Ok, today’s blog entry is a cheap shot, but there’s a bigger story later on – so stick with me…. And you’ve heard it before, but if there’s one constant in this business, it’s that you can lead a REALTOR to water but you cannot make him think… or was that a horse and drink? Oh, who knows… but one thing’s for sure: You can give a REALTOR a digital camera but damned if they’ll use it.

Here’s the fun part. Go to REALTOR.COM and do the following search:

• San Diego, California
• $1,500,000 to No Maximum
• Single Family

When the search results appear, click Sort Results by Number of Photos.

Then click page 30 to go to those with the least photos.

Ok, I did it for you (you knew I would… )

As you expect, all of the usual frustrations apply: Do the sellers know their multimillion dollar properties look worse than a Craigslist ad? Are these agents really capable of selling luxury property if they’re not competent enough to load photos with the listings? Who is supervising these agents – and the services provided to these clients?

If these agents were listing Donald Trump’s multimillion dollar homes, what would he say? Right: Agent… You’re Fired!

Alas, there is even more though than could be said of these eerily incompetent listing presentations. Notice that they are “Showcase” listings. And one is “Internationally Featured.” How is that possible? Oh, right: Advertising money. Makes you wonder just how much these companies are simply brands of marketing rather than brands of repeatable quality performances. Obviously it would seem that anyone can just give REALTOR.COM their money and their listings can be “Showcased” without any care to check if the quality of the information is appropriate.

This is a major mistake by REALTOR.COM, too. If their site can contain “premier” properties that are supposed to be “promoted” and showcased to the top of lists but their information display is dreadful – bordering on useless – then could it be possible that consumers will come to think that REALTOR.COM is no longer a source of good and useful listing data? When consumers look at an 8-million dollar property without a photo, do they really blame the agent – or are they thinking, REALTOR.COM really sucks…..?

Makes me think of a trend emerging in employment websites: Monster.com became so full of crap – old resumes and junk data and people who may not still be alive let alone job hunting – that a number of new “higher quality” employment websites has emerged – like The Ladders or 6FigureJobs.com
When the data on a site just becomes so much noise and waste, consumers quickly look for quality alternatives. Same with real estate sites, possibly, when the value of their listings starts looking like a flea market rather than a trustworthy database.

So sure, these agent are idiots. The sellers are even greater idiots for listing with them – or at least not reviewing their own homes’ appearances on the web – and then freaking out that there were no photos. But we all know agents come and go; even luxury-property agents fizzle out sooner or later (although some not soon enough). It’s companies like REALTOR.COM that hope to stick around longer than the agents – but have to deal with information provided by them – that really should be worried.