Recently there was a post made to "RealEstateWebMasters.com" by a REALTOR who was annoyed that other REALTORS were linking to and consequently "feeding" Trulia.
What followed were responses by other REALTORS who supported this idea and questioned why consumers need Trulia. Many implied Trulia was hurting consumers by providing inaccurate information. Many others expressed their frustration that Trulia was ranking ahead of them in search engines.
I don't work for Trulia. I am not a real estate agent. I am a web application developer with over 5 years of experience working in the real estate industry. I am also an admirer of what Trulia has accomplished.
From my perspective, let me try to address some of these concerns:
Consumers are being hurt by Trulia because the listing information is out of date.
Is your listing information out of date? As an agent or broker you can fix that. If you don't fix it, you aren't serving your clients very well.
Because Trulia is not allowed to have IDX access they are dependent on brokers & agents to supply updated listing information. In return these listings get more exposure and Trulia directs web traffic to the broker's or agent's web site.
Since this only means more exposure for our customers' listings and more business for us; this seems like a "win-win" situation to me.
We're here to sell houses, right? Trulia is yet another tool in our belt.
Even if I keep my own listings up to date on Trulia, other agents do not. My customers are constantly asking me about these expired listings.
So what? Responding to these questions helps demonstrate to your customers why you're the expert. Use this feedback to learn more about your customer's interests. In short; earn your damn paycheck.
I react to this complaint in the same way I react to doctors who complain about patients reading about medical issues on the Internet. If you "know your stuff" then you have nothing to fear from someone armed with a "little knowledge". Just use it as an opportunity to educate and demonstrate your expertise.
But my web site www.BobTheAwesomeAgent.com ranks lower than Trulia.
There are a variety of reasons for this; but let me quickly summarize: your web site ranks lower than Trulia because your web site is not nearly as good. Yes, you have access to the IDX, but in many cases you have little more than that.
I don't really know what to say to you if you can't appreciate the strategy, innovation, and technical engineering that is obviously at play on Trulia.com. Their web site is a joy to use.
However, Trulia does have some short-comings.
- The accuracy of their listing data
- The lack of listing details
Those weaknesses become our strength though. Customers get a "teaser" on Trulia, but they come to us and our web sites for the "real deal". Don't fear that, embrace that.
At the same time recognize that Trulia is not inferior simply because it lacks those details. Recognize that Trulia's success suggests something about what "consumers" want. Learn from this and use it. Resisting this is no different than the music industry resisting the sale of online music. Because it is something consumers want, it will eventually happen. We can choose to be part of it, or we can become irrelevant.
But what about ME????
Honestly, this statement is at the core of so many of the REALTOR responses on this blog post. Although the word "customers" gets invoked a lot, most of these concerns regarding Trulia have nothing to do with "customers". Trulia is skyrocketing in popularity because "customers" like the way it works.
These Trulia "concerns" stem from real estate agent's own egos. They want THEIR web site to feature #1. They want to be their clients' sole source of information. They want their name to be stamped in BOLD on everything. They really aren't comfortable with their clients self-exploring or self-educating. This is vanity, pure & simple. None of this serves the customer, in fact, it harms the customer.
I firmly believe that a far more enlightened real estate agent realizes that customers will walk a variety of paths. They will explore on Trulia and many other web sites. They will read a lot of information and some of it will be wildly inaccurate. As a real estate agent your role is to help them navigate this jungle. Don't make your clients wear a blindfold so they don't ask questions; trust to their empowerment and help guide them.