Saying it wants to turn consumers’ focus back to brokers and agents and away from third-party sites like Zillow and Trulia, San Diego-area multiple listing service Sandicor Inc. has launched a public-facing, map-based property search site.
Not all MLSs operate public-facing property search sites, deferring to member brokers and agents who offer listing searches on their own websites.
In an email to members, Sandicor said website traffic statistics compiled by Experian Hitwise and analyzed by real estate consultant Victor Lund of WAV Group Consulting demonstrated that in the San Diego market, website traffic from third-party sites to broker and agent sites has significantly declined, and that consumers are staying on the third-party sites.
WAV Group’s Marilyn Wilson has said brokers face stiff competition from third-party sites in other markets, and that it’s rare for property search websites operated by brokerages to be among the top 10 real estate websites in any given market.
Sandicor said the MLS launched the public-facing search site with the goal of delivering leads to its members and to "drive traffic back to brokers and agents and away from third-party sites like Trulia and Zillow."
The site, consumer.sandicor.com, was built by property data firm CoreLogic Inc. and is hosted by CoreLogic’s real estate information technology division, MarketLinx.
In addition to property details, each listing also includes a market analysis tool that displays data for recently sold comparable properties, driving directions, a financial calculator, and the ability to email the listing to a friend. Each listing is branded to the listing agent and the listing broker and includes the agent’s contact information and a contact form.
The site’s data is updated every 10 minutes, and it also allows consumers to search for agents, open houses, and area-specific price and inventory trends. The MLS will also provide brokers and agents with reports on their listings such as the number of times their listing was emailed, displayed in a search, or viewed
The site is provided as a free Sandicor member benefit. In addition to the main consumer MLS site, there will also be four more consumer-facing websites branded to each of the four San Diego County Realtor associations that own Sandicor: East San Diego County Association of Realtors, North San Diego County Association of Realtors, Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors, and the San Diego Association of Realtors.
