Thanks,
Perk

Listings are syndicated to SO many places (100′s) now it’s impossible for agents to manually update them and they are often duplicated on sites. Syndication sites that rely on a human to manually update the listing cannot be accurate. We do tell the clients to not bother with Zillow, Trulia and the like because of these problems and to instead search from our website.

The only way to get accurate data on what is actually on the market is to go to an agents website with a IDX/RETS data feed directly from the MLS or have them create a MLS search portal for the client. Thats the closest you can get to real time data. Even Realtor.com isn’t in all the markets but every MLS is required to offer IDX/RETS MLS feeds to the MLS members (usually for $$) that they can provide on their websites.

“I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve been called about a property and we look and look and can’t find it” – Well, at least we are making your phone ring!

In all seriousness though, this is definitely something we are trying to address. You are correct that we indeed take data feeds from a number of sources: some from agents, some from brokers, some from MLSs and some from listing syndication services (aka Postlets, vFlyer). We process updates from these companies at least once a day. Agents do their clients a big favor by using these services because it blankets their home on the web, giving them a lot of exposure. However, very often the home doesn’t get taken out of these systems in a timely manner so they remain as ‘active’ in the feeds we are sent.

One change we recently made to our feed system is that we pinpointed the worst offenders of ‘non-updated’ data and we now will automatically expire the listings from these feeds from site after 90 or 180 days that the listing goes without any changes, depending on the feed. We did not apply this rule to any agent, broker or mls feeds because they are usually very current. We are actively working on many more ideas like this to try to do a better job discovering when we are still being sent incorrect data. This one change I described has already made a big difference.

And as agents learn more about syndication, they are also doing a better job maintaining their inventory. On the bottom of every home marked as being for sale on Zillow, we always cite the source of the data. So if the agent sees something incorrect, they know the which source they can go to and correct it.

As a media company we are honored to partner with the real estate community and be able to offer free exposure for your listings. However, at the end of the day, when people really become serious about buying and selling, it is highly advised to work directly with a real estate agent. So I am glad to hear people are calling you to get the most accurate information and so that they can hear your local perspective – something a computer can’t offer.