The Property Call

I just got off the phone with an upset seller who expired her listing in Dec 2010. The listing still showed on Zillow.com.

For about an hour or so, I listened, along with an official company representative, how the company was responsible for all property display and advertising. She further went on to say that the agent is licensed underneath the company and that restitution needs to be paid for damages done since this has been an ongoing issue for nearly a year.

The Property Seller Call

"Well, what do you think?" she asked.

"I think your correct in a lot of ways." I responded.

And I think she has a point. The real estate company does have the responsibility to make sure that the property data is correct.

What's interesting is that most of the internet display is now automatic. Once the property is out of MLS, it removes itself from third party web sites within 24 hours. Monitoring this on a daily basis with thousands of listings across multiple web sites isn't realistic.

The Property Situation

"Don't you have computer systems that know when the contract expired?"

Well, yes. Again, she has a point. So how does the property show on Zillow.com? The property was showing on Zillow.com through a third party advertiser. The agent advertised through a third party luxury web site and the that web site also sent the property to Zillow.com. Since the advertising on the luxury web site was I guess for a year, the advertiser still had the property information and was still sending it to Zillow.com

I guess the agent was supposed to cancel the advertising to make sure it was removed but that apparently didn't happen. Or it did and through a glitch on the luxury web site, the listing still showed and sent to Zillow.com.

In my eyes... hey, it happens. No big deal. We'll pass the info along to the agent and have the agent discontinue the advertising.

In the seller's eyes, she wanted restitution and revenge. She wanted someone to pay!

Broker's Internet Property Display Point

And that's the point. At the end of the day, third party web sites and companies who don't have licenses and who post incorrect information, get to skate away scott free. But the agent and the company has to answer for misinformation in a legal manner.

Doesn't seem fair especially since the third parties are the ones profiting off of information that they don't gather themselves.

It's real world experience issues like this that I was chosen for a nation-wide study of IDX information. Part of what they will be looking into is whether or not property display on social media should be allowed. And if so, at what level and terms.

I'd say after this situation, I have one more example fresh in my mind.