In my previous post I mentioned a lot of discussion is going on about the issue of listing syndication. Two efforts I heard about last week came from Trulia and eNeighborhoods/Homes.com.
Trulia Direct Reference.
You can read about this effort on Trulia’s blog. The idea came from their “Innovative MLS Advisory Board”. Here’s the explanation from that blog post:
“How does Trulia Direct Reference work?
Regardless of whether an MLS is syndicating for sale listing data to Trulia, the MLS provides a reference file that shows the status, price and other details on all properties listed in its area. Trulia then tries to match this data against the listings data syndicated from various sources, including real estate agents, brokers, franchisors and other third party syndicators. We then compare elements, such as price, agent, brokerage and current status. If there are discrepancies as compared to the MLS system of record, we’ll notify the agent and/or the MLS of the errant data sources to help clean up the data that is out there. We will also present the correct data from the MLS on Trulia.com.”
One of the guys I work with, Mike Banhagel, has great analogy that I think works for this, he calls it “pulling a Tom Sawyer”. If you remember one of the stories in the book Tom had to paint a fence. He wasn’t thrilled at the prospect but came up with the idea to convince other neighborhood kids that painting a fence was one of the most exciting and fun things you could do on a Sunday afternoon. Soon he was charging all the neighborhood kids to paint HIS fence! Right or wrong it seems like Trulia’s trying to pull a Tom Sawyer on the MLS industry.
MLS Trusted (eNeighborhoods/Homes.com)
I think this idea has a lot of legs. You can read about it MLSTrusted.com. Here’s a brief rundown of the benefits:
“The MLS Trusted partnership program was founded to reinforce and promote the value of the partnership between MLSs and participating brokers.
We are partnering with MLS organizations to replace Homes.com listings sourced from services less reliable than the MLS. Through this partnership, all listings sourced from a local MLS are displayed on Homes.com with the new MLS Trusted badge.
This badge tells consumers they can trust the property details they see, and brands the local MLS as the trusted source for truly accurate property data. All listings also contain clear and direct attribution and contact information for listing brokers….”
I love this idea. Think about it as a Better Business Bureau badge. Plus I think the team behind it has all the right intentions. eNeighborhoods has long been a true champion for the integrity of MLS data and good partners that operate within the industry. Of course it will all depend on the implementation but, I’d like to see this effort get some momentum.