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REALTOR Ethics

Venice Dream Team
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Venice Dream Team

RE/MAX Effort Nokomis, FL

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I would love to get some feedback about your homes for sale function. A issue has recently come up where one Realtor is accusing another Realtor of being unethical for reporting that a house was for sale when it was not his listing.
I understand this is not against the law, and you would think that the actual listing agent would be happy that at least his listing was being represented online, but instead is upset and calls it an ethical situation, even after it was explained to him that all he has to do is click the link to claim the listing. I was wondering if anyone at Zillow has encountered this, or anyone else in the outside world.
If this is an ethics issue, I would like to request that all the homes I have informed Zillow were for sale be removed, and I apologize to all agents who may have potentially had the listing. Unfortunately I have no way of tracking which listings I may have told Zillow about. Thank you.

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August 30 2007 - US

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David Gibbons, "DavidG"
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David Gibbons, "DavidG"

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Venice Dream Team -

Thanks for asking - it's an important issue. If you can, please forward my response to the parties who are debating this.

This issue relates to the "tell us it's for sale" feature found on all homes' detail pages on Zillow. You seem to understand how it works but a few folks have confused it with posting a listing for sale on Zillow which would be advertising, and which would be against most MLS rules and ethics. That is not what's happening with this feature and I?m happy to help clear up any doubts you may have. The crux of this issue is that only an agent or an owner can advertise a house for sale on Zillow. And only in those adverts can you post a description of the listing and the agent or seller's contact details.

The fact that a house is for sale is interesting to the Zillow community regardless of whether it?s been advertised. Zillow is an online community for discussing real estate and just like friends tell each other about listings in their neighborhood, so the "tell us it's for sale" feature is used to inform your neighbors of houses for sale in their neighborhood. When a listing agent does decide to advertise on Zillow, they take control of updating the sale price and the listing's status and the "tell us it?s for sale feature" becomes disabled. It's definitely our preference to have the listing agent advertise their listing - so they can provide contact details, answer buyer's questions and keep the posting updated as soon as the house sells.

continued below ...

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August 30 2007

David Gibbons, "DavidG"
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David Gibbons, "DavidG"

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... continued from above.

So, ?tell us it?s for sale? is not advertising. It is however something ?new? and so it will be met with caution, especially among Realtors. My advice is to try find an offline analog to understand all that?s happening with social media online. It makes perfect sense for Realtors to use ?tell us it?s for sale? to let buyers know about listings in their neighborhood because that?s how most homes are sold offline ? most buyers learn about listings from buyer?s agents and not from sellers agents ? it?s always worked that way.

A lengthy answer, but in summary; agents can?t advertise each other?s listings on Zillow and ?tell us it?s for sale? when used by a Realtor is the online incarnation of the discussion buyers and their agents have always had. How could using this feature be a violation?

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August 30 2007

Reporter18
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Reporter18

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David- If you want to see an example of how an agent can abuse this feature look at 5055 Coldwater Canyon Ave APT 206 in Sherman Oaks, CA 91423. You will see that agent Brenda Sprankel has copied the picture from MLS and called it her own. Also she has copied the MLS remarks about the property and then pasted them into the Q&A as a question. Don't you agree she is "advertising" listings that are not hers by this improper use of two functions: 1) posting a picture she promised to be hers but isn't 2) misusing the Question feature by posting a fake question by pasting the property description from the MLS which was written by the listing agent. She posts these as Questions.
We hope this explanation is clear. And we hope that you will banish agents from zillow who continue this type of abuse.

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September 03 2007

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I like that people indicate a property is for sale; but it is completely unreasonable for someone to represent themselves as the AGENT when they are not!

It is even more unreasonable for someone to represent themselves as AN agent when they have no license and no Real Estate agency or practice.

And though it may not cause too much confusion, it is not helpful for someone to claim something is for sale at substantually different than market rate or listing rate when the person stating such has no authorization from the owner to do so!

SO, PLEASE delete the agent tag for:
Vip Aro, "vipinaro" http://www.zillow.com/profile/vipinaro
as he has substantually abused the priviledge

It also sounds like you need to delete the agent tag from Brenda Sprankel from the comments of Reporter18

Please see my "suggestion" at:
http://www.zillow.com/forum/site/ViewThread.htm?tid=9788

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October 23 2007

Ted Mackel, "tmackel"
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Ted Mackel, "tmackel"

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I know I am coming to this party late, but this is a violation of MLS rules. You agreed to those rules when you joined. You can be fined per occurance and your membership revoked. Zillow is not an IDX feed, you cannot claim to be the agent when you do not have a listing agreement.

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May 01 2008

cagcat
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cagcat

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Please HELP. My address is RR2 Box 2314 Thayer, MO 65791. I am the owner and post on Zillow.com my property for sale with phots, info and the contact person as myself Cathy Jones, Owner. I also listed www.realtor .com as more info. 2 days ago I checked my listing and found the local Combs Century 21 listed as my agent and a Michael Lee Sims as the contact with a link to thier website. I don't know how they did it. I ask them to remove the wrong info. I can't edit it . Help me get the wrong info off and my correct info on ASAP.

Please let me know how to do this.

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May 08 2008

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REALTOR Ethics

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