Realty Thoughts and the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal both are reporting that the Houston Association of Realtors has reached an agreement to post all of its MLS listings on Google Base.

Some may argue this is another step toward the imminent demise of the MLS; that conclusion makes little to no sense since the Houston area MLS is the vehicle through which these listings will be entered into Google. I would be willing to entertain arguments that this is another nail in the coffin of Realtor.com; while R.Com remains the dominant player for real estate listings (despite Zillow's traffic catching up, the big Z lacks the listings at this stage), signs of erosion are growing.

This agreement also likely will lead to the usual Chicken Little chirping from those who believe this will push Realtors closer to extinction. Aside from the immediate idiocy of the argument - who do you think is entering these listings into the MLS - and the general need to rationalize one's own decision to go it alone with real estate versus using an expert, this stance also assumes an unbreakable (but non-existent) link between Realtors and Realtor.com.

Back to this in a moment.

Says Bob Hale, president and CEO of HAR, "As far as I know, we're the first association in the country to put all of our listings on Google." Congratulations, Bob. I think. We only can assume (and/or hope) that Bob and his group asked the member brokerages before making the decision. This isn't to say the idea is poor but it does lead to other questions, such as those raised later in the San Jose Business Journal article ...

"Google won't sign a document to protect the data, and they won't sign a document to use it for limited reasons," says [James Harrison, president and CEO of REInfoLink, the Silicon Valley MLS service.] His agreements with the brokers who provide listings to REInfoLink limit what his company can do with the listings information, he says, and he legally cannot give Google more rights than that. ...

No matter how benign the relationship appears today, questions remain about Google's longer term strategy.

Will Google try to sell advertising around the content? Or ultimately will Google replicate a business model others have tried of seeking payment from local real estate agents for leads generated from the Web site traffic?

To its credit, Realtor.com does not sell its leads back out to the agents who are providing the content with their listings. But they do charge a fairly substantial sum, based on the number of listings an agent has, for "enhanced" listings that are more visible on the website. Pay an extra fee and you can add additional photos, get a pretty color border around your listing, etc.

Personally, I've yet to pay for a Realtor.com upgrade because I've not seen any value other than being able to tell the sellers "look at the pretty colors." There are reports that show the number of viewings each property has had - not bad for CYA - but most sellers are less interested in the number of showings as the number of offers they have received. To me, the value's just not there.

So to try and link my business to the fate of Realtor.com would be a mistake. And the same goes for the MLS, which I believe will remain if only because it still serves its original purpose - allowing brokerages to communicate listings to each other. Those who understand the basic premise of the MLS also will understand that the future of a local MLS is unrelated to all the other changes technology is bringing to the real estate industry.

Dissemination of listings to the public was an inevitable outgrowth of the Internet-drive communication revolution. But despite the increased visibility of these listings, the public is not a party to the MLS - not in its truest sense, not looking at it for its core purpose. While many agents still inexplicably tell clients that the MLS sells homes, adding to the misguided mystique, others of us are doing everything we can to market our homes outside the MLS. We are embracing the technology and leveraging it to our clients' advantage.

Back to the Houston MLS ... is the agreement with Google Base a good thing for sellers? Probably. For brokerages? Possibly. For agents? Time will tell. But, much as I feel with Zillow, I believe HAR should keep an eye out for the other shoe in case it drops.

(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes

(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes

I had toyed with the idea of individual property pages for my listings once upon a time but surrendered for a number of reasons, most technical and involving the scripts my sites runs. Without getting into details, it was rather cumbersome to add a new page to the system every time I had a new listing; until I found a shorter method, one that preferably allowed me to use the property address as part of the URL as a subdomain, I was going to let the blog page suffice.

Tonight I finally finished the template for the new-and-improved listing page, using my listing at 18378 W. Paseo. I'm going to populate the links at the bottom of the page over the next couple of days - of all the technology I do have, the one thing I don't have is a reliable PDF creator and that's the one thing I need. But the overall style and look will remain consistent.

These also ought to work well for the search engines. Even the simple blog page served it's purpose, at least on Yahoo.

Check out the page when you have a chance and let me know what you're think. As with everything on the Internet, it's a work in progress.

(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes

Looking for something a little out of the ordinary? A little more spacious? A little further from the grind of the city? A little more luxurious?

Look no further than this Continental-built masterpiece in Canyon Trails in Goodyear. Five large bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, formal dining, separate living and family rooms, a loft perfect for entertaining and a large, open kitchen are spread across more than 4,200 square feet. And the house itself sits on an oversized 1/4-acre lot.

Extra special touches abound, from the spiral staircase leading you upstairs to the backyard oasis featuring a fenced swimming pool and the kitchen with granite countertops, a double oven, stainless steel appliances, upgraded cabinets, a kitchen island with sink and a huge pantry. There's also a highly sought-after 3-car extended length garage with side entry, adding to the home's curb appeal. Add in the RV gate and there's plenty of room for all of the toys.

And the sense of space isn't limited to just the square footage. The downstairs rooms feature 10-foot ceilings, and there are nine-foot ceilings upstairs.

This stunning home, new to the market, is priced below appraisal value at $597,500 and the owner also is offering $10,000 toward buyers' closing costs and prepaid items. But you need to hurry - the owner is only leaving this one on the market for a short time before the holiday season.

     

For more information on this home, call me at 602-502-9693 or e-mail me at info@DaltonsAZHomes.com. Or for a full selection of homes currently available, please visit http://www.daltonsazhomes.com/index.cgi?page-armls.

(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes

Have you ever dreamed of living on the golf course? How about living in Arrowhead Ranch, Glendale's premier master planned community?

What if you could do both at a must-be-seen-to-be- believed price? Now you can!

Welcome to Lakeside at Arrowhead Ranch, located just north on Union Hills Drive and west of 75th Avenue and nestled along the rolling fairways of the Arrowhead Country Club. 

This well-cared for home features a spacious master bedroom with walk-in closet, an extra second closet and a master bathroom with a jacuzzi-style tub and separate shower. The countertops are relatively new, as is the carpet and tile in all the places you would expect. The house is newly painted inside and out and comes with a security system and security door.

Enjoy the large play pool as you watch golfers hack their way around the links. Or sit in the jacuzzi in the gazebo an enjoy an umbrella drink or two under the stars. Or even put an artitifical grass mat and work on your short game after hours - we won't tell the golf course rangers if you don't! (Okay, we're kidding about that part. Please golf responsibly)

And all of this is in Arrowhead Ranch, with easy access to Loop 101 and Interstate 17 and all the convenience the area offers - endless shopping options at the Arrowhead Towne Center, a night of theater at the newly-opened Broadway Palms, baseball at the Peoria Sports Complex and both the Cardinals Stadium and Glendale Arena just down the loop. There's even an In N Out Burger with extended hours for your late night "double-double" fixes.

Best of all, this home is offered at just $339,000 - well below a recent appraisal. The sellers' need to sell is your gain. So don't delay. For more information or to schedule a showing, please call us at 602-502-9693 or e-mail us at Info@DaltonsAZHomes.com or Info@ArrowheadRanchLiving.com.

P.S. - the dog you see standing on the patio is really cute, we know, but he doesn't convey with the rest of the backyard. You'll have to settle for the built in gas barbeque, pool, spa and wonderous unobstructed views of the Arizona sun setting over the Country Club's links. We think you'll still manage quite nicely.

Listing courtesy of Let's Talk Real Estate with permission of homeowner.

(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes