Happy New Year to the dawgs. Woof.
Ok..maybe their isn’t something to like about this…I don’t know…but it is interesting to say the least. I honestly don’t have a dog in this fight. More than anything, I just want to understand it. And there is NO PLACE like BHB to put it out in the open and air it out a bit.
But let’s start with the facts and then get to the opinion and thus the fun. It was announced this morning that ListHub (a syndicator and sister company *snort* of REALTOR.com over at Move, Inc) has formed a new Real Estate Network. This is a syndication network with publishers of real estate listings that are jumping in at the founding which include RE/MAX, C21, Coldwell Banker, and other franchisors.
This frees them (if everyone participates in their network)from any illusion of NAR control. They are in the same shape (if I understand this correctly) as Zillow, Trulia, and other syndicators. Am I missing something here? They have to abide by the network rules seen here.
This also frees the independents NOT to participate in the syndication network IF they so desire. They can opt out.
I am not sure if I have that right. I would LOVE to have someone in the know comment and fill us in.
This also (if I read this correctly) makes NAR more irrelevant than ever when it comes to marketing online real estate. (You notice how many times I have asked if I am understanding this right? Enquiring minds want to know.) Once everyone is sharing data outside of NAR (as syndicators), then who needs their .02?
Again. I am not saying this is good or bad. I would love some industry comment though.
I have a box of popcorn and a ringside seat and a lot of websites to work on..I will be waiting. 😉
Thomas A B Johnson says:
Realogy(C21,Coldwell Banker,ERA,Better Homes&Gardens and Sotheby’s) and RE/MAX combined comprise perhaps just over half the listings in the US. They were not going to sit by and tolerate the newly flush with cash from IPO, Zillow (and prospectively Trulia), to display their brokers’ listings stripped of costly branding which allows independent buyer agents to earn GCI without that 5%-8% royalty overhead. The billion dollar franchises could no longer wait for some NAR committee to figure out how to log in to Internet Explorer 6 while waiting for a letter in the mail from some poobah telling them how to vote on this “internet stuff”.
Remember, also, that all the big franchises require a minimum brick and mortar “storefront” presence of their franchisees. This is a competitive cost advantage lost to that iPad toting independent buyer agent running the Zillow app out of Starbucks. The big brands will compete with big web presence so that the franchise sites outrank the portals. It just makes sense that they would bypass the NAR IDX franchise rules committee or whatever it is called. Is this called hoist on their own petard?
January 11, 2012 — 10:01 pm
Eric Blackwell says:
@ Is this called hoist on their own petard? — 😉
**Eric munches on some more popcorn**
January 12, 2012 — 11:54 am
Robert Worthington says:
Hey Eric. You know, the whole syndication game, I could really care less about. This is not a knock against your post here, but a knock against the syndication companies. As for me, I have realized no matter how many websites my listings are on, it doesn’t matter. Either way, your typical consumer is going to find an agent to write an offer and anyways. It seems that no matter what marketing we employ, the end result is most of the time a consumer contacting a real estate agent to write an offer.
I even seen a post on BHB that was titled “No more syndication for this broker”. It’s a double edged sword. I get why someone could be for or against it. Personally NAR according to your article is once again, taking another step backwards. In the eyes our current socialist government, taking a step backwards makes NAR all that much more valid.
January 13, 2012 — 12:04 pm