Earlier you said it's marketing, now you say it's not marketing.
Make up your mind, please.

realting...

"That's an interesting thought but people aren't marketing houses. They are "discussing" house values and they are talking about properties for sale."

do you really beleive that? that's not what's happening with the zillow situation. People can talk all they want about houses and house values... but that's not what they are proposing.

you need to revisit your agency and ethics classes.

I don't need to revisit nothing Bud. You need to refocus your business plan.

I know what Z is trying to do. I don't like it anymore than you do but time is changing. New companies are finding new ways to do things. This is not a new thing, as I've stated before my-currency.com started this a month ago. Weeks from now there'll be ten other sites doing house value discussions.

I'd say you have a bigger ethics and agency issue on your hand by promoting a "broker" status in states you might not be licensed in.

With your username BROKER, anybody that engages in a conversation with you can IMPLY that you are their broker.

Take that to your agency class.

I think that a few of you are missing a key component of what Zillow is doing...

Here is the text from the Zillow Site:

--------------------
Tell Us a Home's For Sale

* Anyone can do it!
* All you need is the address and asking price.
* A link to your profile and your photo — if you uploaded one — will appear each time.
* If you add photos to a home, a link to your profile will also appear with the photos.

Getting Started

To tell us a home is for sale, just enter an address in our search box, follow the link to that property, then click on the "Tell us it's for sale" icon near the address.
--------------------

Now go to this link:
http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?zprop=59175751

I have put my photo and information on this home and listed it as "for sale" where you can link to my profile, and contact me.

I don't claim that this is my listing, and the "listing agent" can "take over" the listing, and thereby take it away from me.

But as a licensed real estate agent, I've just violated my ethics by putting out there that the property is for sale when I have no right to market the property.

There is no way that you can say what I did to this home is "discussing" the homes value - I've put the home on the market without the permission of the owner!

By the way, this condo belongs to a friend of mine, and if anyone does want to offer him a million dollars as I've put in the for sale price, he'd be happy to move.

I'll remove the "for sale" data in a couple of days, but wanted to demonstrate how easy it would be for some agent to go in and enter "for sale" data for every home in the system, and thereby cultivate leads on property that isn't really for sale.

So, if I was to start a website SIMILAR to Zillow, would I be able to since I am a licensed agent? Or should I let someone else do it?

Where are the restrictions to "ALL OTHER marketing methods"? How do you think a seller would feel, if suddenly their property was featured in Architectural Digest or Wall Street Journal without their explicit permission? Would they be upset? I don't think so.
We need to change our way of thinking and allow the market to help us make as many people know about the property for sale as possible, we owe it to our seller and this is one way to do it.

Right now, an agent from another company is marketing my listing in a magazine, do I feel bad? No. Does the owner? No.
These are not exclusive pocket listings and should not be treated that way.

OMG LOL

I must have hit a nerve.

Maybe you will tell us the name of your company so we can visit your website and see how you are doing things.

"I'd say you have a bigger ethics and agency issue on your hand by promoting a "broker" status in states you might not be licensed in."

Huh? It's a username on a message board for agents..... please explain your basis and support for this comment.

Troy,
So tell us exactly where the ethics violation is and please be specific and post relevant passages of COE to support you contention that an agent posting a comment about a property that is not their listing would violate COE.

BTW what you have done by posting a property that is NOT for sale is wrong.

I'll ad that some might consider it an illegal act as an "interference with a contract" since we are talking about hijacking someones exclusive listing.

If the listing agent gives their permission... that's different... but doing it at will without their consent could be construed with interfering with thier contract.

Do homeowners want the most exposure for their property? yes.
But they assign the rights for marketing with an exclusive listing agreement.

Good discussion.

Paul,

The property is for sale - the owner is a friend of mine and he will accept a million dollars for it, as I've put on Zillow. Why is this wrong?

broker,
Some might also consider it as just another form of blogging and the purpose of blogging is to give you exposure.

"Interference with a contract"??? So exactly how has this caused any "Interference" to the listing agent? Are you taking something away from this agent? Are you causing this agent to not be compensated for the eventual sale of the property? The agent is out nothing because if he already has a Zillow profile then he would be posting the house as his listing. If he does not have a Zillow profile then he would not be getting these leads anyway. So the agent is out Nothing so I seriously doubt that you could get any judge or jury to buy the "Interference with a contract" argument.

I may have been mistaken but from the way you made it sound the property was Not actively on the market but the owner would take a million. So this is in fact a listing that is currently on the market? If so I do apologize.

Paul, you better erase the homes you "discussed" on Zillow or you're going to be in hot water. The Seller contracted their Agent to represent them and market the home, not you. You may not market it without their permission.

Paul,

Code of Ethics:

• Standard of Practice 16-19
Signs giving notice of property for sale, rent, lease, or exchange shall not be placed on property without consent of the seller/landlord. (Amended 1/93)

Accepting this standard as their own, REALTORS® pledge to observe its spirit in all of their activities whether conducted personally, through associates or others, or via technological means, and to conduct their business in accordance with the tenets set forth below. (Amended 1/07)

Since the code applies to physical and electronic means, if I don't have a written agreement with the owner, then I've put a for sale sign on the property without the owners consent.

Correct?