San Diego MLS Will Require Listing Agent Contact Info on IDX Feeds

Get This… Sandicor, the MLS for San Diego California is going to start forcing real estate agents with IDX feeds to display the names, and contact information, of the listing agents on their IDX websites. This is a huge step in the wrong direction when it comes to the world of internet marketing.

1) What is the incentive to create a website which is useful to potential home buyers?

For realtors who have created websites of real estate in San Diego and have listed home listings on it, they have done so in hopes that home shoppers will call them up to ask questions.  They put the time and energy into their site so that they can receive the benefit.  That’s not selfish, it’s just business – create a product to receive revenue from it.

But now their incentive is lost because potential home buyers may never contact them.  They instead will contact the phone number which is required on every listing “This home is listed by so and so and such and such phone number.”

2) Do Listing Agents Really Have to Double Side Things?

One of the reasons why you go to a realtor to purchase a home is that you feel they are going to go to mat for you.

When a realtor has to side with both you and the seller, you have no idea if you are going to end up getting somebody who has your best interest in mind.

A listing agent should be satisfied with the fact that they have listed the home and they will get their commission for that (and in San Diego, that is frequently enough commission to live off of for a year, do they really need to double that?)

3) The Market Has Changed

This simply sounds like an attempt from lobbyists hired by old school listing agents to stay relevant in a market that is changing.  Because they are to stubborn to make useful websites themselves or understand technology, they have to force their names where it does not belong.

The market has moved to the online world.  This is not 1992 anymore, this is 2012.  If you can not take the time to understand the basics of advertising to your target audience (via creating a relevant website), then you don’t belong in it.  Listing brokers and agents do not need better exposure, they just need to keep listing homes.

Solution

Drop the listing agent information from the MLS listing.  It does not belong there.  Instead, if a listing agent wants to become a buyers agent have them learn how to advertise their own homes or hire somebody who can do it for them – but everybody else on the world wide web does not need to become their free advertiser.