Shrewsbury-based MLS Property Information Network is now feeding its customers’ home listings to Zillow.com, the Seattle-based Web site.
Property listings from the Bay State’s largest multiple listing service are now available on the real estate site Zillow.com.
Shrewsbury-based MLS Property Information Network has been feeding its customers’ home listings to the Seattle-based site. Zillow joins a list of more than 30 MLS PIN partners – including Trulia, Homescape and Google – that already feature customers’ listings.
The partnership with Zillow, which was announced last week, will enable brokers to get additional exposure for their home listings, explained MLS PIN Chief Executive Officer Kathy Condon
“It’s important to expose these listings for the brokers,” Condon said.
Brokers can choose to withhold their listings. So far, about 1,285 brokers have agreed to have their listings appear on the Zillow site. “I foresee that [number] going up within the next couple of days,” said Melissa Lindberg, MLS PIN’s marketing director.
MLS PIN, which features more than 60,000 listings and has about 30,000 subscribers throughout New England, is the first and only multiple listing service to participate in the Zillow Listings Feed program. “We’re definitely hoping it’s not the last. We are in talks with more [multiple listing services],” said Zillow spokeswoman Amanda Hoffman.
The site, which gets more than 4 million visitors a month, features 1.3 million home listings. Individual agents and homeowners can post their listings for free.
Since the listings feed program was launched last November, Zillow has culled data on for-sale properties from listing aggregators and large real estate firms like Keller Williams, Century 21, Coldwell Banker and ERA, according to Hoffman.
“It’s all free,” said Hoffman. “It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Brokers get their listings on the most trafficked Web site and in turn we’re able to get a more robust experience for our users with more listings available to them.”
According to Zillow, 50 percent of all homes nationwide have been viewed on the site. In Massachusetts, 83 percent of homes have been viewed on Zillow, making it the most viewed state on the site.
‘A Little Apprehensive’
Zillow.com stirred up controversy in the real estate industry when it was started two years ago. Many in the industry viewed it as a threat to their business. The site provides consumers with automatic online home valuations called Zestimates, which some real estate professionals have complained are inaccurate.
“I think initially brokers were concerned that the consumer was going to rely on the Zillow Zestimate rather than calling a Realtor to come and do a market analysis of their home,” said Carolyn Chodat, owner of Classic Properties in Medway.
But Chodat, an MLS PIN board member, said Zillow hasn’t eliminated consumers’ need for Realtors to analyze and interpret data.
Hoffman said a lot of industry leaders were “a little apprehensive” when Richard Barton, who founded the online travel agency Expedia, launched Zillow.
“But we’ve always said buying a plane ticket is not the same as buying a house. We do think there will always be a place for the real estate agent,” Hoffman said.
Chodat said it’s smart for brokers to have their listings appear on sites like Zillow.
“I think they need to be aware of what the consumer is seeing and using. Ultimately our goal is to have the seller’s home sell. The seller is thrilled to have his listings on as many sites as possible,” she said.
“Today’s consumers want to see things on the Internet. They shop around. They surf around to different sites thinking there might be something different. It’s assuring to the seller that no matter what site a consumer goes to, his listing is going to appear.”
