David Barr's Sarasota and Venice Real Estate Blog

Are you using Trulia or Zillow mobile apps? I've written extensively about how Zillow in particular (and Trulia) is not a real estate company but a website that sells advertising.  The real estate listings on both sites are notoriously out of date or just plain inaccurate, some never having been for sale in the first place. Have you driven to a property using one of these apps and found the home wasn't for sale?  You're probably not alone.  If you 're looking for a good Sarasota real estate app, copy this link to your mobile browser:  http://t.ikenex.com/?k=LGz

I just read an article from Inman News, the real estate news source, about Trulia's changes to their "listings" and their mobile app. I've blogged about Zillow's inaccurate data several times, and Trulia is not much different.  Trulia scrapes local tax data and posts pre-foreclosure and foreclosure properties as available for sale, when they are not.  Every single day, I respond to questions from confused buyers on the Trulia forum about these types of homes. Trulia is touting updates and changes to their mobile app in an effort to get buyers to use it and sell advertising on the app to real estate agents. For buyers, the same inaccurate Trulia "listings" will show up on their mobile app.  I can imagine a buyer pulling up outside a home they found using the Trulia mobile app, calling the featured real estate agent from the app, and asking about a home that isn't for sale.  End result:  a disappointed buyer and an agent who paid for the privile...