Canadian Real Estate Site Wants To Remain Unusable; Threatens Those Who Improve It
from the this-again? dept
In the past, we've written about various organizations who break out the lawyers immediately when someone else makes their own poorly designed sites work better. This has happened with sites like the Ellis Island site and a movie theater chain in the UK. In both cases, some folks who got fed up with the poorly designed official site stepped up and created a better interface to the data hidden within. That same situation appears to be happening in Canada. Joe writes in to let us know that the Multiple Listing Service in Canada (which is basically the core database listing homes for sale) has a poorly designed website. Some enterprising individuals in Toronto made a much nicer interface, creating a mashup that pulled in other data (such as Google maps info). Rather than, say, recognize how useful the better interface was and talk to the developers about how MLS could use that work themselves, it sent a cease and desist, forcing the site to shut down. The site's creators were doing this as a hobby to improve the usefulness of MLS's data. And now it's gone. That's no way to run a business.
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Filed Under: canada, cease and desist, interface, mls
Companies: multiple listing service
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Poor ignorant people. I for one would love free labor to improve my marketing attempts...
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Short sited and also unnecessary
Since they apparently don't want to do the sensible thing, I think that it should be pointed out that they didn't need to send a cease and dissist notice to prevent the new interface from competing with their official one. They could have simply restricted access to the database to specific ip addresses, namely the ip addresses of the servers the official interface is hosted at. If more than one, make a list.
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Member Data
The MLS in Washington also has a crappy site. Frankly, that's good for those of us that want to build better tools like our site at Adeo Realty. Most real estate agents/brokers don't see the value in providing good tools since they are caught up in the information gatekeeper syndrome. We don't care if the information is freely available, but we'd still rather people come to our site to get it. :)
Our approach is to provide good tools with as much information as we can build with our limited resources. People still need an agent to show homes, negotiate, keep things legal, etc. (Scarce resources vs. Infinite resources) -Todd
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Re: Member Data
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Re: Re: Member Data
The fact that a middle man exists isn't really any different than how most markets work in practice. Most of us don't have the desire/skill to do everything on our own. In fact the chances are that you too are some type of middle man. Your customers/clients/audience could build/create/perform your service on their own if they had enough desire and skill.
The MLS may be old school about protecting content but even if the information was completely available to anyone for whatever purpose, there would still be a market for agents. Most buyers and sellers have no desire to work directly with each other.
-Todd
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Member Data
Friend of mine became a realtor in a few months while keeping a day job. She even took some of her tests from a home coputer with the darn book open.
Not saying you're not damn useful, just not going to compare you with anyone with a four-year degree because it would be simeoultaneously arrogant and insulting.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Member Data
That said, that relative actually had cause to gripe about MLS itself herself. Something about steep access fees and other highway-robbery as I recall. More competition in access to real estate data would be a good thing, if true.
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Re: Member Data
My area has a great MLS system, which we used extensively to reseach homes in our area. We made a list of five, and then chose a very reputable realtor. The realtor took us to look at them, helped us make an offer, which was turned down as they accepted a better offer, and then helped us make an offer in our favorite (but more expensive, lol) home, which we then purchased.
Saved us time and frustration, saved the realtor time and frustration, better for everyone...So says me, anyway...
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My impression of Real Estate agents
In the US - real estate agents seem to be very close hold on MLS listings. Even sites that let you search the MLS appear to give stale data. It always appeared to me that they are trying to protect their own jobs by only allowing due paying licensed agents to have true access. I would probably never buy a house without a real estate agent (they do have a lot of insight), but it scares me that they think they have nothing without private access to a dB. If your major benefit to a customer is access to a computer system - then you're really providing a service that a 5 year old with a good tool could provide.
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Very Interesting
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What basis?
If the C&D was an essentially empty threat, but it would have been expensive for the small independent site to fight and win a subsequent lawsuit, then chillingeffects.org ought to be interested in this incident as another abuse of the legal process to get results that aren't within what the law intends to enable.
There's also the little matter that, if they were claiming copyright, you cannot copyright mere facts, or compilations of same that have no originality in them. Databases tend to be exactly that -- any suggestion that one could copyright the fact that the house at 853 XYZ street is for sale, for instance, seems ludicrous on its face.
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Only part of the story...
Now click the "Get more Information about this college" link. You can enter in your name and degree goals and e-mail and contact information. Will you get more information about this college when you click submit? Nope. Will that college ever receive your inquiry for more information? Nope. In fact, your contact information will be considered a lead and sold to a for profit college that pays upwards of 45.00 per lead (i.e. University of Phoenix, Kaplan University, American InterContinental University, ITT Tech, etc.) Within an hour you'll have 2 or 3 SPAM e-mails claiming you subscribed, cause the college sending them doesn't know you wanted info about some other college you searched for. And that lead generator who "borrowed" the content and "made it better," really only fraudulently got paid for your information. It's in the same arena as phishing.
Protecting content is much more important than design, and I design for a living. Trust me, if I want you to use my content, we'll have a contract. I wouldn't be surprised if they were taking the MLS listing, a proprietary service, and when a user clicked to get more information it took them to a very specific Real Estate Agent from which the "goodly hearted" designers were getting paid.
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Re: Only part of the story...
If they dishonestly misdirect user inquiries, then that dishonest behavior is a problem, but it is the dishonest behavior that is the problem, rather than something else.
In earlier posts, it was revealed that the site you're bashing was actually *competing against* sites more closely meeting the description you wrote -- ones designed to drive traffic to "very specific real estate agents", and that it was probably attacked at their behest.
That is more akin to an honest, value-adding college-info site getting shut down by your dishonest spammy ones, than like one of the latter getting shut down.
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Re: Re: Only part of the story...
The summary as Upton Sinclair might have written: "If you have a database and I have a better web designer, I connect into your database and I suck out your data. I suck it out! I suck out your data!"
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MLS in Canada
Just another example of a monopoly keeping an iron grip on its market.
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Realtors and protecting their data
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RE: MLS Site
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real estate
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cebu philippines real estate
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Hello
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Canadian Real Estate Site Wants To Remain Unusable; Threatens Those Who Improve It
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MLS Access
You might want to have your Board look into the Carets system used by the Pacific West Association of Realtors along with the other Boards in the area. I might add that because we have so many Realtors on one system many of the added utilities were formerly had to pay for are now included in our annual dues at no additional fee. /www.pwaor.com, www.ca-rets.com & sca.mlsalliance.com.
This is only to show you what can be done when we put aside our, I own this attitude, and work together for the betterment of our clients.
Just my spin on it so take it and run with it or drop it like a lead balloon and keep things as they are.
BTW before you say I know nothing about Canada I have lived in every Province from Western Ontario to Vancouver, BC & all point in between & have traveled back many times keeping in touch with family members all over Western Canada. Just to head of that likely comment from some.
Have a great day, a mild winter & a bright future.
James SoCal
Southern California.
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