Thank You Great news 5 star
It is similar to google base which point2agent submits as a part of syndication.
thanks for sharing.
Wow if you read the posts within the link, they are really bashing realtors. I think any way to get information into the hands of home buyers and sellers is a good thing for the public and realtors. People will always need good sound advice on thier biggest asset.
The posts on the link are simply comments to what Google is doing from the official google blog, I am more concerned with what Google said they were going to do. I talked about it on my blog and I believe Google to be good, you can find my comments here:
http://www.charlestononlinehomes.com/blogs/howard_arnoff/archive/2007/04/06/google-for-homes-not-just-homepages.aspx
Others are more intersted in disintermediation, Google says they aren't, simply stated "Our business is helping people find the information they're looking for." They don't want to sell leads, they don't care about commissions, they simply want to provide information to real estate buyers." It is up to agents "to add value to the transaction in order to earn a commission for services provided."
Carmen and Jeff, that was from the end of my post from the blog on my website, adding value to the transaction will earn you money as a realtor. Keeping information from the consumer will make you a dinosaur.
Ritu, it IS Google base, however, it is now EASILY available for consumers to see, previously, you had to FIND google base, it was not in the search results for xxxx city real estate or xxxx city homes for sale, it is NOW.
Their point is that homepages don't matter as much as homes and consumers want to see homes, not agents websites. Get the listings and the consumer will be directed to you.
OK, Howard, I am taking a star back. I went and researched this google search. I am a layman when it comes to this search engine stuff. So I did what any idiot would do. Just plugged in my area. I found listings on there that had expired in 2005 and sold. And they appear to be hosted by Yahoo classifieds. I found my listing there that was sold and still showing active, but did not find my current listing I entered about 10 days ago. I need to find out more about how to maintain the listings that are placed in other areas. I will go find a post at Point 2 for that, since that is where it starts. Please watch for it there and help me. Thanks!