Ah, but Ronnie, many of us at Trulia have been in the business for a good amount of time and in reference to what you are saying in the above quote, not gonna happen my friend.

http://www.trulia.com/agents/feature

Doesn’t seem far off, no? What happens when Trulia investors need some of that $17.5m seed money back? Are the banner ads going to get it for them?

I have to admit, you are really passionate about what you believe However, please do take a look at who we have buying banner advertising on the site……

“Trulia wasn’t around at the time, but Realtors remember the day Realtor.com took away all the agent contact information on all MLS listings only to sell it back as an “enhanced listing” for a mere $199/yr.”

Ah, but Ronnie, many of us at Trulia have been in the business for a good amount of time and in reference to what you are saying in the above quote, not gonna happen my friend.

Stay tuned….I think you’ll have a change of heart…..

Rudy
Social Media Guru at Trulia

Trulia wasn’t around at the time, but Realtors remember the day Realtor.com took away all the agent contact information on all MLS listings only to sell it back as an “enhanced listing” for a mere $199/yr. (valued at *INCLUDEDWITHYOURDUES*). Stupid NAR!

Screw me once shame on me………..

Pardon me, but I’m going to go surf Trulia to see who’s buying banner advertising in 2008. I have a Nigerian Bank account with $20 million. All I need is a SSN, account#, and a fast getaway car. Suckers!

“I know it is only Realtor commissions that Trulia is after, or a fraction thereof.”

This is the farthest thing from the truth. You must have us mistaken with some other company.

Rudy

“Their business model is simply to take data from a source, distribute content, and sale back to the original source”

We don’t take, we receive. Our partners understand the value they are receiving. They add their clients listings to Trulia for FREE and we send them the consumer traffic for FREE. This will remain the same.

We are a successful business. We make our money via banner advertising and optional enhancements.

I have never been a believer in scare tactics. So I”m saddened when I see comments like yours. When I was actively selling real estate I put my clients listings where the most buyers were. If I were active today, I would most certainly add my clients listings not only on Trulia but a host of other free or cost effective major online real estate destinations as well. To me, I just think it’s in the sellers best interest to do so. I want to help solve their real estate problem. Besides pricing it right, exposure is one of the best ways to do that.

Personally, I have hundreds of real estate agent friends. I care about them. I care about helping agents as does everyone at Trulia. That’s one of the major reasons I joined Trulia. No hard feelings to you either Ronnie, but there is no bluff to call.

Rudy
Social Media Guru at Trulia

Misrepresentation? Go read your Trulia ROI post again. It is deceiving at best.

I HAVE tried your free services. Trulia Voices is nothing more than throwing a brisket into a pig pen. I do not understand why Realtors use Trulia to promote their listings over developing their own site. Trulia has some fantastic technology, but in the end, they only take traffic/leads away from the Realtor. If you ask me, Realtor.com, Homegain, and Trulia are all in the same boat. They specialize in forming partnerships with MLS’s and Realtor boards to access listing data only to turn around and sale it back to us at whatever price make their shareholders happy. No thank you! Trulia is an unnecessary middleman offering no value. Their business model is simply to take data from a source, distribute content, and sale back to the original source. Trulia the Real Estate Pirate!

How does Trulia expect to make a profit? When is your financial model going to change? Is Trulia always going to be free? I smell something and it stinks worse than the infamous NAR/Move.com contract. However this time NAR is not even in the picture. If Trulia takes over, all Realtors can do is look in the mirror. It’s your fault for being so near-sighted!

Trulia is currently jockeying for position to become an 800lb gorilla than none of us little people (w/o VC funds) will be able to touch. When that happens, I’ll be the guy telling all you Realtors “I told you so. Look what you turned them into.”

Through informing Realtors of the dangers of Trulia now, hopefully it will never come to that and Trulia’s stock options will be nothing more than glorified toilet paper. I would still opt for the two-ply if I were you

You’re a nice guy, Rudy. That is why Trulia sent you on a mission to give the entire Realtor community a false sense of friendship. It’s a genius social move for a group of analytical programmers! Wicked smart!

The truth is, sir, you are a wolf in sheep’s clothing and I’m calling your bluff. You’re simply playing a role. The cool thing is…you now have dozens of Realtors playing the PR game with you (or against you).

The Question is: Will the Silicon Valley backed Trulia succeed in “flying under the radar” or will the individual Realtor community unite and stop the machine? It will be interesting to see how things turn out. Either way, Rudy, no hard feelings. I know it is only Realtor commissions that Trulia is after, or a fraction thereof.

I always value everyones opinion. However, your tone here as well as on your blog post and on Voices is really over the top I think. I appreciate a good dialog and have addressed many of the misrepresentations you write about over and over.

Trulia is a friend and partner to agents and brokers. We support each other. Adding your listings on Trulia is FREE. Participating on Trulia Voices, our real estate community, is FREE. Creating a profile is FREE. Have you actually tried to take advantage about the FREE services we offer? If not, I challenge you and everyone else to take some time to do that. Them come back to me with your thoughts. Because if you haven’t tried it, I really don’t think you have a solid footing to knock it. Makes sense?

Rudy
Social Media Guru at Triulia

Commenting LIVE from Bloodhound Unchained – Mr. Glenn Kelman of Redfin is speaking now.

If we continue to use 3rd party traffic aggregators, we are slowly, but surely, selling our souls to the devil (in sheep’s clothing). Do you want to pay Trulia for your MLS information in the future? I can see it now….for only $199, You can be the featured agent for Your Listing!! Or how about – Enhance your listings for only $99/month! NAR already screwed us with Realtor.com, why let a 3rd party come in and lick the wounds? I refuse to screw myself and I hope we can get the other million+ Realtors on board. If so, goodbye Trulia! Without the MLS that we so willingly HAND them on a silver platter, Trulia would be a ghost town with a bunch of echoing “Voices.”

http://activerain.com/blogsview/514880/Trulia-s-New-Logo

Hi Geordie! – Although interesting, it might hinder the flow/ hierarchy of the conversation.

Hi Bill! – That’s the challenge. Restricting conversations is not what we want to do. The goal is to encourage more fulfilling conversations. By the way, having met Deborah Madey in person, I can attest that she is one sharp Realtor® and a fantastic lady to boot.

Rudy
Social Media Guru at Trulia.com