Goliath can go anywhere he wants. Now, he's decided house and apartment listings looks like a fertile plain.
Google's only getting started, says Peter Zollman, founder of Classified Intelligence, LLC.
He sells consulting services to newspaper companies desperately trying to hold on to their display and classifieds business. While he says Google Real Estate, drawing its data from four-month-old Google Base's well of "user generated" listings, is "nothing new," but it is a huge threat to publishers. He even wonders why it took Google months to adopt its own API tools to create such a mashup, when non-Googlers were doing so already.
"Google is a not a fly by night company," he told me in an interview. "They're a long term player."
Surprisingly, Zollman tells his clients to load their own classifieds into Google Base. "People care about results. They don't care if the sale came from the newspaper or a Web site, so if you care about your classified customers, you want to give them the widest distribution they can have," he said. Besides, if you're working with them you can see what they're up to, he reasons.
Zollman says the end game for classifieds - autos, houses, antiques, etc. - is pay for performance. In San Francisco, the housing listing game is over. "Craigslist.org is the only place. But in Washington, where the Post has grown its business through an aggressive online effort, it's doing well." It's up to publishers to flee or fight.
Here's my interview with Zollman.
While newspapers may be at risk for their classifieds business from Google's newest baby beta, Cendant Corp. and Ziprealty and HouseValues Inc., and Move.com have more at stake, according to David Jackson at InternetStockBlog.com."Improved information flow (of listings) will reduce inefficiencies in the market and ultimately cut brokers' commissions or eliminate them entirely," he wrote.
Henry Blodget at Internet Outsider says Google is still missing a big piece of the puzzle; offerings through the nation's local Multiple Listing Service databases.
Frank,
I am surprised that you didn't mention www.zillow.com in your piece. Although they do not take listings on their site (yet) I have read that they are currently getting real estate brokers licenses in every state. The natural evolution for that site will be to offer listings.
I suppose the real loser in this battle is the bottom 70% of the real estate broker industry. The day is coming where people will have a real choice to paying 6% commission to a Realtor.
Only the best Realtors will survive this. Here is a piece I wrote on this subject.
http://blog.pacesettermortgage.com/2006/02/are_realtors_go.html
Posted by: David Porter | Apr 05, 2006 at 14:23
David
I was checking Zillow today (still no Maine info!), as a matter of fact. It's certainly another threat to business as it's always been done. Seems to me a bit like car dealers - who find most of their customers come in educated and ready to talk. 'Course they don't get commissions
The Web is making shoppers smarter, and it seems to me sales people have to step up the pace and the service to succeed.
Posted by: Frank Barnako | Apr 05, 2006 at 14:34
The link you have for craigslist is wrong.
It's a typo that sends you somewhere crappy.
Just a headsup
Posted by: neil | Apr 05, 2006 at 16:16
The URL for Craigslist is www.Craigslist.org
Posted by: Frank Barnako | Apr 05, 2006 at 17:10
I see problems up ahead. Newspapers, realtors, telecoms, broadcasters, and internet providers are not going to lie down and let Google use their data and lines for free?
We just might see something else. Don't know what, but Google is stepping on a lot of people's income and that pisses people off.
Posted by: Marco | Apr 05, 2006 at 19:59
The Internet is, at its commercial core, a supply aggregator. Real estate has become one of today's new arenas, and spawned numerous relatively recent start ups (demonstrating the Wall Street maxim - if one is good, seven are better).
www.realestateabc is a new site that seems more current than zillow. When last I compared, earlier this week, zillow was still showing the value of a house I sold in Novemeber, although it was razed and replaced three months ago, while realestateabc showed the new one.
Both are works in progress. They, and a number of others, will battle to see who can put town or county assessor's and clerk's records online.
And when will these companies move from aggregating ex post values to taking on MLS, the business with the most to lose in this battle, and aggregate open listings?
Posted by: Roy Fuchs | Apr 06, 2006 at 10:21
The Internet is, at its commercial core, a supply aggregator. Real estate has become one of today's new arenas, and spawned numerous relatively recent start ups (demonstrating the Wall Street maxim - if one is good, seven are better).
www.realestateabc is a new site that seems more current than zillow. When last I compared, earlier this week, zillow was still showing the value of a house I sold in Novemeber, although it was razed and replaced three months ago, while realestateabc showed the new one.
Both are works in progress. They, and a number of others, will battle to see who can put town or county assessor's and clerk's records online.
And when will these companies move from aggregating ex post values to taking on MLS, the business with the most to lose in this battle, and aggregate open listings?
Real estate brokers have less to lose. Agents are 1099's, so they cost the broker only when they produce revenue, and the 80/20 rule applies here - a handful of agents make most of the money. And no matter how accurate listings become, the computer cannot drive house hunters to view what's available. And how many people have the patience to do research online all the communities they are considering?
I would suggest that the model for the real estate industry is more like the new car sales business, in which prospective buyers do online research, then interact with other humans to complete the transaction, than, e.g., the Dell direct sale model where people do research and complete a transaction online.
Posted by: Roy Fuchs | Apr 06, 2006 at 10:34
I would have to say this is a good move for Google. I think they are a little slow getting to this point. I know that it is a fairly new idea, the combining of other websites real estate data and bringing it into one place, but as far as the mapping goes, thats been done many times before. Look at www.emongoo.com for example, you can actually list your property 100% free. You get up to 20 photos, detailed description and even a free 'For Sale' sign (with shipping and handling cost). I also noticed they have created an alternative to using a real estate agent, yet you still get the same services. Looks like an up and coming site.
Posted by: FrankK | May 09, 2006 at 15:28
what is value of 325 N. Greenwood Drive, Shoreline, Washington
Posted by: Hal F. Sawyer | May 21, 2006 at 19:41
I am involved with real estate mapping/search venture that has created and patented a very innovative tool for real estate mapping/searching. No new concepts but presented in a unique, dynamic and efficient manner. It has been difficult for us (none of us are in the real estate industry; we are a software engineer, an inventor/computer scientist, and an entrepreneurial phyisican)to locate an API for real estate listing data that is used in the application. Does any one have information about API's or real estate listing data. The more I research, it is proprietary and guarded by those who list real estate. Please help.
Posted by: Douglas Mailman | Jul 11, 2006 at 19:22