Housing News
Real estate bloggers- image use changes on the horizon for web publishers
Two major acquisitions
This past week, Getty Images announced the acquisition of PicScout and Photolibrary. These two acqusitions may signal a turning point in shared content that might have once been free for use with attribution or as pay to play.
According to Getty’s press release, “Photolibrary’s content will be licensed through Getty Images’ global distribution platform, which enables search in local languages and single image purchases in local currencies.”
The intent of the acquisitions
The acquisition of PicScout anchors the intent with Jonathan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Getty Images, who stated, “As the access to digital imagery becomes even easier, the ability to safeguard and manage creators’ content has become more critical than ever.”
Klein continued, “This acquisition will enable us to bring a vital service to a greater number of imagery agencies and companies around the world and make it possible for them to successfully manage the licensing of the content they represent.”
Long history between content producers and Getty
Along with the Associated Press, Getty Images has always had a touchy relationship with digital content publishers and both are typically avoided altogether in order to steer clear of costly charges and legal threats due to improper content use or licensing.
Rumors in 2009 surfaced that Getty Images was attempting to monetize shared content on the web, however the reports died down shortly afterward, as nothing ever developed from that acquisition that would support the fears.
The danger that now lurks
What some are speculating is a retroactive licensing agreement that could cause problems for previously unlicensed content. One would only need to evaluate images used from these services to make sure there is no time expiration or that the use has not changed from personal to business use over time.
We have speculated that Flickr will see an even greater increase in use by amateur publishers, however, there should be caution placed on bloggers’ use of images that appear to be free to use.
Users are urged to document the current licensing status at the point of publication, as the latest craze on Flickr seems to be a licensing change after use that requires payment or further attribution above and beyond the consumer’s initial use. The only way to safeguard is to use caption techniques using the description body to describe the current status of the image which also notifies Google image users of your license to use.
The difference here within these current acquisitions is that their motives are being made clear in their statements unlike 2009, and content publishers should be aware and watching the terms of service very closely moving forward or avoid using shared images altogether.
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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.
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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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Joe Loomer
May 11, 2011 at 5:42 am
Has the smack of bait and switch to me – use the content, THEN find out it's not in the public domain and get charged?
Navy Chief, Navy Pride