Comments on: Real Estate Search Engine Comparison

By: Kris Berg

Kris Berg — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:25:13 +0000

Brad, My little look into the mysteries of search engines was done quite some time ago, but it is always an interesting exercise. I agree that it underscores our value in searching for homes, even in this freedom of information age. It can all be very confusing to say the least.

By: Lane Bailey

Lane Bailey — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 03:57:57 +0000

I ran a similar test (although without as many different aggregators) with similar results in another ZIP code. Here is the result.

http://lanebailey.com/2007/12/13/mls-zillow-trulia/

When I started looking at the results individually, I ran across a lot of sold properties as well as withdrawn and expireds that were still listed as for sale.

Good job.

By: bradnix33

bradnix33 — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:53:28 +0000

OK. Got it. I guess I am just disappointed with the lack of coverage and thought surely there was a better answer. How do you plan to grow your coverage?

I guess this goes to further illustrate my original point, “it further confirms that real estate is local and working directly with a local Realtor is the best source for accurate listings and data.”

Keep me posted as your market coverage grows.

By: Drew Meyers from Zillow

Drew Meyers from Zillow — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:48:50 +0000

Please read my prior comments — it’s the total number of homes that fit the selected search criteria that show up on the map view you are currently looking at.

By: bradnix33

bradnix33 — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:42:00 +0000

I was just using the default zoom, which appears to be one click out from ‘city’. If I zoom 1 click in to city, the results change to 56 matching.

I was also using the default filters. Which if I change the type to just Single-Family it gives 395 at default map the same 56 at city level zoom map.

I still haven’t determined what the actual For Sale ‘matching results’ refer to? Can you clarify where these 419 or 395 For Sale properties are located?

By: Drew Meyers from Zillow

Drew Meyers from Zillow — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:33:57 +0000

What zoom level are you on?

Also, check your search filters — depending on what settings you have selected, it’ll tally the total properties that fit those parameters.

By: bradnix33

bradnix33 — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:31:05 +0000

Drew:

Where did you get 276? There are 231 listings in FMLS today for 30107. If you remove the ‘pendings’ and ‘contingent-other’ from this list, you get 228 active listings with no strings.

I am still confused when using zillow. I just entered 30107 in the zip code and clicked ’search’ from the home page and I see 419 matching results. The map shows Ball Ground, Big Canoe, Canton and barely Waleska. Even if you add up all those numbers from each town in view, I only get 149. What does 419 For Sale matching results really mean?

By: Drew Meyers from Zillow

Drew Meyers from Zillow — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:22:26 +0000

Brad-
I see 276 right now as the total count when i do a search for “30107″ — that means, on the map view, there are that many listings. Note there are other zip codes shown on the map, such as 30115 and 30151.

By: bradnix33

bradnix33 — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:00:28 +0000

Drew:

Thanks for clarifying that Zillow does not pull from FMLS or MLS. I feel weird apologizing for giving you guys too much credit. 47 is a far cry from the 231 actual (today) active listings. 387 really did sound better (although still inaccurate).

I got the 387 number from reading the For Sale ‘matching results’ and did not realize that the true number of Zillow listings for sale was displayed on the map (47).

I apologize for missing the number. However, it did bring to light that this may be misleading to other buyers, sellers and/or Realtors when searching on Zillow. What does the current For Sale ‘matching results’ of 419 actually represent?

Brad Nix
bnix[at]maxsell[dot]net

By: Drew Meyers from Zillow

Drew Meyers from Zillow — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:33:21 +0000

Hey, it’s Drew from Zillow. I just want to clarify something real quick.
“Why do Realtor.com and Zillow.com show more results than actual listings?
They must pull their results from FMLS & GAMLS and combine the two, instead of parse them.”

Zillow is not combining listings from FMLS & GAMLS — we do not receive data from MLS’, but rather straight from brokerages and agents.

Also, though I would prefer if Zillow had the 387 figure you quoted for that zip code, I don’t think it’s entirely accurate. How did you get the 387 number? I just did a search and it showed up with 47 results.