Housing News
AG Flash Poll – Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia and you
A big part of a Realtor’s focus has become their web presence which includes third party sites like Realtor.com, Trulia and Zillow. We’d like to know what your sentiment is toward their offerings and how involved you really are.
Results for this AG Flash Poll will be analyzed and presented this Thursday, and we ask that you share this with your coworkers and real estate friends as the bigger the sample size, the better.
This poll is closed. Results will be posted shortly.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer the AG Flash Poll, we value your opinions and the big three sites carefully read AG and will most definitely be tuning in later this week for your thoughts!
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Housing News
Average age of houses on the rise, so is it now better or worse to buy new?
With aging housing in America, are first-time buyers better off buying new or existing homes? The average age of a home is rising, as is the price of new housing, so a shift could be upon us.
The average home age is higher than ever
(REALUOSO.COM) – In a survey from the Department of Housing and Urban Development American Housing Survey (AHS), the median age of homes in the United States was 35 years old. In Texas, homes are a bit younger with the median age between 19 – 29 years. The northeast has the oldest homes, with the median age between 50 – 61 years. In 1985, the median age of a home was only 23 years.
With more houses around 40 years old, the National Association of Realtors asserts that homeowners will have to undertake remodeling and renovation projects before selling unless the home is sold as-is, in which case the buyer will be responsible to update their new residence. Even homeowners who aren’t selling will need to consider remodeling for structural and aesthetic reasons.
Prices of new homes on the rise
Newer homes cost more than they used to. The price differential between new homes and older homes has increased from 10 percent traditionally to around 37 percent in 2014. This is due to rising construction costs, scarcity of lots, and a low inventory of new homes that doesn’t meet the demand.
Click here to continue reading this story…
Housing News
Are Realtors the real loser in the fight between Zillow Group and Move, Inc.?
The last year has been one of dramatic and rapid change in the real estate tech sector, but Realtors are vulnerable, and we’re worried.
Why Realtors are vulnerable to these rapid changes
(REALUOSO.COM) – Corporate warfare demands headlines in every industry, but in the real estate tech sector, a storm has been brewing for years, which in the last year has come to a head. Zillow Group and Move, Inc. (which is owned by News Corp. and operates ListHub, Realtor.com, TopProducer, and other brands) have been competing for a decade now, and the race has appeared to be an aggressive yet polite boxing match. Last year, the gloves came off, and now, they’ve drawn swords and appear to want blood.
Note: We’ll let you decide which company plays which role in the image above.
So how then, does any of this make Realtors the victims of this sword fight? Let’s get everyone up to speed, and then we’ll discuss.
1. Zillow poaches top talent, Move/NAR sues
It all started last year when the gloves came off – Move’s Chief Strategy Officer (who was also Realtor.com’s President), Errol Samuelson jumped ship and joined Zillow on the same day he phoned in his resignation without notice. He left under questionable circumstances, which has led to a lengthy legal battle (wherein Move and NAR have sued Zillow and Samuelson over allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of trade secrets), with the most recent motion being for contempt, which a judge granted to Move/NAR after the mysterious “Samuelson Memo” surfaced.
Salt was added to the wound when Move awarded Samuelson’s job to Move veteran, Curt Beardsley, who days after Samuelson left, also defected to Zillow. This too led to a lawsuit, with allegations including breach of contract, violation of corporations code, illegal dumping of stocks, and Move has sought restitution. These charges are extremely serious, but demanded slightly less attention than the ongoing lawsuit against Samuelson.
2. Two major media brands emerge
Last fall, the News Corp. acquisition of Move, Inc. was given the green light by the feds, and this month, Zillow finalized their acquisition of Trulia.
…Click here to continue reading this story…
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Sara Bonert
February 8, 2011 at 9:53 am
Hey Lani – I just wanted to let you know that Zillow doesn’t have a blogging platform, so results to that question could be interesting! 🙂
steve roesch
February 8, 2011 at 10:06 am
Zillow has a Q&A forum, but if you self promote or actually try to earn business, you are deleted. So you are just supposed to offer the free advice for free.
Lani Rosales
February 8, 2011 at 10:46 am
Sara, shh- wanted to see how this would play out… let me ask trick questions!
Real Estate Auctions
February 8, 2011 at 10:17 am
Zillow ads are more effective than Trulia’s, but Realtor.com is still at the top of our list.
Thomas Cruse
February 8, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Redfin? Yahoo Real Estate?
Billy Jalbert
February 8, 2011 at 7:20 pm
Poll doesn’t work. Some questions need to be N/A. For example. I haven’t received a lead from any of them…
Courtney Buie
February 8, 2011 at 7:24 pm
I have a strong opinion about some of the “issues” being addressed in this poll and am very interested in seeing the results. Thank you for putting it out there!
Les Oatka
February 9, 2011 at 9:10 am
Nicely done question misdirect. It reveals that the questions are being read and a thoughtful response selected, I have never blogged on Zillow.
Take a good look at AR and Trulia and AG should see a real opportunity to blow the socks off the social media element. Good luck.
Michael Sosnowski
February 9, 2011 at 10:17 am
This poll seems to assume that agents think these third party sites are in fact good, and that a blogging platform on them is also good – and the comparison between the group is to determine which is best.
I struggle to understand why agents would want to support these 3rd party sites, which their primary purpose is to control the data and the clients.
cbass
February 18, 2011 at 2:24 pm
agents should unite and block the spam sites like zillow, trulia, realtor, redfin, hotpads etc with the google blocklist chrome extension. maybe google would realize these sites are useless for local real estate.