Jane

Our new Realtor uses MLS and I copy the address and paste it in Zillow to find the DOM and price changes. Its a pain. Trulia doesn't offer room measurements either.

I find Listingbook offers the home buyer more features and better search items.

Jane

I promise I have no affiliation with Redfin, and I'm not actually even a customer. I just think they have the best MLS search interface around (again, for the areas they cover).

But my take is that if you're resorting to Redfin or Zillow, then your agent isn't doing his/her job very well.

Jane

It is hard to explain in this short space, but the system is used by over 150,000 agents with over 2 million of their buyers, sellers and prospects.

There is a free version with an optional upgrade. The upgrade is less than $20/month. Agents who use Listingbook close an average of 1.5 more sides in the first year and it triples from there, over time.

If your MLS does not offer it, you should ask for it.

Please feel free to contact me or visit our website or Facebook pages for more info.

The biggest discrepancy in my opinion is the map view. Just go to Redfin and compare their map experience with the one on Listingbook. The map is the central part of the experience (by default, it doesn't have to be) and in my opinion that's a very natural way to look for properties. For example:

• The map takes up most of the screen, with a scrollable list of properties below it, and a brief detail of the given property on the right.
• I can scroll through the searched properties by pushing the up and down arrows. I can scroll through the photos of the property in the preview area by pushing the left and right arrows. I can mark a property as a favorite by pressing the "F" key. All without ever leaving the map. I can scroll through 100 search results in a couple of minutes, very quickly seeing properties that can be ruled out, and others that are worth a further look.
• It shows you quickly on the map which you have looked at and haven't, which are your favorites or excluded ("x-outs"), etc.
• Changing the search criteria on the map is trivial with a drop down at the top of the screen, updating instantly. There's no need to go to another screen or refresh to change the criteria.
• Dragging or zooming the map instantly updates the results to search that area.
• Typing in the name of a city, county or neighborhood at the top of the screen instantly takes you to that area with the area outlined.
• The map shows the outlines of the parcels, so you can see (roughly, at least) what is included in the property.

• Make it remember my login for longer. This isn't super secure banking information. It's MLS data that's available online without logging in via numerous sources. Having to re-login every time I want to use it is a hassle.
• Make efficient use of the screen. In most views, Redfin fits the most important information on the screen without scrolling. In the map view, it resizes to use the entire browser window without scrolling, no matter how big the window is. In Listingbook, I have to scroll all the time, and there's a ton of wasted space. White space on the right. Big logo and an AD at the top.
• Make it easier to look at all the photos in a listing. On Redfin you get thumbnails of all of the photos (up to the first 15) on the main listing screen, and can scroll through them all with the arrow keys or buttons right below the picture. On Listingbook you either have to use a drop down menu (WTF?) to pick a different picture, or click away from the main listing page to another page to see them all on the same page. And in all cases, the photos on Redfin are substantially larger, providing a much better view.
• Use regular links instead of the javascript crap you're doing, so it's possible to open property links in a new tab or window, so we can have several open at once.
• Put amenities in bullet lists instead of comma lists so it's easier to read (it's ironic that Listingbook wastes so much space with logos, ads and just whitespace, but then chooses to economize space by making the actual property data harder to read).
• Include the name of the listing agent and brokerage.
• Include last year's property tax information, so we can get an idea of what the taxes will be.
• Include the listing history so we can see how long it's REALLY been listed, not just the most recent listing, and what the previous sales and amounts were.
• Include links to nearby similar sales and listings, for comparison.
• Include links to Street View.

Frankly, Redfin feels like a world class web application designed by top of the line programmers and business people who are trying to make the best possible product for their customers. And their customers are home buyers and sellers. Listingbook feels like something created by people who think of their customers as the real estate industry. If your customers are the agents, you don't have my best interests in mind. For example, I'm sure there are agents that are pissed off that Redfin shows listing and sale history. But that is very useful information for me as a buyer, and I can (and will) get it elsewhere if you hide it from me. It is not unethical, foolish or wrong for a buyer to do his complete homework when buying a house.

I don't know if Redfin has shady practices, maybe they do. But I'm not going to apologize for using the best tools available to me when I'm going to spend a million dollars of my own money, and buy a house I'll probably live in for ten or more years. Frankly I think it's a cop-out to say my agent isn't doing his job if I'm "resorting" to looking online. This is a huge life decision, a ton of money, and it's a team effort. My agent is looking for properties for me, and he is helping me pick areas to look in. He will also, I am confident, represent our best interests when we do make an offer. We are a team together. But it feels like the typical "stay back and let the professionals do it, this is too complicated for you" attitude to say that we shouldn't be looking online just because we have an agent. There are many subtleties to a person's preference in homes, and it's impossible to articulate all of those to an agent so they can pick the perfect home for you without your input. I've bought a number of houses, with a number of great and highly recommended agents, and this magical agent who can find the perfect house through his intuition without me having to go through a bunch of possibilities has never materialized.

If the real estate agent's value is in the fact that the tools INTENTIONALLY make information hard to get, there isn't much value there at all. I happen to believe that a good agent has a lot of value, and I have used agents for every one of my home purchases and sales. And I expect to always do so in the future. But it definitely rubs me the wrong way when I feel like agents and companies in the industry are trying to hide information, or to make it sound like things that are simple are more complicated than they are, solely to justify their value.

I know there are versions of Listingbook which provide more info., as I was given an agents version by my agent who sold my house. She happily set it up for me so I could have the same info she did when looking at comps and history. The history is so important and the regular version of Listingbook doesn't offer it. I go to Zillow to find history.

You are correct, it takes me hours to do my own searches because no one service offers everything.
I use Listingbook because I thought it was the best available to non-professionals. Now I will give Redfin a try.

Thanks for a great rant...

Jane

My experience with Realtors has been that the listings they send are MLS and offer little information to the buyer except the standard stuff - sq ftg, #of beds/baths, property size.

I want doms, history, price the seller paid for the house, and the ability to search the neighborhood for recent sales.

I have only received that type of info one time from my previous agent who sold our house. I was able to find the info easily because she sent all listings using the professional version of Listingbook.

Without that information, a buyer is forced to ask the agent to send that info, or to run separate searches on various real estate websites.

So, back to the original question, how much information do you send to your clients?

Jane

Does this mean that users of LB will be unknowingly spammed by agents who buy this list?

NC you wrote - "I set all my clients (buyers and sellers) up on a listing search that sends them listings that match their criteria, the day the listings hit the MLS. This is an interactive format,"

That's exactly what Realtors send to their clients. Although, I do not receive a demographics breakdown, which I would like for areas we are not familiar with.

The sheets you mention, do not offer history or past price paid. Does not offer dates of price changes.

There's just not enough information. I'm working with a Realtor now who just doesn't understand this and seems annoyed when I ask when the buyer purchased the house and for what amount. Getting comps is like pulling teeth. She just sends 'solds' rather than real comps. Its so frustrating especially when you are dealing with an area you are not familiar with.

I will have to find someone else to work with. We had a wonderful Realtor for a short time. Unfortunately, she had to take care of family problems and left the State.

Listingbook offers more information in one place. Because I've used it for both selling, renting and now buying, I find it comfortable to use. All Realtors in NY use it, but in Florida it is only used by a few.

Tomorrow, I'll give Redfin a try.

Jane

1. Even though our existing product is very popular (over 50 million web pages/month) There is a new version of our system called Listingbook AI that is rolling out now. It addresses many of the mapping and search issues noted above. It has been built "from the ground up", and incorporates the best searching available on the web and hundreds of suggestions from our current users. BTW, it is tied to public records, school and demographic information as well and should a big time saver.

2. The QuickFarm service is totally independent of the contacts that an agent enters into the system. Those personal contacts stay that way and are completely private, always have been and always will be.

Through third party data providers we have very accurate lists of contact information, including e-mail addresses, for residents of specific areas. Many agents find this valuable to connect with and serve their local areas.

I hope this is helpful.

OP wrote: "Through third party data providers we have very accurate lists of contact information, including e-mail addresses, for residents of specific areas. Many agents find this valuable to connect with and serve their local areas."

If I just started to receive emails from agents for no apparent reason, I would report that as Spamming. Aren't there laws against just randomly sending out emails to people that have not contacted you first? I would never do that. They have to contact me first, before I start sending emails to them.

Most agents hate Redfin because it is a discount company. I've read many happy reviews about the company, this of course threatens full commission agent's income.
I doubt I'd use a Redfin agent, but it is a great website for searching properties. Realtor.com is difficult and bulky in comparison. Who knows maybe Redfin will force Realtor.com to improve their product.
I get daily emails from Redfin with all the updates in my area. One easy email gives me lots of info.