Brokers belonging to New Jersey Multiple Listing Service Inc. can now send their listings directly through the MLS to Zillow, the most highly trafficked online real estate portal in the nation.
Realtor-owned New Jersey MLS is the latest MLS to join the Zillow Partnership Platform, a program that, in exchange for a direct feed, features branding for participating brokerages and ensures MLS data is sent to Zillow as often as every 15 minutes. Haworth-based New Jersey MLS has nearly 10,000 members who serve areas including Bergen, Essex, Passaic and Hudson counties.
Zillow had reviously touted free linkbacks as a perk for rokers and MLSs who sent their listings in direct feeds. Now Zillow says that it has always included a linkback to a broker’s website when that information is included in the listing data it receives, whether through a direct feed or not. Zillow declined to comment on whether MLSs receive perks for participating in the Zillow Partnership Platform.
Zillow had also previously touted access to analytics reports for participating brokerages and their listing agents, but now says that all listing agents who claim their free Zillow profile receive such reports. The analytics reports include a weekly email recap that includes impressions, pages views and lead count (which shows the past four weeks and monthly), Zillow said. Firms and their listing agents can also get access to a daily file of the same information broken down by listing.
As part of the direct feed agreement, New Jersey MLS listings will appear on Zillow, Yahoo, Zillow’s mobile apps, HotPads, AOL Real Estate, MSN Real Estate and HGTV’s FrontDoor.
New Jersey MLS’s decision to partner with Zillow means that “shoppers using Zillow for their home search will get a more comprehensive view of available inventory, while home sellers can rest assured their homes are being marketed to the largest audience of home shoppers,” aid Curt Beardsley, Zillow’s vice president of industry development, in a statement.
Listing agents from participating brokerages do not need to create a Zillow profile to show up as the first agent next to their listing along with their phone number. Listing agents whose listings are not sent to Zillow through a direct feed also show up next to their listings at no cost, but must first create a free Zillow profile. Zillow is also tweaking its site to make the listing agent more prominent.
Participating brokerages will also be able to include their logo on their listings, Zillow said.
Zillow has been beefing up its industry development team lately, hiring former CoreLogic exec Brian de Schepper and industry vets Steve Allen and Chris Kiel. In March, Zillow brought on both former realtor.com President Errol Samuelson as chief industry development officer and Beardsley (who was slated to replace Samuelson at realtor.com operator Move Inc.) as vice president of industry development.
A preliminary injunction issued in July has limited the scope of Samuelson’s work at Zillow. The injunction prevents him from making efforts to obtain direct feeds of listing data from MLSs, brokers, franchisors or associations.
Zillow has declined to say how many MLSs participate in the Zillow Partnership Platform. Northeast Oklahoma Real Estate Services (NORES), Silicon Valley-based MLSListings Inc. and Boise, Idaho-based Intermountain MLS have been among the most recent additions. A similar program by Trulia, Data Connect, includes more than 60 MLSs.
