Crapping Out: Is it the Inventory or Website?

A: When was the last time you did a condo property search on NY Times online? If it was recent than you probably noticed a plethora of "PRE-CONSTRUCTION", "NEW CONST", "NEW BUILDING", & "BRILLIANTLY DESIGNED" ads posted by brokers from Homestead, HomeQuestNYC, and others. This crapping out of a once great real estate resource should make buyers working on their own or with brokers turn to a site like Streeteasy.com instead for their real estate searches!

With so many brokerages out there these days its hard for buyers to search every one; that could take hours. The usual choice is NY Times online but recently their data seems infested with broker ads trying to get buyers for new developments. In fact, my last search for a client of mine yielded 15 of the first 18 results to be these types of 'spam ads' by brokers. I'm sure I will get some smack for this post from fellow brokers as they try to make their living, but I can't help but feel that this behavior is making a once great resource, well less great? Here is how a search for 1BR Condos in UES & UWS displays on 1st page, with a little added touch of emotion on how it makes me feel to view it:



Enter Streeteasy.com, whose easy layout and quality data makes it easy for brokers and buyers to quickly check for listings that meet your needs being offered by most of the NYC based brokerages. There are some of these 'New Construction' ads but not nearly as annoying as what the NY Times Online has become. Now take a look at how a search for 1BR Condos in UES displays on 1st page of Streeteasy:



I don't know about you but I strongly believe that quality content is the best strategic route for any website publisher looking to succeed in the dot com world. In this case its not the brokers that are to blame for this, its the NY Times! It's their system and they control what type of content makes it to their real estate search system that so many web surfers got used to browsing.

I really wish the NY Times would treat their property search system more like a 'quality database' and less like a 'revenue generator' because in the end they are going to lose traffic to sites such as Streeteasy.com that consolidate listings from many NYC brokerage firms into one place for you to find!

According to Streeteasy.com CEO Michael Smith:

We crawl and have direct feeds from more than 50 brokers. We have run into the same problem. We're currently implementing a system which will limit these types of listings.

To do this we validate the number of listings from a particular broker which do not match certain criteria. For example we will be giving priority to those brokers which provide complete information. Complete addresses, number of rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage are all information which is very relevant to buyers, and the best brokers consistently provide this information.

We are also implementing a system by which brokers who do not consistently meet minimum standards will have all of the non-conforming listings reviewed and possibly excluded.

Love it! The web at work for the people! Do yourself a favor and run a few searches on Streeteasy and see if it works better for you. If you find the site lacking in any area, at least you can suggest BETA FEEDBACK that I know for a fact will get reviewed by their development team in a timely manner. Good Luck!