Sold Content on the Web: What the Competition is Already Doing

You may have heard that TREND is going to provide MLS sold content to brokers for their websites, if they choose to take advantage of it. And you might ask "Why has TREND decided to do this?"

The short answer is: competition. There are many public websites that provide home value information directly to the consumer without the benefit of Realtor expertise. These websites directly compete with your website for consumer traffic. The information and tools these sites offer are major reasons why they are so popular.

Public Websites Already Provide Home Valuation Information

One of these websites is REALTOR.com. REALTOR.com is in the process of releasing a new version of their website, and on the top right of their home page they offer a tool to help find a home's value. (If you still see the old version of REALTOR.com look the for the link to the "BETA" site.) You can enter an address to find a specific home value. (Try 2200 Yardley Road, Yardley, PA.)

Armed with only the home address, you get a targeted location on a map and an estimate of the home's value. REALTOR.com gets their information for the valuation from Public Records data, directly from municipalities. But little explanation is offered to the consumer about how that value was decided.

Another site that provides home value information to the consumer is the popular site, Zillow.com. If you look at Zillow's "zestimate" for the same house, you are likely to get a different amount than the number REALTOR.com provided. Zillow's tool is also fueled by municipal Public Records data primarily, but also obtains some data directly from brokers as a result of business partnerships.

Cyberhomes.com is another website that offers home value information directly to the consumer. Using the same example address you can again get another completely different valuation. Here again, Cyberhomes uses Public Record data primarily, supplemented with data from strategic business partnerships with brokerages. Additionally, on Cyberhomes, the consumer can manually alter their home features, essentially giving them the ability to manipulate the value to their liking.

These websites show us that the information is already out there, that it is not always accurate, and despite that, the public is drawn to these sites, and away from those who don't.

Other MLS's Have Released Sold Data With Great Success

You may ask, "Have other MLS's provided sold content to their members for use on their brokerage websites?" Absolutely, and with great success! Both MRIS in the greater DC area and RMLS in Minneapolis provide sold content to their brokers.

JohnLScott.com is a great example of a broker who is using this information to his advantage.

Those who have utilized it, like John L. Scott, have websites with more accurate valuation information. On this website, you can find information on sold properties as quickly as 5 days after the property is sold. That's because MLS data is updated far more frequently than Public Record data, which can take as long as 5 or more months.

Brokers like this have successfully used sold content to increase traffic to their websites, gain consumer confidence, connect consumers to agents, and capture leads. TREND's goal is to allow you to do the same.

TREND's Decision

In the end, the information is already out there for the consumer to find, whether or not you would like it to be. The question is: "Shouldn't you be the one to provide it to them?" TREND believes you should, and wants to offer you the product to do so.

We hope that this information can help you gain a better understanding of what other consumer websites offer. And we hope this makes you feel more comfortable with TREND's decision to provide sold content to brokers, so you can compete with these sites.

Read more about the release of sold content:

• Misconceptions About the Release of Sold Content
• TREND to Explore the Release of Sold Content