Recent phone call:
“I would like to see the home on Las Olas next week.” “The Encinitas home on Las Olas is pending.” Trulia/Zillow/Realtor.com say it’s active. I offer to send the pending listing to him directly from Sandicor (San Diego MLS)–and do. I also call the listing agent to confirm the pending status.
The problem we agents have with “syndication” is that sites like Zillow, Trulia and even Realtor.com frequently offer corrupted data that helps contribute to consumer and analyst confusion alike. For example, Zillow recently showed 19,745 active listings for homes and condos in San Diego County. Our MLS more accurately shows (because agents report under threat of a fine) a more paltry 6313 homes and condos for sale. If a Carlsbad home sellers and buyers were to rely on the 831 active listing number offered by Zillow, they might be stunned to know there are really only 359 homes and condos available in Carlsbad’s 92008,92009,92010 and 92011 zip codes. And when consumers rely on the corrupted numbers of these syndicators, the results could be disastrous. Sellers might seriously either under or overprice their homes–or buyers, believing the market is flooded with inventory, might fail in making a successful bid for a home (which happens frequently these days). In reality, local Realtors are the ones standing and reporting from the proverbial Ground Zero. We are entrenched in the markets, know the inventory and have access to most recent data. If only home shoppers would check a Realtor’s site for the IDX search feed, which offers the most accurate data available.