Random musings
I don't think my friend Jay Thompson, ThePhoenixRealEstateGuy, invented the phrase Random Musings but it seemed like the perfect title for today's roundup of, well, random musings.
Actually, this is important!
For the past week, the re.net has been buzzing from the sh*tstorm caused when Paula Henry, a Realtor(r) in Indianapolis posted on AgentGenius that her MLS board, MIBOR, with input from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) ruled that Google was a scraper site and that home search on her website must change to the detriment of the consumer public searching for homes to buy.
And the general feeling of the dues paying Realtors who commented there and elsewhere on the net thought the NAR was wrong to "classify Google which indexes the location of data and directs users to the original author with scraping which is the malicious storing and publishing of content for the purpose of misleading or profiting from publishing manipulated data" (my paraphrase of Morgan Carey's definition of indexing vs. scraping).
The consequences, if the decision is upheld will hinder the consumer real estate buyer searching for property on the Internet, hurt seller's exposure of their home listed for sale and generally boost advertising supported real estate search sites such as Trulia and Zillow along with the NAR's official website Realtor.com (which they don't control and is run for profit by Move, Inc.) by selling advertising to the very Realtors whose listings are available on the site).
None of those sites and others would be affected by the decision since none of them are Realtors who must operate under NAR and their local MLS board rules.
The AgentGenius post that started it all with 350 comments.
I'm just wondering when the NAR will leave the stone age and understand that the real estate consumer of today demands information be available to them.
UPDATE: It appears that the NAR will do the right thing. The MLS committee has recommended a change in wording that will go before the board for a vote on Saturday.
Participants must protect IDX information from unauthorized uses. This requirement does not prohibit indexing of IDX sites by search engines.
That's good news and this is what that means for you, the Charleston real estate consumer. You will continue to benefit from the IDX feeds on this website with much more complete and accurate information than what is available at third party aggregators such as Zillow or Trulia.
UPDATE: Once again, not so fast. The Board has decided to not take any action until November. So maybe we're not talking about a dinosaur from the stone age but an ostrich with its head in the sand. Right now, this decision only affects Indianapolis unless it spreads around the country. Stay tuned.
More musings:
What is your agent doing while you're not looking?
I made 5 telephone calls yesterday to 5 agents regarding their listings. One answered the phone, one returned my call in three hours and 3 agents haven't gotten around to returning my call as yet.
There are some very good real estate agents out there. Be choosy who you hire.
And speaking of sh*t. (Please don't be grossed out.)
A homeowner association just makes rules but it's up to residents who agree or don't agree to abide by them.
So while I was walking around my "estate" yesterday, look at this unpleasant surprise I found from a dog walker who didn't bother to pick up.
Common courtesy. Enough said.
