Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
All of those annoying inaccuracies that seem to be such a common occurrence on real estate listings sites may soon be a thing of the past, or at least, it could be if a Dallas-based non-for-profit group manages to get its way.
© Cheryl Casey - Fotolia.com
The National Association of Real Estate Professionals (NAREP) has proposed what it calls a “Syndication Bill of Rights” which aims to standardize real estate listings across major websites like Realtor.com, Trulia.com and Zillow.com, initially by ‘bypassing’ these sites altogether and posting listings to a new, national multiple listing service.
Real estate agent Ben Caballero, founder of NAREP, told Inman News that he was motivated to come up with the idea by his growing frustration with the numerous inaccuracies and often misleading price estimates published on some databases.
In order to drum up support for his idea, Caballero attended last week’s Real Estate New York City forum, meeting with agents from around the country to refine his vision of a “Syndication Bill of Rights”.
A copy of his draft proposal can be downloaded here, but the main points Caballero is calling for are as follows:
1. The right to listing attribution and a direct link to the listing owner’s website.
2. The right to bar brokers and agents from advertising on a listing they do not own.
3. The right to comprehensive reporting with audit capabilities.
4. The right to prohibit unauthorized use of listing data.
5. The right to ensure the publisher implements anti-screen scraping mechanisms.
6. The right to unbiased and comprehensive data display of all listings.
7. The right to accuracy.
8. The right to prohibit of automated property valuations.
9. The right to ensure ratings, titles, and superlative designations are based on accurate and objective criteria.
Caballero says that his initial draft bill of rights came about following discussions held during a National Association of Realtors meeting held in Orlando last year, and was partly based on a previous Real Estate Syndication Bill of Rights published in 2011 by Clareity Security.
Interesting post but you may be confusing the National Association of Real Estate Professionals (NAREP) with the National Association of REALTORS (NAR). Only NAR members can be called REALTORS and, although I have no idea if NAR actually does support NAREP's Bill of Rights (I suspect not), your use of the word REALTOR in your headline implies as much. From your report above, it seems Caballero is the only one "pushing" for this at the moment.
@Cynthia. Point well taken, and you know what? Since at least two other professionals "complained" about the use of this term, I am going change this title (tho I cannot change the URL), and we will no longer use the term. Though it has become a coloquilism and slang for several hundred million people :), it is as you inflect, incorrect I think.
So agents become agents, and everybody else is a Realt___ you know what I think. In all seriousness, thanks in this case for technicalities and correctness too. Ms Webster even says so.
Off to alter this one.
Always,
Phil
The Editor
somewhat annoying isn't it Phil? Agents are all agents, but not all agents are, well, the "R" word. The "R" word is a trademark of the NAR, and NAREP is actually an opposing group, founded because some are very unhappy with the NAR. The "R" word only counts when you are speaking specifically of the NAR members. As a former member of the NAR, and a former "R" word myself, I know just how fussy they are about it. I always use "real estate agent" to avoid the wrath of "R" words. LOL
Yes Donna, I am reminded of a simple man I used to work with. Most people would call Ray (my boss) a Hillbilly. One day we were wading in a stream, doing the work to build a small dam, when Ray and I disagreed on something or other, to the effect: "Hey, are those boots waterproof? No they are not, yes, no..." Then, "they are not" -
Oh yes them are too. Are we so unimportant and shallow that we require to be called this or that? Another Southern bit of wisdom is; "I don't care what you call me, as long as you call me for dinner." Perhaps some more hard times for house sellers and "dinner" being served via some visibility will be enough. 🙂
Was that mean? I forgot the trademark symbol on OSMR2.
Always,
Phil
Please, not another document. I use these inaccuracies as part of my marketing. Yes we want accurate information, but nothing is perfect. That is exactly what I tell my clients I will verify for them. Remember, in most things you do, trust but verify!