My response (note I didn't say "rant") about Zillow's claims that it is my fiduciary responsibility (post changed to a non public forum so link removed) to post all of my listings to Zillow got a little windy. I decided I should make it my own post to make sellers aware of a) what is and isn't fiduciary responsibility and b) understanding what does and doesn't work with marketing.
You can read NRS 645 to see what is defined as fiduciary responsibility in regards to Nevada law. You can read the Realtor Code of Ethics to see what is defined as far as duties owed to the public. As per my response to Lenn's post yesterday, I see nothing in there where it defines that I MUST post to Zillow or I am crossing the legal and ethical boundaries that I am to abide and sworn to.
Now here is where I have some problems with Zillow, in fact I may be breaking COE Article 12 (read Mariana Wagner's blog post about this please!) if I DO post on zillow. Here is what Mariana used to sum it up: " All of it boils down to this: Realtors® are bound by the Code of Ethics to advertise their listed properties and services in such that does NOT mislead the public in any way."
Now most of us know that Zillow isn't extremely accurate (I mean as in up to date and in perfecting their "valuation" code) in their "zestimates". Let's say we post a listing and the underlying value range zestimate is not accurate. What value have we brought to the real estate transaction in our duties owed to the client? Absolutely zero. If the zestimate is high, the seller client is going to think we are underselling their house. If the zestimate is low, the buyer client has the perception that the property is overpriced. We are doing no one justice.
Enough of that. Here is my response to the post:
I simply go in and let my seller's know what my marketing plan is. They get an outline of what I do and what I DO NOT do. A seller would think it was your fiduciary duty to carry only their listing and direct and oversee the marketing process.
That causes, in turn, frustration between the agent and the seller.
I have systems and either my seller likes my systems and will work within the confines of my systems or they don't like it and can move on to someone that has the systems to match or will simply be their puppet.
I let my sellers KNOW if they want to do something to market their home, they have complete control of doing their own outside marketing. I even let them know that if they bring a buyer to the table as a result of their own marketing, I will reduce my commission down to 2%.
Why do I do that? Simple. I know what brings on the buyers and what doesn't. I use and carefully analyze tracking. I have tracking on my RES, my Vflyer and incoming traffic to my website. I know where the traffic is coming from.
I got excited and manually entered lots and lots of listings onto Zillow when the listing feature was released. But then I stopped.
Why?
Because I was getting very little incoming traffic and no inquiries from Zillow. I entice people to my website by creating a single property site with the virtual tour, more pictures and the floorplan for the house. Less is more with any type of advertising whether you want people to land on your site or you want them to pick up the phone and call you.
I was thrilled with RES, Vflyer and P2A started SYNDICATING to Zillow because I don't want to spend any more time manually entering on a site that provides me very little return. Yet, people love Zillow, just like they love ineffective, high cost magazine ads. (BTW, I get a higher return from freebies like Zillow than mag ads.)
Even if I am not looking at web traffic, let's say I am looking at email inquiries or phone calls. I have never had one single Zillow email inquiry or one single incoming call where a buyer would identify themselves by saying "I found you on Zillow". I get more traffic and email/phone inquiries from a little obscure place called "hotpads."
I am not saying that Zillow doesn't produce sales. I am not saying Zillow is ineffective. I am not saying agents or FSBOs shouldn't work the "Z". What I am saying is Zillow isn't wildly effective with the way I market property. Do I still utilize Zillow? YES! Through the syndication process.
As for the MLS factor, we have a form that requires seller signature if we exclude their listing from the MLS. We do not yet have a form that requires a seller signature if we exclude them from Zillow.
Aside from all this SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH don't encourage more agents to get on the web! Those of us that have a decent web presence want to keep the secrets to ourselves.
Now this gets me all to wondering. Why aren't highly branded websites (and other advertising mediums) held by the same standards of conduct and ethics that Realtors are sworn in and licensed to protect?
I don't doubt that Zillow has the traffic, it draws in a nationwide audience. I have no doubt the amount of time that I spend manually entering the listing on Zillow is not worth it.
Here is something else to ponder. I am going to show a couple of properties that I am marketing and show up on my Zillow dashboard.
When I go to a listing appointment, I let my sellers know that I am placing their listing on close to 100 websites. I also give them some examples on how I can prove that I am diligent on marketing their property and not just branding myself all over the web. I give them addresses of properties I am marketing to google. There are people deep in the web but they are only there branding themselves, not using all the tools they can possibly use to sell the home for the highest price in the quickest time frame possible.
Back to the main plot. All the examples of googled addresses are currently listed on Zillow, OK?
Zillow's SEO is MISERABLE. SEO (for common folk) is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization. That means when you type something in the lil google search box, that you expect all the matches showing up on the search pages. I don't think I have even ever seen Zillow Show Up. Home 1 Home 2 Home 3
So I think Zillow has a couple of matters to attend to before they accuse US of violating OUR Fiduciary Responsibilities to our sellers: Zillow, where does your Fiduciary Responsibility lie with agents, buyers, sellers and all your "lookers"?
If you are a Las Vegas Area Home Owner who is considering selling your house, please call 702-966-2494 and press extension zero. We will set up an appointment so you can interview us and show you what works with marketing your home and what doesn't. If you want to sell a home outside of the Las Vegas area and want to work with a professional who is knowledgable with the internet marketing process, I have MANY MANY referral partners outside of my area that I will be happy to refer you to!
The last renters were great. They only had about 10 people living in the house, an unlicensed utility trailer sitting in front of my newly landscaped front yard for 8 months and a pit bull that would get out and bare his teeth to anyone who crossed their path. Animal control would pick him up, he would be back in less than the designated holding time. City code enforcement would do nothing about the trailer. We don't live in an HOA because I thought that when I bought this home that people who CAN SPEND A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS FOR A HOME CAN MONETARILY TAKE CARE OF THE UPKEEP.