Michael Corbett for Trulia on Fox News

I've been writing for a while now about the true mission of Zillow and Trulia:  increase visitors to their websites by using unreliable real estate data.  And every time I see Michael Corbett for Trulia on TV, especially on Fox and Friends on Fox News, the misinformation really gets my blood boiling.

Today Corbett, grinning former soap opera actor, featured 3 homes from Trulia:

1) Nashville, TN  3 br, 2.5 bath for $239,900.  The featured home is not available on Realtor.com using that exact search criteria.

2) Raleigh, NC  3 br, 2.5 bath for $285,000.  This featured home is not available on Realtor.com using that exact search criteria.

3) Plano, TX  4 br, 3.5 bath for $275,000.  Realtor.com indicates ZERO homes for sale using that criteria.

He then goes on to cite the "Trulia Price Trend" reports.  Unfortunately for Corbett, according to a study, Zillow and Trulia have 78% of the total listings for sale as Realtor.com, the only real estate portal that gets listings directly from the National Association of Realtors.  On top of that, 17% of Zillow and Trulia listings are not for sale in the local MLS.

Link to the study:  http://www.inman.com/2013/03/06/accuracy-zillow-trulia-listing-data-under-fire-again/#.U2AqIvldWlI

Trulia and Zillow cannot cite reliable real estate price trends when they only have 3/4 of available data, and 17% of their existing data is corrupt.

Read more on my website:  http://www.davidbarrhomes.com/#!debunking-zillow-sarasota/cftb

Comments

  1. CristinMay 6, 2014 at 10:14 AM

    David -

    Cristin from Trulia here. All of the above claims are false - each of these homes are for sale and active on the MLS. On top of that, for every home we feature on Fox, we talk to each of listing agents prior to featuring their homes, and they give us permission and confirm the homes are for sale. Every single listing agent for these homes happily allowed their for-sale listings to be showcased on national TV.

    You claim the homes are not for sale on Realtor.com, but that is also false:

    Nashville: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/632-Indian-Ridge-Dr_Nashville_TN_37221_M74941-04062?source=web
    Plano: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/6824-Pentridge-Dr_Plano_TX_75024_M77221-77989?source=web
    Raleigh: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/4744-Sandy-Bay-Cir_Raleigh_NC_27603_M63994-65859?source=web

    Here is the Trulia Trends report that Michael was citing: http://www.trulia.com/trends/2014/04/price-and-rent-monitors-mar-2014/

    As always, thanks for tuning in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David Barr's Venice and Sarasota Real Estate BlogMay 19, 2014 at 6:52 PM

      Of course you say my claims are false. I used the criteria provided on Fox and Friends to search Realtor.com. These homes did not appear and are not the same homes profiled by Corbett.

      The fact you provide no MLS numbers nor attribution to the listing agent on-air is further proof Trulia operates at the margins of reliable real estate information.

      Delete
    2. David Barr's Venice and Sarasota Real Estate BlogMay 19, 2014 at 6:54 PM

      And on further investigation, the home in Plano is not available for sale, per my original assertion. I don't need to spend more time investigating Trulia misinformation.

      Delete

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