A Breakdown
Our national real estate industry has had a whirlwind of changes in the past two years, most of which are trade issues and meaningless to the general public – sellers, purchasers, renters and landlords. One issue in New York City that is affecting sellers and buyers is the unraveling of StreetEasy. StreetEasy once was the chief, if not only source for the most current aggregated real estate data in the city. It populated listings for buyers and renters to find and schedule viewings, sellers and landlords to promote their properties and agents to research industry information – from closed prices, amount of listings, contracts signed and closed sales. StreetEasy is no longer a reliable source for any of that.
StreetEasy is not a public resource. StreetEasy is a for-profit company that generates revenue by monetizing sellers and buyers. When a buyer goes on StreetEasy to research a property, the StreetEasy “Experts Program” redirects buyers unwittingly from the listing and listing agent to an agent who enrolls in the program, for which StreetEasy charges up to 35% of the buyer agent’s commission…on any sale. StreetEasy doesn’t care which property is sold.
In this pay-to-play program, the buyer is a lead, and they think they are speaking to the knowledgeable listing agent who represents the seller of the property. Instead, they are speaking to a third-party agent who has no involvement with the property and has no stake in the sale. So, the buyer is getting unreliable information, and the seller who has placed their property on StreetEasy and has entrusted the representation of their sale is duped. The agent the buyer has contacted almost certainly has not even seen the property. The agent who the seller has hired is not involved with the sale on StreetEasy.
More and more sellers are choosing to not place their property on StreetEasy for these reasons. As of today, StreetEasy.com has 10,494 active property listings on their site in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Compass.com has 13,631. And StreetEasy is not happy with that. Their solution is to now threaten agents and sellers who choose to not put their property on their site initially or at all. Their threat is to not allow the listing to ever be placed on their site from that agent or brokerage. Their solution is to cut their nose off to spite their face. But they cannot survive without a host, which are properties. And their model is reliant on agents to update property data. In response to threats and annoyance, agents are not updating data. Their model is eroding, and their data is unreliable.
This year ahead will be transformative for real estate in New York City. Our industry has had increased oversight and demand for more disclosure and transparency. That it good, and for the majority of quality, successful agents, this is merely a matter of course. StreetEasy is operating without open disclosure or transparency to consumers. They operate without proper oversight in an industry that is regulated by the government.
We suspect this year it will change.
Because of the shifts in data resources, we are pausing our report on market data activity this month and will resume in November.
We wish you a great start to your fall!
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The Properties
Our month's featured listings on the market.
1111 Ocean Avenue, Various Units
Ditmas Park / Brooklyn
Co-op
1-3 Beds / 1-2 Baths
$495,000 - $995,000
Upper West Side / Manhattan
Co-op
2 Beds / 2 Baths
$1,295,000
Flatbush / Brooklyn
Condo
2 Beds / 2 Baths
$795,000
Long Island City / Queens
Condo
2 Beds / 2 Baths
$1,400,000
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The Pick
From the cool and eccentric to reserved and irreverent - Our month’s pick of what's happening in New York City.
Sushi Con
Indulge in the biggest sushi expo in the United States. This culinary festival will feature over
60 vendors, restuarants and chefs from around the world.
Sunday, October 11th
Pier 36 - 299 South Street, NYC
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