Inaccuracy of real estate listings
Joseph Ferrara at Sellsius addresses the problem of inaccurate real estate listings that frustrate real estate agents, sellers and buyers.
"Inaccuracy of listings on real estate listing sites is the Achilles’ heel which could lead to their demise." Read more including a great photo displaying Joe's great sense of humor and a link to a post by a real estate agent who is frustrated as a result of inaccurate information.
There are so many places that real estate agents post listings today in addition to the local MLS and their personal websites. The consumer real estate public thinks the information they view is accurate. Many people who are searching for Charleston real estate don't search the Charleston MLS but instead are searching for Charleston homes on Zillow, Trulia, Google, MSN, Yahoo! and many other national sites. Some consumers even mistakenly think that information from all real estate sites come from the MLS.
Even a few listings on the Charleston MLS are sometimes inaccurate because every once in a while the listing agent doesn't update the listing from active to contingent (under contract) or even to sold. The MLS includes a standard disclaimer, "information deemed reliable but not guaranteed".
But the MLS generally has most if not all of the available listings and many syndication sites fall woefully short of 100% since it is up to the real estate agent to provide the listing information. Not all agents do. Heck, some real estate agents only include one picture of the home for sale.
But the many syndication sites that many real estate agents use to provide the widest possible exposure for their listings depend on feeds so even if you update the information, some sites may not pick up the feed and obvious frustration can set in for everyone involved.
The seller may want to know why the price reduction hasn't been entered, a potential buyer wants to know why the home is still listed for sale even though it has already gone under contract or the sale has already closed. And everyone wants to know why there aren't more pictures.
The bottom line. Everyone blames the real estate agent. 