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Zillow, Trulia, & Realtor.com ToU present a conflict.
The Terms of Use (ToU) of Zillow,
Trulia, Realtor.com and other publishers
require an irrevocable,
perpetual, worldwide license from anyone sending them listing information.
Their licenses authorize them
to do anything
they wish with the information forever. Unless
authorized by Seller, agents and brokers are in conflict with NAR Code of Ethics.
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Brokers lack authority to grant perpetual, worldwide, irrevocable licenses.
State and local REALTOR® associations' listing agreements lack language
that permit brokers to license these data to the publishers. But it's happening anyway.
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Zillow’s Terms of Use:
“. . . For materials you post or otherwise provide to Zillow in connection with the Services (your "Submission"), you grant Zillow an
irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free worldwide license to (a) use, copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, modify, prepare derivative works of or incorporate into other works, and translate your Submission,
in connection with the Services or in any other media, and (b) sublicense these rights . . .”
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Trulia’s Terms of Use:
“. . . . You agree that by posting content on the Site,
you are granting Trulia a royalty-free, perpetual,
irrevocable and fully sublicensable
license
to publish, reproduce,
distribute, display, adapt, and otherwise
use this content in any manner
on or in connection with the Site or in the
course of offering the Services. You understand and agree that any User
Content that you post or submit to Trulia
may be redistributed through
the internet and other media channels. . . .”
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Realtor.com Terms of Use:
“. . . . You also warrant and represent that you own or otherwise
control all of the rights to such Content including, without
limitation, all the rights necessary for you to Transmit such Content,
and to transfer your or others’ interests in such Content to Move as provided below. . . .
By Transmitting Content to the Move Network, you grant,
and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to Move an
irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive,
fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy,
perform, display, and distribute the Content and to prepare
derivative works of, or incorporate
into other works, the Content, and to
grant and authorize sublicenses
(through multiple tiers) of the foregoing. . . .”
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What are Publishers doing with your clients' home listing information?
Publishers’ do everything stated in their respective Terms of Use, which
includes the omission and
manipulation of Seller Listing
Content to produce a result that may mislead and
confuse prospective buyers.
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Can’t brokers monitor and manage listing information?
Publishers send Seller Listing Content
to other publishers
without broker’s knowledge, preventing brokers
from monitoring or managing Seller Listing Content. The data may become inaccurate
and remain on publishers’ sites
long after the seller’s home has been
sold or is otherwise no longer for sale.
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Publishers divert calls from the listing agents.
The publishers' strategy, in part, is to sell ads and glorified professional titles to agents. This strategy causes prospective home
buyers’ inquiries
for information about a seller’s home
to be diverted
from the listing agent to
agents unfamiliar
with seller’s home. Is that truly a good deal for Sellers?
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Publishers benefit from inaccurate data.
Publishers often fail to update
Seller Listing Content on a timely basis. This "failure" is quite valuable to the publishers. The publishers can sell more
leads and increase their SEO ranking. As a result, information
including price and
status are often
inaccurate, which
misleads and confuses buyers.
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Low offers may result from publishers' inaccurate home value estimates.
Publishers may display an inaccurate
estimated value
of a seller’s home, causing buyers to make
low unrealistic offers.
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Can brokers deal with this issue?
Yes! If a seller insists
their Listing Content is placed on a publishers’ website, brokers can
mitigate their legal
liability by using the
Listing Agreement Addendum
posted on our website.
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Attention Brokers:
If you want publishers to change
their Terms of Use and cease their questionable
tactics,
join other brokers in adopting
the National Association of Real Estate Professionals’
Bill of Rights.
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Brokers and agents: register your support now.
By uniting, we can END
publishers’ abusive practices.
NAREP is now accepting registrations for membership.
Registration is
FREE. Joining won't cost you a penny.
Click here to register now.
Tell your colleagues. Read our
blog. Follow us on
Twitter and LIKE us on
Facebook. We'll keep you
informed on our progress and the details of our plans. Let's
STOP syndication abuse now!