Citing “growing concerns and outspoken frustrations” from members about syndication services, the Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors (WRAR) plans to cease syndicating listings to third-party websites on behalf of its members.
WRAR President Jody Wainio said Friday that starting May 9, the realty group will terminate its syndication program with ListHub.
ListHub is a nationwide listing management service for more than 48,000 brokerage firms, according to its website, synchronizing listing information from over 450 MLS data sources with more than 125 publisher websites. Those publisher websites include popular online real estate platforms such as Zillow.com, Trulia.com and RealtyTrac.com.
Wainio would not disclose if ending the program would cost WRAR any additional fees or fines, only saying that WRAR officials were “concerned about the accuracy of data and taking control of what’s out there.”
ListHub officials could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
Officials have scheduled a March 4 webinar called “WRAR – Helping Brokers to Reclaim Their Listing Data” to further explain their reasoning for cutting third-party websites from such information.
Wainio said while WRAR will no longer provide such multiple listing service (MLS) information to third-party sites, individual Realtors and area realty firms can still opt to submit direct feeds from the Wilmington MLS to third-party portals on their own.
The association will continue to send MLS information to Realtor.com – a site that already acquires direct listing data from a majority of the nation’s MLS services because of its ties to the National Association of Realtors. WRAR’s listings will also be available through its public MLS website: TheWilmingtonMLS.com.
Wainio said association officials formed a Syndication Task Force last year to evaluate ListHub’s effectiveness.
After months of research and discussion, Wainio said the taskforce decided to terminate its syndication program with ListHub, citing the site does not adhere to the “Realtors’ Code of Ethics and have business practices that are not consistent with that code,” according to a news release.
“It’s just really gotten out of hand,” Wainio said of the syndication service. “We don’t think syndication sells houses.”
Other grievances outlined by the committee include: inaccurate property information, providing false expectations for consumers that inhibit homebuyers’ ability to make sound real estate decisions, and not properly displaying the Realtor’s name, firm and state license number on listings.
“We’ll get a call from a seller that says, ‘Hey, my house is listed on Foreclosure.com, and my neighbors think my house is a foreclosure and it’s not,’” Wainio said. “The data spider webs, and ends up in so many different places.”
Jeff Sweyer, owner of Wilmington-based Century 21 Sweyer & Associates, said WRAR’s decision to cease third-party access to the Wilmington MLS may be a “Catch 22” for area Realtors.
He said while the reasoning from the task force makes sense, his firm still plans to upload local MLS data for property its selling to third-party sites.
“We’re getting tired of being charged for the information that we’re providing,” Sweyer said. “But at the same time, we want to make sure we are promoting the listing in the marketplace.”
Michelle Clark, a Realtor and team leader of Wilmington-based Michelle Clark Team of Intracoastal Realty, said she supports WRAR's decision to cease sending MLS data to third-party sites.
She said some of the websites do a poor job of updating listings that are posted to their sites, which could have an adverse effect on buyers and sellers in the market.
Clark said, however, she's still weighing her options on whether to feed some syndication sites properties her team is listing.
"We're still gathering information on what's going to be best," Clark said. "I feel the websites need to be held accountable to make sure the information is accurate, which some don't...and that's a problem."
