And you and your information are literally bought, sold, and traded.
Did that get your attention? It should. Because it ties into a lot of things I harp on, and my goal in this industry: protecting people from misinformation and advising them to the best of my ability. And what I HATE about Zillow is that the company tells people not to trust agents, not to work with agents, and to purchase homes solo. But the reason for this is not to protect buyers; it’s that Zillow NEEDS unrepresented buyers, because it sells these buyers.
Confused? Here, I’ll break it down.
I’ve talked about Premier Agent before, but it is a Zillow product where agents pay money to have their names, faces, and information on listings they have NOTHING to do with. I could pay Zillow hundreds or thousands of dollars a month and have my information go on $4 million sales in buildings I’d never seen. I may not even know what units I’m appearing on, because it’s often done by zip code. Zillow gets a huge amount of revenue from this, and agents pay for it for a few reasons.
Zillow advertises this to us LIKE CRAZY. I get ads for it on LinkedIn, Gmail, in actual emails they send to me, and in banner ads all over the place. Advertising works, and they know this, which is why they spend SO MUCH MONEY on these ads.
Zillow has told consumers not to trust brokerage sites, and traditionally brokerage sites aren’t as user-friendly to search, so Zillow and StreetEasy have major reach and agents want to capitalize on this reach. Thankfully Compass.com now has more complete sales listings (at least in NYC) than StreetEasy/Zillow. So this is starting to fall by the wayside.
For some valid reasons (and because of Zillow propaganda), a lot of people do not trust real estate agents, and think they will do better if they do not work with anyone. So agents trying to get buyers to work with them become dependent on services like this, which trick buyers into working with them.
This hurts consumers because they may think they are reaching out to the listing agent, but instead they are contacting a random agent unrelated to this specific apartment/house. This random agent will then have the legal right to represent the buyer on the purchase of that home, regardless of whether he’s a good fit or knows what he’s doing. Even if the consumer decides not to move forward, this agent now has the buyer’s information and will continue the pursuit. It’s what the agent paid Zillow for: your info as a potential buyer. BUT, if the buyer is already represented, this system breaks down. Which is why Zillow doesn’t want people to get their own agents.
And now Zillow has doubled down. It created this ridiculous product that just makes it harder for consumers to get in touch with the right person, and now they are monetizing it further. If you don’t want other agents to appear on your listings, you have to pay Zillow $350/month. So Zillow is simultaneously charging agents for the service and charging agents NOT to allow the service.
Agents can help fix this by refusing to buy into StreetEasy and Zillow, but it’s hard. I’m used to being poor, so I’m fine not getting leads, but if your business is flailing and you keep seeing ads, I see how it would be tempting.
But you know who has the power to stop this idiocy without any business risk? YOU! The consumer. This system only works if Zillow can promise “leads” off of Premier Agent. And if you are represented by your own agent, you can’t be a lead. They can’t sell your information to the highest bidder. So, for god’s sake, just WORK with someone! Find someone you like, who you trust, and let him do his job so
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Another possibility, although this is more typical in rentals, is brokerages purchasing websites that LOOK like the building you want to reach out to, but are actually just harvesting your information. Again, this depends on your being unrepresented, because if you have an agent already, the agent wouldn’t be tricked by this type of site (hopefully) and your information can’t legally be sold, because you are working with someone.
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And the last one? It’s not as insidious, because it doesn’t aim to mislead consumers, but it’s very real. If an agent is busy and wants someone to run an open house for him, he can either pay cash (like $50) OR offer the second agent all unrepresented buyers that show up. Because, honestly, if you’re coming to an open house and you don’t have an agent, you almost definitely aren’t ready to buy. You may think you are, but you don’t have your REBNY completed and you may not have a pre-approval. But you become a “lead” for this second agent to try to convert and make his/her client.
Maybe this is confusing; that’s what Zillow is banking on, after all. The less transparency there is in the system, the easier it is to take advantage of consumers.
But you know I’m not down for that.
xo
Anna