Spencer Rascoff's stated goal is to destroy NAR.   Yes, Rascoff is no longer "in charge" of Zillow, but the goal remains the same.  Acquiring Showing Time is one more step toward Zillow's objective of destroying NAR.

* Zillow, NAR, whoever... none of them have the interests of Realtors at heart.  So it doesn't concern me one way or the other.

Margaret, maybe that explains why we now receive a guestimated viewing time for showings???

Another reason why I do not use showing time, nor have any desire to.  I don't like giving client information out to third party vendors and I'm not a big enough player to demand an audit, a security assessment and legal/data protection documents be signed prior to use.

No words can express my emotions.

They ("Z") are registered as a real estate brokerage here in Florida and I wonder if  this creates a conflict of interest. It seems like it to me.

My first thought was, OH NO!

I think, as long as they take care of us, as they have for all of these years, we'll be fine. 

If not, we'll convince our MLS to go back to Centralized Showing Service!

I hadn't heard that... like the airline industry there will be less and less competition in the market place. 

I was just going to post something here, as I just got notice of this acquisition.   They want our info, and through ST, they have our client's phone numbers and maybe email.    Should we take back our showings?

I gave up worrying about anything they do back in '04. You would think that in over 15 years they would have anything real estate oriented under their thumb by now. Lot's of info at their fingertips and yet they don't know how to utilize it.

Client information is protected at all costs in my business. If it means more work for me ... so be it.  I do not use showing services ... appointments are made through me.  With C-19 we need a PEAD form signed before confirming appointments. 

Seems to be a conflict of interest if they are a Brokerage and Showingtime is  affiliated w/ many MLS's ?

It is all about dollars and control. No best interests of the buyer, seller or agent. You are a domino in the game of dollars!

It's all over social media as well as Inman with lots of comments from people.  Apparently, there are alternatives, one of which is Instashowings. My marketing for home sellers emphasizes personal service so that is what they can expect and receive. 

I see it as a conflict anywhere they have a brokerage to be also having access to all showing requests and approvals and denials.  

Margaret,

We could care less what Zillow does or does not do, and the same goes for NAR.  They do not affect our clients or their productivity.  Both entities are of no concern to the business of real estate.  A

I think it is disappointing as I enjoy their service. I'm not sure if my company will make a decision not to use them in the future. They did that on a few products.

I don't like the fact that the system will be 'opened up' possibly to the public making it less secure. I know as an agent that only authorized people are making appts on my listings - now what if any Joe can do it? That seems to be the aim of Z.

I can't read the article, but from what I remembered in NY where we used this service a lot, it was a way to schedule appointments to show homes. We did not provide any data on our clients such as phone number/name/email, but the service does which agent will be showing which homes, and can track who opens what door and when you're done with a showing.

I'm not sure I understand the data issue that's been brought up.

By the way, Showing Time is rarely used here. Most listings require you to call/text the listing agent to set up an appointment. At first I didn't care for that too much, but now I love it. 

What do I think?  I think that it is legitimate cause for concern but shouldn't paralyze us.  I think that our brokers, local MLS board AND National Assoc all owe us some statements today.  We are pawns in the money game that we contributed to ourselves (well... those who fed Z did anyway).  I'm not sure our interests are being looked out for at all but also recognize that change is change and if we can't keep up, well... that's a whole other story. 

Zillow will keep plowing forward and will be a causation agent for changes in the Real Estate industry

I opt all my listings out of showing time when I enter them.  Call or text me to see my listings.

I think it is a great move for Zillow. 

As long at NAR, state & local associations are out peddling our infomration to insurance companies and God knows whom else, then REALTORs will continue to be on the losing end of technology and progress.

NAR deserves everything it gets. 

I have never used showing time. Agents can email, text, or call for showings.

As agents got lazier, they become reliant on technology like Showing Time.
Then someone they don't like buys the technology...it feels like betrayal...and it is.

I have in the past and do today require the buyers agent to CALL ME to schedule a showing. In this regard Ryan and I observe the same practices. SOME agents are too lazy to call and too lazy to READ. However, I do PROTECT my buyers and sellers by retaining as much control as possible in-spite of the hurdles my broker, association and NAR put in the way.
So, what will YOU do?

I'm a builder and I have no thoughts on the matter.  I know in the past I sold homes because people found them on zillow, but at this point in my life I'm only doing contract homes.

I have seen comments from agents on social media about boycotting Showing Time due to the Zillow acquisition.

Have Anti-Trust laws been repealed and I did not notice.

Just left a comment on another question earlier today.  It will be interesting to see what our MLS comes up with. Haven't heard a word yet but I'm sure it will be a hot topic.

Zillow has attempted to takeover in Canada but hasn't been welcomed.

Zillow in Canada CANNOT yet:

• List ALL of the homes for sale In order for a property to be displayed on Zillow, the Seller’s brokerage needs to have signed an agreement with them. Unfortunately, some of the biggest brokerages in Ontario have opted to keep their listings off of Zillow, even though there’s no cost to them to promote a listing.
• Share historical sold data The Supreme Court ruling only requires TREB (Toronto) to allow brokerages to share sold price data, so they can still restrict non-brokerages like Zillow from posting the data. (They're not a brokerage in Canada)
• Provide Zestimates or valuations This would be nearly impossible to do without having access to sold data.

Our Realtor.ca is a FREE nationwide MLS with public access to all Realtor listings, owned by our Canadian Realtor Association.  The listing agent gets leads direct from this site for free. 

Back in 2018, we were warned that we might not recognise our business in 5 years!!  Zillow was attempting to enter our market.  This was my favourite quote at the time:

"Some of your colleagues may choose to experiment with third-party listings aggregators such as Zillow. If they have their broker’s permission, that is their choice. But is it a sound business decision? I suggest you ask yourself, do I want to deal with the consultant who asks to borrow my watch, and then charges me to tell the time?" 

Zillow registered as a real estate brokerage here in the DC metro area with BrightMLS. Nothing was done! Now they acquire showingtime we had a heated post on social media and response from BrightMLS they are not going to react immediate. If our hands are tied because our associations cannot stay ahead of the game we will have to accept our faith. 

We need to move away from Zillow

No impact on me. I hope they offer good service.

In the times to come, Real Estate will become more fierce & competitive. Positioning to succeed and offset is normal and expected for the big boys

Wow, I had not heard that. What is next?

I think agents need to calm themselves down.  Do we not remember when they acquired AR for a brief moment in time?  

The way I see it, ShowingTime is clearly a well run business.  Businesses don't get acquired when they are worthless.  As such, I will continue to use it until it proves to be otherwise.

They are trying to monopolize the real estate data. It's so upsetting. I will not use Showingtime!

No show for me!

Seems to be an issue that is getting lots of agents worried.

We will survive this and keep on doing what we do and let z do what it does.