zillow-trulia-11Crye-Leike Real Estate Services, a real estate brokerage with more than 3,000 agents in 112 offices in the southern U.S., will no longer provide listing information to Zillow and Trulia in in Little Rock and Hot Springs, Arkansas, according to a report in Inman News.

The move follows a January decision by Crye-Leike to stop sending listing information to the online portals for Memphis.

The brokerage cited increasing ad prices and inaccurate listing data from Zillow and Trulia as the reason to cease the syndication. Crye-Leike is the largest real estate brokerage in Little Rock.

For years, Zillow and Trulia have drawn criticism from traditional real estate brokerages — their core customers.

But both companies have looked to mend those fences. In a conference call with financial analysts last month, Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff felt compelled to stress how they need to explain their mission better.

Spencer Rascoff
Spencer Rascoff

“What that means is teach those in the industry that we come in peace. That Zillow is a media company. We are not a brokerage. We are not a MLS. We do not compete with brokerages. We do not compete with MLSes. We sell ads. We don’t sell houses,” he said. “That’s the number one goal of our industry relations efforts is just to explain what Zillow is, and what we are not, because there is a lot of disinformation that’s sown by people in the industry, and kind of a misunderstanding. So, that is goal number one.”

Zillow has made some interesting moves of late to bolster its position in the real estate industry, hosting forums with top government housing officials and joining the Real Estate Standards Organization. Even more importantly, Zillow made waves — and got sued — when it hired industry veteran and former Move executive Errol Samuelson in March as chief industry development officer.

Zillow’s revenue increased 70 percent during the first quarter to $66.2 million, with the company saying that it now has more than 1,000 brokerage partners in it Zillow Pro for Brokers program.

Trulia also has bolstered its efforts, inking a deal with the Austin Board of Realtors last month to improve listing accuracy.

“The Austin Board of REALTORS has demonstrated leadership in the real estate industry by establishing standards that support timely, complete and accurate listings information,” said Alon Chaver, Trulia’s VP of Industry Services, in a release. “In addition to REALTOR websites, homebuyers and sellers can now also trust that the Austin-area listings found on Trulia are accurate and up to date.”

It added more than 7,000 agent subscribers in the first quarter, with Trulia CEO Pete Flint saying at the time that the growth shows that more agents “want to connect with transaction-ready buyers and sellers.”

Trulia issued this statement in reaction to Crye-Leike’s move.

“Trulia has recently signed milestone data syndication agreements with MLSs throughout the country, including My Florida Regional MLS and the Austin Board of Realtors, enabling their brokers to ensure accurate, timely listings on Trulia to maximize exposure and augment their marketing efforts. We will continue to engage with our Crye-Leike partners in the other markets we continue to work together so they can realize the same value for the company and its agents.”

And here is Zillow’s statement:

“We respect brokers’ rights to advertise their listings as they feel appropriate, however, we believe it’s a missed opportunity for home sellers and buyers not to have their listings marketed to the largest audience of home shoppers in the U.S. In addition to being the visited real estate website in Little Rock, Zillow has nearly 79 million visitors each month, so not only are local buyers and sellers missing out on the opportunity, but national home shoppers are as well. Zillow has great relationships with tens of thousands of agents, major brokers and franchisors across the country who understand the importance of marketing their listings to buyers on the most-used marketing platforms in their area.”

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