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When ForSaleByOwner.com issued an announcement last week that it is the first “by owner” real estate website to advertise its listings on Realtor.com, it started a firestorm of response by the National Association of REALTORS®. The NAR not only sent out its own press release denying a relationship between Realtor.com and ForSaleByOwner.com, it rightly pointed out that the FSBO service didn’t even contact Realtor.com or the NAR before making the announcement.
“When I saw it, not only did it seem like an improbable relationship, I was surprised that I did not see a press release from Move or NAR because that is normal procedure when announcing partnerships or alliances,” writes Saul Klein, CEO of Internet Crusade and Point2 Technologies. Klein has posted his response on RealTown.
ForSaleByOwner didn’t deny it. They told evansEmedia their relationship is with flat-fee brokers, not Realtor.com.
Then why use Realtor.com’s name in a PR stunt that effectively links the two companies together in a way that appears that there is a relationship?
Both sides say there is not one. In fact, USA Today wasted no time publishing the news in the news magazine and failed to ask Realtor.com’s or the NAR’s side.
It should be disclosed that USA Today is a strategic partner of ForSaleByOwner.com.
What’s “icky” about this situation is that the Department of Justice has taken broad powers to squash full-service Realtors, including publishing a page on its usdoj.gov site explaining the virtues of limited service without giving any support to full service agency.
Even ickier is ForSaleByOwner’s use of a competitor’s strengths to lift itself, in effect using the appeal of Realtor.com to forge a link in the mind of the consumer.
“It definitely crossed the boundaries of ethical PR,” says one PR professional who prefers to remain anonymous in case legal mudslinging begins.
It’s a poor business strategy that could backfire on the FSBO site. “If I were a struggling FSBO on my last legs, maybe my last ditch effort might be to get my property onto R.com and pay a broker to do this,” sniffs a source.
ForSaleByOwner.com general manager Greg Healy told evansEmedia that they “had our attorneys look at it and they believe everything is fine.”
Will the NAR/Realtor.com respond legally? No comment, but spokesperson Lucien Salvant says emphatically, “There is no agreement between ForSalebyOwner.com and Realtor.com. Presenting unrepresented seller information on Realtor.com has never and would never be permitted by NAR.”
Blanche Evans
214-686-4202
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Comments
Comment by: Carol Murray Cei
- Nov 17, 2008 8:54:09 PMI think these FSBO companies are on the wane. Help-You-Sell is gone, and more will follow. Every day I see listings expire from these brokerages which do nothing but put the listing in the MLS and direct agents to call the Seller. I have had success at listing some of these expireds and getting them sold in less than 30 days after they sat on the MLS for 6 months.
Sellers need to wake up. We are in a serious market right now and they are not in control. They lose money every day they waste time with these cut-rate shops. Our MLS now lists total days on market - meaning they show the days on market with the current listing and then the total days with all listings. The Seller wastes 180 days with the cut-rate deal and then starts with a full service broker but is already 180 days in the hole. Buyers and agents just see that many days on market and it makes it look like the house is a dog and couldn't sell. The sooner people realize this, the sooner they will get smart and start working with a Realtor who will get the job done for them.
Comment by: George Bold
- Nov 20, 2008 1:42:18 PMAbsolutely - This type of thing just adds to the public perception of dishonesty that real estate professionals must counter every day. Unfortunately even though the perpetrator here is the FSBO site, Realtor.com & NAR are linked through association by many people.
Comment by: Katie Smith
- Nov 23, 2008 4:51:32 PMI just want to say that we are always barred from contacting anyone on FSBO.com. Every property states the same thing: Do not contact this seller. They are listed with the National Do Not Call Registry. If they do not want us on their site, then don't use our association to boost your sales. I agree with the comment above that states these companies are going down the tubes. More and more real estate agents are receiving FSBO listings. We just received five from the same owner. He spent one year with no success on any of these listings. He is not receiving a lot of action on all of them.
Katie
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