Seems like the past few years there has been a tussle brewing between those working in Real Estate and the Internet. This season of “creative destruction†has been somewhat painful to watch quite honestly. A case in point is the Zillow “cease and desist†order The Phoenix Real Estate Guy talked about over the weekend.
Now CNN Money has reviews on the latest tools available on the Internet for home buyers and sellers. Of course all of these tools affects Realtors. Here is the link. Below is the summary:
1. Iggys House offers a valuable service for owners who want to sell their homes themselves: free access to the multiple listing service (MLS).
2. Zillow
3. StreetAdvisor.com enables user to both read and write reviews and comments about the street where they live.
4. Zaio is a new company that works with appraisal firms all over the country that employ physical inspections for all the properties they evaluate. This should produce accurate appraisals that will be regularly updated as home prices change. The appraisal will be available, for a fee, to consumers online.
With statistics showing that over 80% of consumers begin the real estate search process on-line (source: NAR), you can understand why the tussle over the Internet is so important.