[NY RE Broker]

Originally Posted by jamesww

I disagree with a number of points on your stance here. First of all over time we are going to see the online side of real estate get more social and those that start communities are the ones that will prosper. Making available sold data puts you in a position that makes your website a better option to spend time on. This will make it easier for you to develop your community.

Our local MLS bans most of us from publishing statistics like recent solds until THEY publish it. My MLS has a specific ban against it all together. I can only "publish" this after they have released it or directly to one of my clients.

Originally Posted by jamesww

Next buyers are very concerned with market data right now. No one wants to be the one that was made a fool. In addition buyers are wanting a more open transaction process and delivering the data shows that you are making an effort to be the guy to bring it forth. I would say that market data has never been more important.

Buyers should be concerned with the data and that is part of MY JOB, to analyze the data and present it to them prior to making an offer. Placing it on your web site for the world to see does nothing to build confidence and instead it will just be scrapped by the spiders and sold everywhere. Knowledge IS power. Have you seen a surgeon give you step by step directions on how to perform your own operations? Does your account go on line and tell you ALL he knows and then gives you all the tools you need to do your own taxes? The more we "GIVE AWAY" the easier it is for these other business models to steal our buyers and sit in an office 5 states away and present offers to the sellers.

Originally Posted by jamesww

The idea that if we give to much away we will have far limited value is just silly. Most people want an expert and the majority of the population really does not want to analyze the data themselves. Having access to it makes them feel more comfortable like someone is not hiding things and trying to scam them. Being the leader in providing such data and an occasional translation of the data puts you in the position of being the expert.

Do you value your stock broker now that you can perform his job from your desk top or do you use Discount Brokers? Do you value your insurance agent as much now that you can get quotes right from your computer or do you search out the lowest insurance plan yourself?

Originally Posted by jamesww

Now strictly from my opinion our entire value as agents is in holding a consultant roll. I personally do not see how anyone could possibly think that opening doors for people and being the only place a consumer can access raw sold data is not really worth that much. It is our ability to interpret the data and knowledge of the community happenings is what has us bring value to the table. Add to that hoarding the data is in essence anti-competitive behavior. This is not good for the industry and will bring our fall if it ever occurs. Holding to a protectionist ideal will assure ones failure in the end.

Yes, our roll is as a consultant, adviser and limited legal council of sorts. Consumers can already access the RAW data from a number of public sites. We are not talking about RAW data we are talking about RAW Data complied, analyzed and redistributed to the public free of charge. Once I take the numbers, and compile things such as Average Days on the Market, Average Sold Price, Absorption Rates, List to Sale Prices, etc. This is no longer RAW!

Any successful business model will PROTECT its information. How it analyzes info and access to real time data. There is nothing anti competitive about that. You and I both have access to the same data. What I am talking about is giving it away for free. You can not control WHO you give it away to when you put it on your web site. Now if you want to give it to your CLIENTS that is a different story and in fact, my clients have full access to this information, but they have to be MY clients! I don't put it out there for the world to see.

Again I will leave off with, Buying a home is an emotional decision. It is not analytical! Not unless you are an investor. Want to put some real number out there. Show them how much its actually going to cost to buy that house. Show them that in 20 years they will have paid double for the house. That is being analytical. That is how we approach commercial transactions.

As an agent it is my job to help a buyer sort through all the homes out there, narrow down the list to a few possibilities and then the buyer picks one. I then analyze the asking price and present these finding to the buyer. Humm, just like we do for a seller.

Zillow is already trying to tell sellers what their house is worth FOR FREE, oh yeah, and NOW sellers can sell on Zillow too now...See a trend here?