CoStar Group Acquires Houses.com Domain Name13925

Originally Posted by @denlee
Because the majority of Zillow buyer leads are purchased by someone other than the listing REALTOR, Zillow knowingly connects the consumer with a REALTOR who has most times never been inside the listing in question, and who unlike the listing REALTOR may know little to nothing about the neighborhood, schools, etc.

Originally Posted by @denlee
Conversely, CoStar’s Loopnet charges a fee to commercial listing brokers to place their listing on Loopnet, and in return it places ONLY the listing broker’s contact information with the listing.

Some brokers think they charge too much, but it’s a choice – you don’t have to place your listing with them.

Assuming CoStar continues with the same listing broker centric approach with their foray into residential real estate (they’d be crazy if they didn’t), many brokers, including my wife will be interested in paying to advertise listings with them, provided their reach and the fees they charge make business sense.

Originally Posted by denlee
For example, take a look at the attached screenshot taken from Zillow today. The listing REALTOR happens to be my wife Leah. Above her photo and name is a big bold blue bar which states 'CONTACT AGENT'.

EVERY person that I've ever shown one of her listings on Zillow to and asked "if you click CONTACT AGENT and give up your name, email address and phone number, who do you think that information is sent to?

Without exception, every person said "that would be sent to Leah (the listing REALTOR), of course" - WRONG! It's sent to three other REALTORS, who typically have zero knowledge of the listing, but who pay Zillow for leads off Leah's listings!