Dec. 14, 2006 - "a fun, voyeuristic tool"

The quote   "a fun, voyeuristic tool" is a description of Zillow.com from a staffer at Trulia.com

Trulia.com is a real estate search engine.  The December 2006 Realtor Magazine Online has a list of 15 non REALTOR® people who have had the most impact on real estate in 2006... Trulia.com co-founders Sami Inkinen and Pete Flint are on that list...

"May 17, 2006   
 
Real Living Inc. Posts Listings on Oodle.com, Propsmart.com, Trulia.com 
More partnerships with other residential real estate search engines planned

COLUMBUS, Ohio (May 17, 2006) – Real Living Inc., the nation’s fourth-largest residential real estate firm, announced all of its listings are now available on Propsmart.com and Oodle.com. The company’s Florida and Texas listings can also be accessed on Trulia.com. Listings from additional markets will be added to Trulia.com as the San Francisco-based residential real estate search engine expands into new markets."

HER Real Living listings (Central Ohio) are now on Trulia.com 

Zillow was not a real estate search engine then... May 2006.  Zillow was not a real estate search engine when I started a poll of real estate search engines a couple of months ago.  Zillow was not a real estate search engine when a representative from Zillow was at the Real Estate Industry Summit in Columbus Ohio in late October.   

According to a December 7, blog entry on The Real Estate Economy  "Zillow is an ad-driven content site designed for buyers and nosey neighbors, or in the words of a Trulia staffer"...  "a fun, voyeuristic tool."   That day... Zillow became a real estate search engine.

Dec. 14, 2006 - re: "a fun, voyueristic tool"

It just amazes me how many "listing sites" exist for US homes and how they can all make a go of it.  What's even more interesting is that you can have a site like realtor.com which I assume has most of what's available but buyers will still source out these other sites just to make sure they're not missing anything.

Nice blog Maureen!

Dec. 14, 2006 - re: "a fun, voyueristic tool"

Norm,

Realtor.com has most everything, but unless we spend extra money we don't have more than one photo, it does not say who the listing agent is, just the brokerage.  It is a funky site in so many ways.  Lots ot ads, not a lot of info on the listings... and to me hard to get around.  I don't know why anyone would use it.  Real estate is local.  In Columbus Ohio buyers should just use HERRealLiving.com as far as I am concerned.    I don't really understand why someone would use a site like Trulia.com or Oodle.com to find a local property.  I understand why the sellers want lots of exposure... but it is getting silly IMHO.  All Canadian listings are on one big site, I believe.   Thanks for the comment.

Dec. 17, 2006 - re: "a fun, voyeuristic tool"

The only sites that matter are the ones that have enough eyeballs to actually help sell a home. If a site doesn't have many listings the buyers will leave, no matter what gimic you use to keep them around (Zestimate for example). Realtor.com might have it's faults, but it still has more real buyers then the other National listing sites combined IMO.

The best site will always be a local site. The local agent can actually tell  you what is going on in the market. The local agent doesn't use outdated and inaccurate tax information to give you the value of your home. The local agent will actually take the time to do things correctly, unlike a computer program the agent can factor in all of the little things that really matter.

Dec. 18, 2006 - re: "a fun, voyeuristic tool"