Syndicating to Zillow and Trulia

Syndicating to Zillow.com & Trulia.com

By Gonzalo Mejia, 2015 NEFMLS President

As you know, there are a many changes taking place within the customer portals or national listing display marketplace.  First, Zillow.com will no longer be accepting listing data via ListHub, which is the product RealtyWEB.Net MLS uses to allow you to send your listings to the various national websites, effective April 7^th.

And now that Zillow.com has acquired Trulia.com, Trulia will no longer be receiving listing data from ListHub either.

Recognizing that many of our members utilize both of these consumer portals, RealtyWEB.Net MLS has successfully negotiated an agreement to provide listing data for display on Zillow.com on behalf of our members.

This agreement also includes the following features for all our members who choose to send their listings to Zillow and Trulia:

• The broker maintains complete control over the decision to send listings to Zillow.Com/Trulia.com.  This will be accomplished direct from your Flexmls login.  Click here for details.
• RealtyWEB.Net MLS staff will make every effort possible to ensure there will be no interruption in your services/listing data if are you currently syndicating to Zillow.com/Trulia.com.  However, please be sure to watch for notifications.
• All RealtyWEB.Net MLS listing agents will be prominently displayed on all of their listings.
• RealtyWEB.Net listing brokers receive attribution, branding, and a link back directly to your websites.
• Listing Brokers will have access to daily analytic reports.
• Better leads – listing data will be more accurate and up to date.
• Access to the Zillow Data Dashboard, a free listing management and reporting platform for more control over your listings.

For now, you will continue managing all other consumer portals from your ListHub account.  Currently, only Zillow.com and Trulia.com will be managed direct from Flexmls.

As stated in last week’s press release, "Zillow is providing a service to a significant portion of our members," said Ron Stephan, CEO of NEFMLS, in a statement. "A direct relationship will improve the quality of our listings data and ensure the timeliness that is crucial to real estate, especially in terms of price and status updates."

If you have questions, please contact RealtyWEB.Net Tech Support at (904) 394-9494 x 1605, also again, click here for details on how you set your preferences in Flexmls.  We will be sure to keep you updated when this option will actually be released.

New Market Share Option

New Market Share Option under Saturation Report in FlexMLS

Currently, Brokers have a tool titled Market Share under the Saturation Report which will rank members/offices/companies within the MLS based on selected criteria.  On March 3, a new option will be added to the Market Share program titled "Rank Members in Office".

Brokers will be able to rank their members by Status and/or Number of Transactions or Dollar Volume for a given time frame.

Click for details on how to run the Market Share Report.

New Photo Upload and Edit Screen

New Photo Upload & Edit Screen coming to FlexMLS

A new photo upload and edit page will be available in FlexMLS,on March 2nd.  The new photo page will make it easier for you to rearrange your photos and add titles/captions.

Rearrange Photos
After you have uploaded your photo(s), a number will appear in the upper left corner indicating the order number.  You can either click an drag your photos to rearrange or click on the number and select the desired position.

Adding Titles & Captions
To add a title or a caption to your photo, hover over the title bar or the caption bar of the photo and click on the pencil.  The green check mark will save your changes.

Designating a Primary Photo
To designate a photo as Primary, click on the flag icon.  The current primary image will be indicated by the highlighted flag icon as well as a blue outline surrounding the photo.

Rotate/Replace/Delete Listing Photos
To the right of each photo is a menu of icons.  the arrows will allow you to rotate the photo, there is an upload icon for replacing the photo, and you also see a trash can icon which of course will delete the photo.

When you are finished editing photos, click on the Return to edit your Listing link in the upper left corner of the page.  All changes to the photos will automatically be saved.

Click here for more detailed instructions and illustrations on how the new screen will appear and function.

If you have any questions, please contact Technical Support at (904) 394-9494 x 1605.

Zillow lands more direct listing feeds

Portal will get 67,000 listings from 2 Florida MLSs

Two Florida multiple listing services have agreed to send top real estate portal Zillow a direct feed of their combined 67,000-plus listings.

The deals come as Zillow is scrambling to obtain listings directly from brokers and MLSs before the expiration of its agreement with Move-owned listing syndicator ListHub on April 7. Zillow rival Realtor.com, also operated by Move, already obtains listings directly from virtually all of the nation's MLSs through it's agreement with the National Association of Realtors.

Announced today, the Jacksonville-based Northeast Florida Multiple Listing Service, also known as RealtyWEB.Net, has joined Zillow's direct feel program, the Zillow Partnership Platform, to send its more than 15,000 residential listings (more than 1,600 of them rentals) directly to Zillow on behalf of it's 6,000 members.

"Zillow is providing a service to a significant portion of our members," said Ron Stephan, CEO of NEFMLS, in a statement.
"A direct relationship will improve the quality of our listings data and ensure the timeliness that is crucial to real estate, especially in terms of price and status updates."

Further south along Florida's Atlantic coast, the Jupiter-Tequesta-Hobe Sound Association of Realtors has also agreed to send Zillow a direct feed of its more than 52,000 active residential listings, including 24,000 single-family homes, 24,000 condominiums and 4,000 townhomes.

The state's largest MLS, My Florida Regional MLS, agreed to proved Zillow a direct feed in December.

Listing agents whose MLSs participate in the Zillow Partnership Platform are prominently displayed on all of their listings, and listing brokers receive attribution, branding, a link back directly to their websites and access to daily analytic reports, the company said. Listings are updated on Zillow as often as every 15 minutes.

In addition, NEFMLS will receive a direct link to its MLS website in the rare cases that a broker does not have a website; full analytic reports for its listings; and credit and branding to the MLS, Stephan said.

"This region of Florida is incredibly attractive to buyers-which is great for sellers," said Curt Beardsley, Zillow Vice President of industry development, in a statement.

"Now that JTHS is sending listings directly to Zillow, sellers will be assured their listings are being seen by the many shoppers looking for their new home."

A large share of JTHS brokers previously syndicated to Zillow via ListHub, and that drove the decision to syndicate directly from the MLS, JTHS MLS CEO Wes Wiggins and NEFMLS's Stephan told Inman.

JTHS and NEFMLS expect to continue their current agreements with ListHub for listing syndication to other third-party portals, Wiggins and Stephan said.

Both MLSs will also deploy the recently launched Zillow Data Dashboard, a free listing management and reporting platform that the company says puts more control over listings in the hands of MLS members and brokers.

The dashboard allows brokers to opt in or out of sending their listings to Zillow with one click; keep customized MLS fields; set lead routing rules; include links to individual listing pages on their website; and get free daily reports of listing performance metrics such as search result impressions, total listing views and total leads delivered.

Zillow has declined to disclose the number of MLSs that are part of the Zillow Partnership Platform, putting the figure at "dozens". Last month, the nation's second most popular real estate listing portal, Trulia, announced it had signed direct feed agreements with 125 MLSs, though Trulia's agreement wiht ListHub does not expire until June 2016.

Zillow is set to aquire Trulia any day now, and when it does Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff has said the company plans to combine the portals' listings into one database. Rascoff said Zillow's MLS contracts typically allow it to share listings with sites it owns, which will include Trulia.

Trulia exec Alon Chaver said Trulia would abide by its contractual obligations with MLSs after the merger, but declined to say whether those agreements would or would not allow the listings Trulia obtains from MLSs to appear on Zillow.

Editors Note: This story has been updated with comments from NEFMLS's Ron Stephan and Trulia's Alon Chaver. 

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