On a facebook business page there has been a BIG discussion about internet and social media policies and also policy and procedures manuals…to have or not to have! A broker who posted said that they did not understand why broker’s are trying to be oppressive with their agents…by putting policies in place that would prohibit agents from posting on certain internet sites…advertising in some ways, etc. 2 of us trainers reminded the broker that it’s not oppressive to implement the rules and regs of the state commission and the Code of Ethics…so let’s talk about that.
One of the reasons several major brokers are today not allowing their listings (and yes they ALL are THEIR listings, not the agents listings…surprise!) to be published on Trulia, Zillow or even REALTOR.com. Amazing some say! I say good for them! Since when do we allow our listings to be on sites that are frequently scraped and then posted on sites we don’t even know exist. AND then if we want to be identified with those listings, we need to pay to be the ‘special agent’. It is time that the real estate professionals and NAR stand up and get some control on this. However, I am afraid the cat is out of the bag and it’s put on so much weight, it won’t fit back in the bag! That’s not good news!
I recently advertised on a single property website. I placed a listing that I had there…though it was a private listing and not in the MLS. However, the minute I put that on the single property website it was everywhere by the next day! Scraping of the information and putting on sites that I have never heard of!
So here’s the question: How are you protecting your listings so that you are complying with the state rules and regs and COE regarding keeping ALL information about your listings up to date, when you may not even know where your listings are?
