Real estate listing syndicator and website analytics provider ListHub has rolled out new dashboard filters brokers can use to decide which websites they will send listings to.
ListHub is also allowing brokers to share their opinions about publishers using a 5-star rating system, and see which have been identified by multiple listing services as "preferred publishers."
The new features come as some brokers have expressed reservations about the accuracy of listing data displayed on some third-party websites, and advertisements and lead forms for other broker’s agents that sometimes appear alongside of listings. A few brokers have stopped sending listings to third-party websites — those not affiliated with a mulitiple listing service — altogether.
"These new tools provided by the Preferred Publisher program will allow brokers to quickly ascertain which publishers provide the best marketing opportunities for their listings," said ListHub General Manager Luke Glass in a statement. "Our MLS partners have told us that they want to provide guidance to their members, but without controlling their advertising choices. ListHub agrees that the final decision on where to syndicate should remain with the individual broker."
The new filters allow brokers to select publishers that promise "timely removal of inactive listings," "no re-syndication," and "shows broker contact information," for example. Clicking on the individual filters displays only those publishers that meet the selected criteria.
MLSs can now run customized performance reports at their convenience instead of waiting for a monthly report to be emailed to them.
Victor Lund, a real estate technology consultant with WAV Group, said in a blog post that "the industry has been quite critical about ListHub’s model for summarizing aspects of publisher websites that are important to brokers. In this new launch, ListHub is addressing those issues by better identifying publisher terms of use and data use policies."
Re-syndication of listing data "is an obvious problem for brokers," Lund said. "Brokers are responsible to the seller wherever the listing is displayed online. If a publisher sends the listing somewhere else without the broker’s consent — that is bad."
Although Minnesota-based Edina Realty said it’s stopped syndicating listings to all third-party sites except Realtor.com, Glass recently told Inman News that ListHub is signing up 600 to 700 brokers a month — a rate that’s unchanged in the last 18 months.
