The Houston Association of Realtors?® has reached an agreement with Google to provide the listings for their multiple listing service. This is big considering the U.S. Justice Department is suing the National Association of Realtors?® for possible antirust violations.
Realtors?® will continue to see their margins decrease as long as their association keeps it’s head in the sand. Adapting is the key and the opportunities are plentiful for brokers and real estate websites that can identify those opportunities.
Keeping the information locked up in your mls system is the fastest way to losing the information. Setting it free and adding services like Zillow.com? is doing, could unlock potential? opportunities. If you’re a real estate broker the time is now to get your real estate listings into an RSS format and get them uploaded to Google Base. The rest of us will sit back and watch? and see if Google decides to be evil with them.
From Aloha Workshops on the Big Island of Hawaii, this is Brent Norris for the World Organization of Webmasters and the WOW Technology Minute.
Additional Research?
Houston, We Have Google MLS Listings
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-20061212HoustonWeHaveGoogleMLSListings.html
National Association of REALTORS?® : Home
http://www.realtor.org/
Real Estate 2.0 posting the other day.
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