all 4 to meet during the upcoming Inman Real Estate Connect Conference in NYC.
Over the past year or two, managing & distributing listing data has become a huge pain in the butt, and by adopting a single standard for listing data, brokers will be able to
- Enter their listings only once.
- Send their listings to just the sites they want, easily.
- Not have to pay someone to manage a bunch of data feeds.
- Make sure their listings are updated right away when something changes.
- Not get calls or e-mails on listings that are already sold or expired.
- Get calls or e-mails on listings as soon as the data is entered.
Sounds good, eh? Sure does to me.
In a follow up post today, Wurzer asked, Do Brokers Care About RETS? I commented that I’m fairly certain that they would, if they knew about it; unfortunately most brokers have NO IDEA what it is and how it can benefit them.
That’s why I decided to get involved and joined the RETS Marketing workgroup.
I’m sure you’ll be hearing more from me as I get more involved, but I think the reaction to yesterday’s post is a step in the right direction and I’m looking forward to getting involved.
(h/t to David Harris for this tweet)
Is Zillow Headed for Trouble?
December 18, 2007 by Andy Kaufman · View Comments
Paul Kedrosky seems to think so.
I wonder what he thinks about Trulia’s future? While Zillow’s traffic seems to stagnating, Trulia’s appears to be rising steadily.
Another thing to keep in mind is that Trulia has only raised $18 million to date, while Zillow is up to $87 million in funding.
One last little tidbit… we ask almost everyone we talk to, “What online tools are you using in your homesearch?” I’d estimate that less than 10% have even heard of Trulia or Zillow. I wonder if Scripps approach with FrontDoor will have any better luck in getting their message out. (For more on Scripps’ strategy, check out Joel’s recent write up)
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