Redfin is not even listed. Snubbed.
What Zillow doesn't want you to know about its listing gap
31–40 of 185 posts
Re: What Zillow doesn't want you to know about its listing gap
#32> So as not to violate Zillow.com’s terms of service we have done so manually (hence the limited number of cities). Can sites have a legally enforceable terms of service that ban automated access? I understand if the automated traffic is high and impacts server performance and cost, but they can ban it even if it's limited? I understand sites need to protect their servers, but if it's publicly accessible and the traf…
Yes. Sites can ban traffic for any reason they choose. You're using their servers and they have the right to determine how those servers are accessed.
They don't need a specific "right" to control their servers. Likewise, users on the internet have no "right" to access anything.
Re: What Zillow doesn't want you to know about its listing gap
#33Mods: the title of this HN post is not the title of the linked article, which at this writing is the somewhat less clickbaity "What Zillow Doesn’t Want You To Know". In fact, the c&d part, while important, could almost be seen as a distraction from the larger issues of MLS listing access discussed in the article.
True, this is true, and technically against the rules. Post Title and Article Title must agree. The poster must be popular or someone affiliated with the mods, else they would've had their posting rights revoked by now.
> Post Title and Article Title must agree
No, the rule is "Please use the original title unless it is misleading or linkabit." That "unless" is critical. I wish we had some linguistic superglue to keep the two clauses stuck together—they always fall apart in shipping and the first bit is the only one people remember.
> The poster must be popular or someone affiliated with the mods, else they would've had their posting rights revoked by now.
Don't assume omniscience! We miss things. Also, we don't revoke posting rights because of titles unless people break the rules a lot.
Re: What Zillow doesn't want you to know about its listing gap
#34As a recent home buyer, I found Zillow information to be at least one week out of date. In most cities, that probably isn't a big deal; however in the San Francisco Bay area I found the site pretty useless because all of the homes I was interested in, I was unable to see because they were usually off the market, pending or very late in the process where I was unable to visit the home. I ended up using a Sotheby's own…
To be fair... in a lot of SFBA locales, homes are selling for 20% over list anyway. So even sellers (and agents) are having a hard time pricing the demand.
Re: What Zillow doesn't want you to know about its listing gap
#35When I was looking for a condo this past summer, I used RedFin. Since RedFin ties into MSLs (basically a list that all realtors use), I knew about listing before my agent could email me about them. I highly recommend it, even if you have a non-RedFin agent.
Zillow used to tie into MLSs but their access was cut in most areas (as described in the article) due to a dispute. Used to be an awesome resource, now it's a ghost town. Would think it's only a matter of time before realtor.com shuts down similar sites like RedFin.
I worked at Redfin. MLS is an agreement between all of the brokerages to share their listings. As long as Redfin has a real estate office in the region then they will have access to the local MLS.
On the other hand, Zillow requires agents to manually upload listings.
This is why Zillow is nationwide and Redfin is limited to a (growing) list of cities.
Re: What Zillow doesn't want you to know about its listing gap
#36As a recent home buyer, I found Zillow information to be at least one week out of date. In most cities, that probably isn't a big deal; however in the San Francisco Bay area I found the site pretty useless because all of the homes I was interested in, I was unable to see because they were usually off the market, pending or very late in the process where I was unable to visit the home. I ended up using a Sotheby's own…
To be fair... in a lot of SFBA locales, homes are selling for 20% over list anyway. So even sellers (and agents) are having a hard time pricing the demand.
my realtor was able to estimate the price better than Zillow, I feel like they need a better machine learning model to accommodate different markets. (Denver, SF and Ohio are very different places)
Re: What Zillow doesn't want you to know about its listing gap
#37As a recent home buyer, I found Zillow information to be at least one week out of date. In most cities, that probably isn't a big deal; however in the San Francisco Bay area I found the site pretty useless because all of the homes I was interested in, I was unable to see because they were usually off the market, pending or very late in the process where I was unable to visit the home. I ended up using a Sotheby's own…
To be fair... in a lot of SFBA locales, homes are selling for 20% over list anyway. So even sellers (and agents) are having a hard time pricing the demand.
Realtors are often encouraging sellers to list below market rate to encourage bidding wars. When you have to go through several of these before you can get into a house, it causes quite a frenzy in people. This isn't the norm across the country.
In other markets, realtors usually have clients list houses above market value with the expectation the sellers will come down.
Re: What Zillow doesn't want you to know about its listing gap
#38FYI: To add some color to the article, here's more information about the different relationships of MLS with Zillow and Redfin from a former Redfin intern (posted July 28, 2014):
Re: What Zillow doesn't want you to know about its listing gap
#39> So as not to violate Zillow.com’s terms of service we have done so manually (hence the limited number of cities). Can sites have a legally enforceable terms of service that ban automated access? I understand if the automated traffic is high and impacts server performance and cost, but they can ban it even if it's limited? I understand sites need to protect their servers, but if it's publicly accessible and the traf…
Yes. Sites can ban traffic for any reason they choose. You're using their servers and they have the right to determine how those servers are accessed. They don't need a specific "right" to control their servers. Likewise, users on the internet have no "right" to access anything.
> Likewise, users on the internet have no "right" to access anything
Yes, they have a right to block you, but that doesn't imply that a terms of service which prohibits automated access is legally enforceable. A TOS is not a contract so you can't put whatever you want in there and expect a court to honor it. To my knowledge US courts have not decided ohitsdom's question, but I could be wrong.
However, if the site makes an attempt to block you from automatic access (even an IP block) and you circumvent it, you're in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. See Craigslist v. 3Taps. (disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer)
Re: What Zillow doesn't want you to know about its listing gap
#40I like how they speculate that where Zillow has more listings that it could be because Zillow has database or data scrubbing problems and not the other way around.
Realtor.com has access to the actual MLS, while Zillow does not.