I picked up a call yesterday from a buyer who repeatedly asked me if I was sure I was the listing agent of one of my listings. After the third time I ask, “OK, I’m really curious, why do you keep asking me this question with so much passion? On the receiving end, I feel as though you are asking me if I am sure I’m my childs mother” …I laughed, he… not-so-much but I listened. He proceeded to say how frustrated he has been using Zillow, when he clicks on the contact bar he is routed to, as he put it, “the wrong agent”. After I explained it to him I decided I should explain it to you.
In the past Zillow took home information from Realtors MLS feeds and posted the information. Agents had the opportunity to advertise as “featured agent” and when doing that they were the three agents at the top of the page. When you viewed the actual listing, you had the choice to contact the listing agent and send a request. This has all changed now. Zillow has now increased the cost per “featured agent” (usually north of $1,000 I know an agent who pays $5,000 per month. This allows the agent to be feature in certain zip codes) Zillow takes the buyer inquiry and forwards it to the featured agent and then notifies the listing agent that the buyer information was sent to John Smith.
There are pros and cons to working with a listing agent if you are a buyer but that is a separate blog. The point to this blog is to share with you the recent change to Zillow so you are informed. I think your best course of action, if using Zillow is to collect the property data, most importantly the MLS# and navigate over to the local MLS site where ALL of the information is correct and “real-time”. In North Jersey we use:
- http://www.njmls.com/
- http://www.gsmls.com/
- http://www.hudsoncountymultiplelistingservice.com/
Contact a local Real Estate Agent to be sure you are using the correct site. There are many sites that lead you to believe they are direct links, however; those sites are often on a minimum of a 12 to 48 hour delay in updates. This typically leads to buyer frustration when they think they are responding quickly to a listing but in fact it sold to the buyer who linked to MLS and has a 48 hour advantage.
