Like many real estate teams, we post our listings on a variety of third-party websites, some of which are free (CraigsList), others of which we have paid for (BoiseHomeSites.com or Homethinking, for example). As the number of third-party websites has grown at an unprecedented rate, we are now more informed and a lot less pleased with where and how your listing is being displayed.

Here are a few of the problems we've run into.

(a) Listings are sometimes duplicated,
(b) frequently display incorrect or insufficient information, or
(c) are being attributed to agents other than the listing agent.

Zillow is one of the worst offenders, albeit inadvertently. Though it may offer some buyers a real service, it also does them a disservice. (Read this Wall Street Journal article.) Zillow maintains a database of properties in most major real estate markets. They gather data on properties from county assesor records and make it available on their website, regardless of whether or not that property is for sale.

Unfortunately tax records are all over the map. This Sellsius thread would make anyone shy away from Zillow! We've had problems with incorrect information, and while we've corrected is, Zillow displays the assessor's information AND ours, which is terribly confusing and, in my judgement, might cause a potential buyer to skip the property or question the listing agent's credibility.

(On the plus side, any home that is already in Zillow, you can brand it as being for sale.)

Google Base is another headache. Long story short: Keller Williams syndicates our listings to Google Base...but so do other offices. While Google acknowledges that they receive listing submissions from multiple sites (and even provide an inconspicuous link to "All Sources"), the inherent concern remains: Listings may be branded to other agents, which is not unusual in the industry (elsewhere dependent upon a mutual agreement), but violations are harder to identify and report.

Homescape and IdahoHomeSpot are a couple of other third-party sites that we've wrangled with. Of the sites where our listings are syndicated, Trulia has been remarkably accurate and easy to use.

To avoid confusion, we've begun monitoring these third-party sites, reviewing our listings and trying to fix errors. We also provide a disclaimer in our listing packet.

It seems everyone is getting into the real estate marketing biz! While Google Base, Trulia and others want to "connect users as quickly as possible with the information they need," there are going to be problems. We'll do the best we can to troubleshoot. But bear with us.