Today, Trulia has launched “Trulia Direct Reference,” a “quality assurance system” wherein the new system identifies data discrepancies between the MLS data provided by third party syndicators and other sources not related to the MLS and reports the discrepancies directly to the MLS, broker and listing agent.
According to Trulia, over 8% of listing data has inaccuracies and the Trulia Direct Reference system provides “full transparency” in listing data they publish.
Trulia is inviting all MLSs, even those not syndicating to Trulia to participate at no cost.
Jim Harrison, President and CEO of MLSListings, Inc. said, “Home buyers and sellers have a myriad of resources at their disposal when seeking property information. Oftentimes, the information is inaccurate or outdated causing confusion in the marketplace. Trulia’s decision to incorporate MLS data directly from MLSListings gives buyers and sellers confidence in knowing the information they are seeking from the Trulia website is credible, reliable and most importantly, accurate – all important factors when considering home ownership.”
Data accuracy has been a hot topic in the real estate industry ranging from CoreLogic claims that NAR overstated data for years to Forbes discontinuing use of Zillow as a data source in their reporting. Agents sometimes fail to remove a listing from a third party site (for example a web flyer for Craigslist) yet it still continues to syndicate to the real estate search portals, which is one of many reasons data remains inaccurate.
Our sources tell us that major independent research data on the big three real estate search portals Realtor.com, Zillow and Trulia will be performed in the coming year which will shed more light on the issue. Steps like the aforementioned system implemented by Trulia are likely to follow.
Misty Lackie
March 4, 2011 at 2:31 pm
Great step in the right direction. Good for Trulia.
“Trulia is inviting all MLSs, even those not syndicating to Trulia to participate at no cost.”
The big questions are:
How many MLSs will participate?
When the MLS, broker and listing agent get the alert, how many will correct the data?
Lani Rosales
March 4, 2011 at 5:02 pm
All good questions!
Matthew Holder
March 7, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Re: who updates the data? Big questions & a big problem – the MLS and agents aren’t very good at making corrections. Trulia should notify and let the agents make the changes, with one source trumping all others.
Data accuracy is a major problem on these sites and one that should be tackled. Zillow and Realtor.com right now are way out of touch when it comes to consumer needs.