Realtors using the Zillow.com API
So, recently I was asked to write a “drop in” piece of code for some Realtor clients to add to their web sites. It’s designed so that they can insert it into any web page they might want to allow their web site users to find out what their home is worth. Basically it uses the Zillow.com API to give the web site user this information according to Zillow.
It seems that a few real estate companies are using this tool now for their web sites to give their potential customers the information they’re looking for. What’s interesting to me is that the various local Realtor boards feel the need to keep a tight grip on the data that their member Realtors generate in the daily course of business.
For instance, the board will instruct their member Realtors that they are allowed to print, as in a newspaper, an MLS number but they are not allowed to display the address of the property at the same time. Likewise, it seems that displaying a list of MLS numbers on a Realtor’s web site is OK but printing the property address right next to it is not OK.
Seems to me that the local Realtor boards are fighting a losing battle.
