Teton Realty Blog

Teton Region Real Estate Market Stats, Articles & News

Map Your Listings!

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For this week’s article I wanted to talk a little bit about marketing. Specifically, listing mapping, how it works, and how it can drastically affect your listing.

I am constantly in some sort of web development phase. I monitor our own website and it’s performance, look at competitor sites, as well as listing sites like Zillow. As a refresher, your listing, and how it appears on these sites is directly linked to how your Realtor enters the data into their local MLS.

Accurately entering this data is important not only for mapping purposes, but property features. For example, if your property has a Teton view, you need to make sure that your agent checks the box under the view category that the property has a Teton view. If the data isn’t entered correctly your listing isn’t going to show up for those using specific search filters. It’s amazing how many agents don’t enter this data correctly, especially once you get into the Idaho Falls market… Sorry guys, it’s true.

Back to mapping and its importance. Just like customers using filters to look for properties, many customers (if not most) used some sort of map feature to search for real estate. Like inconsistencies with property features, it’s amazing how many real estate agents don’t properly map their (your) listings. Almost every MLS tries to map listings automatically, and there is a second step available to verify the location of each listing entry. Because we are in a rural area, many listings are either not mapped by this system at all, or mapped improperly. All of the websites that display your listing receive their data from each MLS in simple data feeds. These feeds include property features, acreage, square feet and so forth. The mapping data, however, is provided in latitude and longitude coordinates. If a listing is properly mapped, these coordinates are sent to the secondary website like Zillow. If they aren’t, a variety of things can happen, none of which are good for your listing.

The primary result for most advertising websites if coordinates are not available is to not display them on maps at all. This is the case with Zillow. The listing is still available in the “list” view, which is why you’ll see your listing come up, and many agents don’t realize the mistake they have made. The other result, which is the case on websites like mine, is that these listings are still displayed on the map, but in the wrong location. This can be a minor issue since my website tries to generate it’s own coordinates based on the address, but it can also be a major issue for listings that don’t have an address or haven’t been mapped by Google, many land listings fall under this category. These listings can show up and very odd places, Africa for example. Arguably this is better than not having it display at all, but still a pretty big issue. As we approach the sale season, it might be good to review your listing with your agent, and verify that it is being mapped properly, and that is translating properly to sites like Zillow.

The Zestimate – How Accurate?

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Alright, this has been coming for a while. The good old Zestimate.

For those of you that are not entangled in the real estate community, and specifically Zillow, (an online platform for real estate agents to connect with the public, and for the public to search for available real estate) a Zestimate is basically in algorithm or program created by Zillow to automatically value properties based on other recent sales. Zillow describes the Zestimate as a proprietary formula to estimate market value.
Before diving into this, understand that I am not a fan of the Zestimate. Read on for my biased opinion on the program, and its “proprietary formula”…
I’m going to break this down into a few sections. How it works, the difference between a Zestimate, a CMA, and an Appraisal, why it doesn’t work (biased opinion) and in what circumstances you should use it.
How it works
To some extent, I’m speculating here. However, I do have a fair amount of experience with these programs, algorithms, and a general sense of how the digital world functions. That being said, here is how I think it works…
Zillow’s primary function is to utilize incoming information feeds from Multiple Listing Services (programs where Real Estate Agents pool listings) to provide a one-stop-shop for customers, (primarily buyers) to view all listings for sale in one location. Zillow doesn’t really make any money doing this. Zillow’s moneymaker is real estate agents. Real estate agents pay for advertisements to promote themselves on Zillow, hoping to connect with potential buyers. Zillow is also able to obtain information on sales as well, where multiple listing services and/or states allow it. There is so much data from all of these multiple listing services that Zillow has been able to create an algorithm for individual markets to automatically value properties based on their basic features. These basic features can include square footage, landscaping, acreage, bedrooms, bathrooms, recent remodels, the list goes on. For the most part, the real estate industry’s information data feed, referred to as a RETS feed, provides the same information Nationwide. Some areas might have a standardized feed to include amenities like pools, proximity to a golf course, and even information on local schools. Most multiple listing services provide the information on the nearest school, and I believe Zillow can pick up on this information to include it as part of the overall valuation. So, recent sale data comes in, and the subject property is adjusted based on its size, location, amenities, etc.
The difference between a Zestimate and an Appraisal
You will receive all sorts of disclaimers from Zillow stating that is Zestimate is not an appraisal. That is because it is not. You will receive the same disclaimer from a real estate agent when they provide a broker’s price opinion or market analysis. However, while market analyses and appraisals are similar in the way that they are prepared, I do not believe the Zestimate is. A sales appraisal is prepared by choosing similar properties and adjusting those “comparables” to obtain the value for the subject property. This method is how brokers and appraisers alike are trained in the industry.
As opposed to the above method, my assumption is that the Zestimate simply adjusts the subject property’s value based on its square footage or amenities. While this might seem similar, it does not produce the same result.
Why it doesn’t work
To be clear, I’m not saying that it is wildly inaccurate. Truthfully, I guess that means that an argument can be made that it does work, but I digress.
The biggest problems with the Zestimate, in my opinion, is lacking data and niche markets.
Lacking data – if you recall from above, Zillow relies on data entries from local multiple listing services to arrive at a value based on other sales and the amenities included with those sales. However, not all multiple listing services provide sales information publicly. In some cases, it is a non-disclosure situation. Idaho, for instance, is a non-disclosure state. In these circumstances, Zillow must rely on data entries from real estate professionals. Based on my own personal experience, I can tell you that not all, if not very few real estate professionals actually take the time to enter all of the correct data for a recent sale. In Zillow’s defense, they did have the initial list price data, features, and listing amenities.
Niche markets – this is arguably a bigger problem for Zillow, particularly in the Teton region. In my opinion, this valuation method works best when similar data is available across the board. For instance, tract housing.. These types of developments feature very similar homes, at very similar prices with quite a bit of data available. However, in our unique market, we often times find developments with home selling at nearly twice the $$ per square foot than an adjacent home. This can’t be good for an algorithm operating primarily on price per square foot.
Should you use it? Sure. Just remember that this is a rough guideline. Personally, I would imagine the Zestimate to be much more accurate in urban markets such as Idaho Falls such as opposed to Teton Valley for reasons above, but it can be used as a guideline. I would not advise that you make a decision to sell the farm based on your findings online…

Where do listings come from? How will list hub’s termination affect Zillow?

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Yes, this is another one of those posts explaining how listings are born, then appear on websites like Zillow and realtor.com. With several new changes to the internet web platforms in recent years, I thought it might be a good time to update this post.Zillow Group

First, a refresher on how listings are born.

Each listing you see online was created by a real estate agency, and typically one agent within an agency. A seller agrees to list a property for sale with that agent, and that agent uploads it to what is called the multiple listing service in most cases.

***The multiple listing service is a database where information about properties is stored, including the ability for agents with other agencies to cooperate with one another, understand how the agents are compensated, and provide information to appraisers (amongst other things).

There is not just one multiple listing service, and there is not a method to the madness in terms of what MLS system an agent uses. There are approximately 1,400 Multiple List Services operated by a local real estate association across the country. For example, the Teton Board of Realtors operates the Teton MLS which covers a bit of East Idaho and Western Wyoming. The Idaho Falls Association of Realtors operates the Snake River MLS and covers most of Eastern Idaho except for Teton County. You start to get the idea, even Phoenix has two multiple listing services that serve the city because there are so many properties for sale. (ever see duplicate listings online? This is because an agent uploaded the same listing to two MLS’s) Each listing in these MLS databases is then sent to, or syndicated with another website. Historically this has been done through a company called List Hub which is a syndication service. List Hub would gather the information from each MLS, and provide a feed to sites like Trulia and Zillow. So, listings are created by an agent, entered into an MLS, that information is then distributed to other web platforms.

Anyway, back to the latest news;

The first major change we saw recently was Zillow group’s acquisition of Trulia. You probably won’t notice too much of a difference on the customer end, but all of us agents now work on one platform for both web sites. Agent profile pages, reviews, all took a hit because of this. If you have had the question in years past which is better or more accurate in terms of Zillow or Trulia, I would say the same at this time. Continue to use whichever site you are more comfortable with.

In even bigger news, we saw a fairly drastic change in the world of News Corp, who owns Move, Inc. You may not know who Move is, but they operate realtor.com which is directly related to the National Association of Realtors. Move also owns the syndication platform mentioned above, List Hub. Knowing that realtor.com and Zillow are competitors, Move made a sharp decision in January of this year to stop supplying feeds from List Hub to the Zillow group. In a hearing in February a judge granted another month of data from List Hub to the Zillow group. Without that preparation time for the Zillow group, we likely would have seen Zillow lose several hundred thousand listings online. Without List Hub, the alternative for companies like the Zillow group was to contact each multiple listing service and request a feed directly from them. In many cases, we found that local MLS boards contacted the Zillow group directly to insure the listings would not be lost on these websites. Such is the case with our Teton MLS, which is why you continue to see local listings on these web sites.

Nationally, it is my opinion that because of this independent brokerage websites and realtor.com are the most reliable source for listing accuracy. It is unlikely that there are very many multiple listing services that are not providing data to sites or companies like the Zillow group, but it is likely that there will remain a few for years to come.

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