Posts tagged diverse solutions

DS + Zillow = A whole Host of Questions

in Technology on

Warning: this post is not within the real of purely local real estate blogging …

Second, when I saw this news I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. One of the reasons I have so loved Diverse Solutions on my site is that they gave me what I believed to be the best tool out there to search for homes in my market. In part, I’ve been competing with Zillow (not really, they’re huge. I’m tiny) But really, I have been. Now they’re together? Zillow, who makes money (as all of the third parties do) selling agents on upsells for $X per month?

1. Is this the next step in the evolution of Zillow becoming/replacing/supplanting the MLS? Maybe. Maybe not.

2a. Presumably, if I keep using Diverse Solutions to power my real estate search page, I’ll have to update my site’s privacy policy saying that Zillow is likely to start farming my users’ information. That will suck.

4. Listings, and listing data are a commodity . Everyone has them. I’ve benefited by google indexing the MLS listings found on my site, but I’ve never depended on it. I generate unique, relevant, and occasionally good content. Anyone can get listing data.

6. See #4. Those depending on real estate search for their SEO are now SOL. It’s the evolution/consolidation of the tech space, and that’s ok. Real estate is about real estate representation – used with technology appropriately. Technology without competent representation and interpretation is merely cool tech.

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Updated Charlottesville Search for Homes Tool

in sideblog on

My beloved search tool has been upgraded … as always, if you have any issues, please let me know either via contact form or in the comments. I (and Diverse Solutions, I’m sure) want this to be the best possible way to search for homes .

Added sharing ability to Twitter, Facebook, Dwellicious, Google Buzz, Email Added print / PDF to Details listing Added ability to have Community, Tract, Zip and MLS Number to Search Widget Added ability to have map auto-open on results pages Added tracking to results map being opened or close between pages Added icon for results map link Improved slideshow look & feel on details Added better full-size photos (just click on the photo in the slideshow to see full size photo) If account has dsSearchAgent Pro: Added ability to have an “advanced” link in Search Widget which leads to a new page with the dsSearchAgent frame auto generated Added ability to set the Template for dsSearchAgent page Added Bing Birds-Eye View to Details pages Added ability to set first/last name and email in wp-admin (necessary for pdf and contact form, shares values with dsSearchAgent) Numerous CSS/UI improvements

…As I noted in November, Bing is much better than Google in some cases .

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