The whole pie – that’s what we want to give to our consumers, buyers, sellers …
I’ve entered a new world in the past few weeks – I finally purchased and am in the process of integrating an IDX solution (Diverse Solutions) on my blog and other sites. In going through the announcement and listening to feedback from my readers and clients, I have encountered something a bit unexpected – there are a few companies in my market that refrain from participating in IDX. For the life of me, salient and substantive reasons for this are elusive.
A few of the arguments made for not participating in IDX –
1 – The companies don’t want uneducated agents showing their listings.
2 – They don’t like the concept of having their listing on other companies’ sites without clear and explicit disclosure – contact information for the listing company included.
3 – They don’t like that agents with good web presences but no listings benefit from their work/content.
4 – There’s a better chance that the listing company can sell their own listings (read: Dual Agency)
5 – Single-property websites – they have branding, but also more comprehensive information – maps, HOA documents, video tours, etc – branded information is banned from public display in our MLS/IDX feeds (and unbranded websites might be in violation of the Code of Ethics and the state regulatory agency).
6 – Buyers see everything on Realtor.com anyway, why should they care about IDX?
The arguments for participating in IDX –
1 – It benefit the seller with dramatically increased exposure
2 – Participation benefits all Realtors in the MLS – the spirt of cooperation and all of that
3 – IDX service providers often have better interfaces than MLS’.
4 – Sellers benefit from the increased exposure
5 – Realtors with good web presences benefit everybody – buyers, sellers and Realtors.
On the surface, it would seem that competing in a listing presentation against these holdouts would be a no-brainer – “If you let me represent you, you will get greater distribution of your marketing on the web” – but … what if they’re right? Could a return to holding our listing data close to the vest be around the corner?
Just a few thoughts for Tuesday afternoon.
