Anonymous
06/18/2015 08:59
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Steve wrote:Anonymous wrote:Steve wrote:Anonymous wrote:Are there any other websites that have houses which Zillow does not? It is so annoying that there is nothing exclusive.
I'm working on building that exact thing right now - a place where buyers can find pre-market homes, and where sellers can find buyers.
As a seller, why would I want to do that? If I want to sell, why do t I want the widest possible audience of potential buyers to know about my property?
There are parts of the country that do t have MLS and everything is exclusive through agents. It's a mess.
I think it's very situational. If you already know what your house is worth and can sell it at that price without needing to deal with the decluttering, de-personalizing, and showings then this website works well for you.
On top of that, this makes selling very convenient. if you know you have to move in 6-12 months, you can search for buyers and have one lined up so you don't have to deal with the stress of selling + moving + (potentially) buying all at the same time.
One thing that bothered me very much about selling my house is that my agent wasn't able to upsell my community to buyers on all the good qualities like schools and community due to the Fair Housing Act (Steering). This site gives sellers an outlet to showcase their home in the best light possible without ever needing to reveal their address or give out emails and phone numbers.
There are some other sites that don't address the total solution: www.forsalebyowner.com, www.fizber.com, http://www.militarybyowner.com, Craigslist FSBO section http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/search/doc/reo
This website might not help sellers in San Francisco where you definitely want to put your home on the MLS and get all-cash offers over list price with bidding wars.
Why would buyers be interested in looking at homes that they can't tell where they are????
Anonymous
06/18/2015 08:08
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Steve wrote:Anonymous wrote:
Interesting, although I'm skeptical it can work. Plus, I'm not really happy at your suggestion that it's a workaround the Fair Housing Act.
I agree it's not for everyone. I think the Fair Housing Act issue resonates with a lot of people like myself. I sold a nice house in a nice, family friendly neighborhood with good schools. When buyers asked about why my home was better than one they could get much further away, for much less, and much cheaper, my agent wasn't allowed to respond effectively.
Anonymous wrote:
if they are real sellers looking for real buyers, then its just another MLS. Unless your site is a "pay to play" site requiring paid membership in order to look at the listings?
The MLS does not allow sellers to search for buyers. My site does. I also don't believe in charging consumers to use the site. That would just create an additional barrier to entry that doesn't support the ultimate goal of bringing the right home and the right buyer together. I've been through the difficulties of buying and selling in the DC suburbs, and I built the solution that I wish it existed for me.
How are you planning to monetize this service? I assume this isn't a charitable effort.
Anonymous
06/18/2015 08:05
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Steve wrote:Anonymous wrote:
Interesting, although I'm skeptical it can work. Plus, I'm not really happy at your suggestion that it's a workaround the Fair Housing Act.
I agree it's not for everyone. I think the Fair Housing Act issue resonates with a lot of people like myself. I sold a nice house in a nice, family friendly neighborhood with good schools. When buyers asked about why my home was better than one they could get much further away, for much less, and much cheaper, my agent wasn't allowed to respond effectively.
Anonymous wrote:
if they are real sellers looking for real buyers, then its just another MLS. Unless your site is a "pay to play" site requiring paid membership in order to look at the listings?
The MLS does not allow sellers to search for buyers. My site does. I also don't believe in charging consumers to use the site. That would just create an additional barrier to entry that doesn't support the ultimate goal of bringing the right home and the right buyer together. I've been through the difficulties of buying and selling in the DC suburbs, and I built the solution that I wish it existed for me.
Well the idea of letting a seller search for buyers more efficiently is definitely intriguing. I mean, that's the crux of the marketplace, right? And it's one of the most important thing an agent does.
But I think you'd still have to be compliant with federal law vis a vis the Fair Housing Act. I'm trying to imagine how I would use this site if I were a seller. What do you mean your agent wasn''t allowed to respond effectively to that question, anyway? Seems to me the answer is obvious: Homes closer in do cost more. Is your complaint that the agent couldn't acknowledge you were in bound for schools perceived to be the best?
I see school pyramids advertised in listings all the time, fwiw.
Anyway, intriguing. Let us know when you go into beta.
Anonymous
06/18/2015 08:02
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
What PP said. There are a lot of houses for sale right now that are not on Zillow because Zillow doesn't get active listings from the MRIS for 72 hours in some cases. And doesn't get coming soon listings which are exclusive to the MRIS (although Zillow does have a different, much smaller set of coming soon listings which are manually entered by the agents or sellers.)
Anonymous
06/18/2015 07:54
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Redfin and realtor.com update a lot quicker than Zillow.
But the best thing to do is to get an agent to send you the MRIS listings as they come. They can just set you up to receive emails meeting your search criteria.
But the best thing to do is to get an agent to send you the MRIS listings as they come. They can just set you up to receive emails meeting your search criteria.
Steve
06/18/2015 07:29
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Anonymous wrote:
Interesting, although I'm skeptical it can work. Plus, I'm not really happy at your suggestion that it's a workaround the Fair Housing Act.
I agree it's not for everyone. I think the Fair Housing Act issue resonates with a lot of people like myself. I sold a nice house in a nice, family friendly neighborhood with good schools. When buyers asked about why my home was better than one they could get much further away, for much less, and much cheaper, my agent wasn't allowed to respond effectively.
Anonymous wrote:
if they are real sellers looking for real buyers, then its just another MLS. Unless your site is a "pay to play" site requiring paid membership in order to look at the listings?
The MLS does not allow sellers to search for buyers. My site does. I also don't believe in charging consumers to use the site. That would just create an additional barrier to entry that doesn't support the ultimate goal of bringing the right home and the right buyer together. I've been through the difficulties of buying and selling in the DC suburbs, and I built the solution that I wish it existed for me.
Anonymous
06/18/2015 07:19
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Steve wrote:Anonymous wrote:Are there any other websites that have houses which Zillow does not? It is so annoying that there is nothing exclusive.
I'm working on building that exact thing right now - a place where buyers can find pre-market homes, and where sellers can find buyers.
that makes no sense PP. if they are real sellers looking for real buyers, then its just another MLS. Unless your site is a "pay to play" site requiring paid membership in order to look at the listings?
Anonymous
06/18/2015 07:17
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Steve wrote:Anonymous wrote:Steve wrote:Anonymous wrote:Are there any other websites that have houses which Zillow does not? It is so annoying that there is nothing exclusive.
I'm working on building that exact thing right now - a place where buyers can find pre-market homes, and where sellers can find buyers.
As a seller, why would I want to do that? If I want to sell, why do t I want the widest possible audience of potential buyers to know about my property?
There are parts of the country that do t have MLS and everything is exclusive through agents. It's a mess.
I think it's very situational. If you already know what your house is worth and can sell it at that price without needing to deal with the decluttering, de-personalizing, and showings then this website works well for you.
On top of that, this makes selling very convenient. if you know you have to move in 6-12 months, you can search for buyers and have one lined up so you don't have to deal with the stress of selling + moving + (potentially) buying all at the same time.
One thing that bothered me very much about selling my house is that my agent wasn't able to upsell my community to buyers on all the good qualities like schools and community due to the Fair Housing Act (Steering). This site gives sellers an outlet to showcase their home in the best light possible without ever needing to reveal their address or give out emails and phone numbers.
There are some other sites that don't address the total solution: www.forsalebyowner.com, www.fizber.com, http://www.militarybyowner.com, Craigslist FSBO section http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/search/doc/reo
This website might not help sellers in San Francisco where you definitely want to put your home on the MLS and get all-cash offers over list price with bidding wars.
Interesting, although I'm skeptical it can work. Plus, I'm not really happy at your suggestion that it's a workaround the Fair Housing Act.
This notion that someone will agree to sell you their house 6 months or a year from now also sounds unworkable. What are you doing, setting up put and call options?
Steve
06/18/2015 07:09
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Anonymous wrote:Steve wrote:Anonymous wrote:Are there any other websites that have houses which Zillow does not? It is so annoying that there is nothing exclusive.
I'm working on building that exact thing right now - a place where buyers can find pre-market homes, and where sellers can find buyers.
As a seller, why would I want to do that? If I want to sell, why do t I want the widest possible audience of potential buyers to know about my property?
There are parts of the country that do t have MLS and everything is exclusive through agents. It's a mess.
I think it's very situational. If you already know what your house is worth and can sell it at that price without needing to deal with the decluttering, de-personalizing, and showings then this website works well for you.
On top of that, this makes selling very convenient. if you know you have to move in 6-12 months, you can search for buyers and have one lined up so you don't have to deal with the stress of selling + moving + (potentially) buying all at the same time.
One thing that bothered me very much about selling my house is that my agent wasn't able to upsell my community to buyers on all the good qualities like schools and community due to the Fair Housing Act (Steering). This site gives sellers an outlet to showcase their home in the best light possible without ever needing to reveal their address or give out emails and phone numbers.
There are some other sites that don't address the total solution: www.forsalebyowner.com, www.fizber.com, http://www.militarybyowner.com, Craigslist FSBO section http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/search/doc/reo
This website might not help sellers in San Francisco where you definitely want to put your home on the MLS and get all-cash offers over list price with bidding wars.
Anonymous
06/18/2015 07:06
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Fsbo.com
Anonymous
06/18/2015 06:57
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Steve wrote:Anonymous wrote:Are there any other websites that have houses which Zillow does not? It is so annoying that there is nothing exclusive.
I'm working on building that exact thing right now - a place where buyers can find pre-market homes, and where sellers can find buyers.
As a seller, why would I want to do that? If I want to sell, why do t I want the widest possible audience of potential buyers to know about my property?
There are parts of the country that do t have MLS and everything is exclusive through agents. It's a mess.
Steve
06/18/2015 06:52
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Anonymous wrote:Are there any other websites that have houses which Zillow does not? It is so annoying that there is nothing exclusive.
I'm working on building that exact thing right now - a place where buyers can find pre-market homes, and where sellers can find buyers.
Anonymous
06/18/2015 06:38
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Anonymous wrote:Are there any other websites that have houses which Zillow does not? It is so annoying that there is nothing exclusive.
Dude it's the MLS. No.
Anonymous
06/18/2015 05:28
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Anonymous wrote:Are there any other websites that have houses which Zillow does not? It is so annoying that there is nothing exclusive.
mrishomes.com is the MLS's website. The MLS is the *official* listing service which all the others are based on. realtors can manually add homes to Zillow, so theoretically Zillow could have a home that MRIS does not, but MRIS is the best most accurate source. Redfin is a more convenient way of viewing MRIS's data, because it seems to pull the info off extremely quickly and has lots of good viewing features, an app, etc. Zillow is by the far the most popular but its data is notoriously inaccurate and outdated (e.g., about a quarter of homes shown for sale on Zillow have already sold).
Anonymous
06/18/2015 04:53
Subject: Zillow is the only source to buy?
Are there any other websites that have houses which Zillow does not? It is so annoying that there is nothing exclusive.