Imagine you just bought a home and the real estate agent who sold it told you he was keeping his sold sign on your lawn indefinitely. He says it’s good for his business. You’d like that wouldn’t you? Well, at Zillow.com that is exactly what will happen on your Zillow listed home with the launch of Virtual Sold Signs (VSS)— Zillow will let a broker keep a virtual sold sign on your virtual lawn INDEFINITELY. Send Zillow a nice thank you note here.
Here’s the announcement from their Zillow blog:
We’re also announcing an entirely new concept for brokerages, something we call our Virtual Sold Sign program (VSS). The concept is simple: imagine if as an agent or brokerage you could hang a “sold” sign on every home you’ve sold in a neighborhood — and keep it there long after the transaction is done. With VSS, brokerages with listings feeds can choose to have their branding and the agent’s contact information live on the Zillow Home details page of sold homes [and] Zillow map-based searches (Emphasis added)
Zillow co-Founder and CEO Rich Barton said in the Zillow press release, “Imagine having a permanent “sold by” sign in front of every home a brokerage has ever sold– giving buyers and sellers a critical piece of information on who is selling homes in the neighborhood– today and over time.” (emphasis added)
Yeah, imagine that.
Now, some agents may rejoice at this marketing opportunity– a “smokin’ thing”, one might say. But, as a new homeowner, I might be smokin’ mad about this virtual trespass for advertising. Once again, Zillow finds another way to do something online which they could never do offline without the homeowner’s consent. Don’t fret, it’s all in the name of transparency capitalism.
And what about the buyer’s broker? If we understand the program, only listing brokers giving feeds get the benefit of VSS. Why should the buyer’s broker be left out of the Virtual Sold Sign equation? They do as much (sometimes more) to sell the home as the listing broker. The answer is Zillow wants the listing agent feeds and gives them the carrot– the buyers’ brokers get the stick.
So now the question becomes, will Zillow.com let the new homeowner opt-out of the Virtual Sold Sign program? Our crystal ball says NO WAY.
Related Posts:
Owners in Zillowland, We Want Out, Zestimates Removed
Is Zillow Using Our Homes As Bait?
Unzestimate My Home: Will Zillow Let Owners Opt- Out? (no!)
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