Realtors losing ground to the big real estate websites!

There was a time when real estate marketing, and healthy competition between real estate companies was conducted either in the newspapers, the phone book Yellowpages,yard signs, and of course the local Multiple Listing System. Buyers and sellers sought the assistance of licensed and qualified brokers and agents to serve their real estate needs. Real estate agents belonged to a local MLS, where data was stored on the inventory of houses and other real estate property. If a buyer was searching for a home, the real estate section of the local newspaper, word of mouth, or a drive by started the process. It was more or less an even playing field for Brokers competing for business, and the entire process had more safeguards when it came to accurate real estate data. Even with the introduction of the Internet, Brokers competed using their websites to tell the public about their services. Some spent a modest amount of money on exposure, while others invested much more money into Internet marketing. But to be fair, Internet exposure was controlled by a budget within the real estate firm for better or worse. As the years passed, major real estate websites appeared on the Internet that do nothing more than deliver information to the public. They are are not qualified and licensed professionals, governed by State laws within their location, and what's more their information is not always accurate or even current. Realtors have become victims of a squashing of their livelihood by these websites who have unlimited budgets, and agreements with search engines to take top positions on the Internet. As time goes by, they have expanded their search results house by house, while charging agents for the service. These agents are already paying their local MLS for this service in dues and memberships. To add insult to injury, local MLS organizations are providing feeds to these websites, undermining the licensed professionals within their organization. Now, some major real estate franchises have been signing agreements with these large real estate search sites to promote their listings as priority listings. This now adds to the failure of home grown real estate companies, by manipulating the market to their benefit, and reduce the number of local smaller real estate firms. What's sad about this type of commerce, is that an entire industry that was held in high esteem as licensed professionals, are now reduced to the typical used car label that real estate people have worked hard to overcome. Countless hours of training, licensing classes, required continued education, and the ever growing higher MLS fees, are being trumped by non-sanctioned sites on the Internet. Larger real estate companies with many agents are enjoying the exposure that these major data sites provide the searching public. But what has also happened, is that the close working relationships with homeowners and buyers which are an important part of client/broker relationships have in some ways been reduced to simply throwing it out there and hope it sells.