An Update On Our Relationship With Edina Realty | REALTOR.com ...

By Errol Samuelson, President Realtor.com

Last fall, Edina Realty announced it would stop displaying a portion of its listings on third-party real estate web sites.? As of next week, we will no longer display Edina Realty listings on Realtor.com with one exception ? we will continue to display listings for Edina Realty agents that have a direct advertising relationship with Realtor.com.

As a result, most Edina Realty listings will no longer be displayed on Realtor.com, MSN Real Estate, AOL Real estate, or our award-winning and market leading mobile apps for the iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows Phone 7.? Similarly, Edina Realty listings will not appear on the soon-to-be launched Realtor.com video-on-demand TV channel.

Our position

Do I think Edina Realty has made the best choice?

No.

Our audience complements the audience that Edina Realty reaches through its own website.? Moreover, Edina Realty agents and home sellers will miss out on exposure to our national audience of more than 20 million monthly unique users (including 282,500 potential buyers from the local markets served by Edina Realty ? users that spent an average of 14 minutes on our site in April looking at local properties).? The Realtor.com Network has the largest consumer audience in Edina?s marketplace, an audience that will no longer be reached by Edina Realty.

Last November, when Edina Realty announced their plans, we identified four main concerns.? None of these apply to Realtor.com:

1.)???? Edina Realty expressed frustration that third party aggregator sites were building audience using their inventory and then allowing For Sale by Owners to advertise to this audience. ?Realtor.com does not allow FSBO listings.

2.)???? Edina Realty raised the concern that third part aggregators do not accurately update their listings and data.? Realtor.com listings are sourced directly from the MLS and are updated every 15 minutes to 24 hours every day directly by our MLS partners.

3.)???? Edina Realty was concerned that competing brokers? and agents? photos and branding were appearing on their listings.? This is a practice Realtor.com does not engage in.

4.)???? Edina Realty did not wish to see any lead generation products on their listings.? Realtor.com provides brokers with choice on how their inventory will be presented and the Edina listings were configured so that no lead generation products appeared on their listing.

I believe we?ve been a good partner and have added value that will be missed by Edina Realty agents, their sellers, and, in time, the company itself.

Would I prefer to continue our relationship with Edina Realty?

Of course. Helping agents and brokers reach a broad and diverse consumer audience is why we?re in business at Realtor.com. ?And frankly, not displaying these listings means we now offer a reduced user experience to buyers and sellers in the affected markets.? It also now means Edina Realty agents who want their listings on Realtor.com can only do this via paid advertising and not through our free basic listing products.

However, these things said, I want to be absolutely clear: we respect Edina Realty?s decision.

We?re not going to play games with their agents, or try to compromise their standing with consumers in their market.

In the months following their announcement last fall, executives at Edina Realty shared some of their strategy with us.? And while I leave it to them to articulate it fully, I understand it is based in large part on a desire to channel as many consumers as possible through their own website.

I don?t believe this is the best strategy.? I believe that consumers are using a variety of mediums to learn about real estate and that restricting information to a single channel will not modify consumer behavior.? Having said that, I also believe brokers should only display listings on sites that respect their rights.? But this doesn?t mean pulling listings from all sites.? There are sites with significant audience, including Realtor.com, MSN, and AOL, which meet this standard.? The key is for brokers to work with partners who deliver a large consumer audience and respect their intellectual property rights.

Onward

There has been a lot of conversation and a measure of controversy over the past year about listing syndication.? In addition to operating the Realtor.com Network in a way that respects broker rights and concerns, we?ve made significant investments in tools to help brokers manage syndication.? Our ListHub division provides the industry?s largest syndication platform and now is the standard at more than 400 MLSs.? Last month ListHub upgraded its system to enable brokers define business rules (e.g., ?no resyndication?? ?remove expired/sold listings in a timely manner? and so on) and only syndicates listings to sites that honor these rules.? This free product is being used by more than 43,000 brokers around the country.? We are committed to leading the way by operating our sites in an industry-friendly manner, and help brokers manage, rather than pull away from syndication.

As someone who has been in this business for nearly twenty years, I try to keep it all in perspective. Debates, disagreements, and even episodes like this ? where I?d prefer to see a different outcome have always served to concentrate my energies on delivering value to our customers.

Today, all of us at Realtor.com share that focus.

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