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<title>blogTO Recent Comments: Zoocasa Aims to Clean up MLS's Mess</title>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/feed/recentcomments/?10862</link>
<description>Comments recently made in this post on blogTO</description>
<copyright>Copyright 2009</copyright>
<lastBuildDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:40:32 PST</lastBuildDate>
<item>
<title>j</title>
<description><![CDATA[
http://www.squidoo.com/dryitchyscalp]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c695081</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c695081</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:02:27 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>j</title>
<description><![CDATA[
http://www.squidoo.com/dryitchyscalp]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c695080</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c695080</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:01:56 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>j</title>
<description><![CDATA[
http://www.squidoo.com/abtabs]]>
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<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c695077</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c695077</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:01:04 PDT</pubDate>
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<title>Dave</title>
<description><![CDATA[
I don't care for it. House thumbnail pic is too small. I don't want to waste time clicking on every house to see if it appeals to me. Initial photo appeal means a lot to me. ]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c668019</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c668019</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:01:20 PDT</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Whatever</title>
<description><![CDATA[
This is a lame post Tim - do you yourself a favor. If you're going to criticize realtor.ca, and take pains to highlight your previous post on the realtor.ca shortcomings (picture size,data quality) you should consider that this new site suffers the same shortcomings, since they're just indexing/going after the same data.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311952</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311952</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:01:24 PDT</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Jen C</title>
<description><![CDATA[
I like this site, but the listings are woefully out of date.  My partner and I bought our house at the beginning of May but when I did a search in Leslieville, our house is listed.  Sorry, but we've lived here for a couple of months now...not for sale ; )]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311906</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311906</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:14:54 PDT</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Aj</title>
<description><![CDATA[
Well said John. The fact that there is a "Home Details" page and that a user is not directed to the "Original Listing" directly from the search results does not seem to support the search engine claim. If it is just a search engine then there are more than enough details on the search results page (price, address, beds, baths, sqft) to send a user directly to the site being indexed. There is even a "preview button" that gives the user a summary of the property description. I would say at this point the user has a "sense for whether there may be interest or not". The phrase "See original listing" also implies that what is being shown on the "Home Details" page is a property listing and not merely basic information necessary for indexing a third party webpage. If you truely do intend on operating as a search engine, then link directly from your search results, there is more than enough information being displayed there.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311815</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311815</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:11:19 PDT</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>John Pasalis</title>
<description><![CDATA[
I think Canada is far behind the US when it comes to innovation in the real estate industry which makes Zoocasa a very welcome addition.

Having said that, I think the company needs to tread lightly when suggesting that because they are a "Vertical Search Engine" and not a listing site, they don't have to play by the rules.

It's a muddled message they're putting out there.  If I understand the above comment correctly, the only thing that makes Zoocasa different from a traditional listing site is that they crawl and index what can be found online, in much the same way Google does.  But to say that they are crawling and indexing listings found online suggests that Zoocasa is actually scraping data found on third party agent and brokerage websites or other vertical search, er..  listing sites like Realtor.com.

But if they are not scraping data as Jay Lewin states quite clearly, then how is Zoocasa getting its listing data?  The only other way would be direct feeds which would suggest that Zoocasa is nothing more than a real estate listing site.  Albeit, a very good real estate listing site.

I think the company needs to think about their corporate communications in a little more detail.  

The fact is that listing data is protected by copyright laws in Canada and in the US.  This means that a third party company cannot just crawl and index listing sites and then build interactive websites with that data.  If this was allowed companies like Zillow, Trulia and Google wouldn't be working so hard to get big US brokerages to share their listings with them.

I think the problem the company is going to face has to do with their apparent lack of cooperation with realtors and brokerages.  Aside from being required by the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, clearly advertising the listing brokerage that owns the listing would encourage more agents to share their listings.  The company seems to be forgetting the fact that they don't own the listing data on their site, they're just borrowing it.  

I think Zoocasa needs to actually listen to the comments and concerns from realtors like Richard Silver and not just dismiss them as being irrelevant because Zoocasa is a "vertical search engine".  

John Pasalis
realosophy.com]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311714</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311714</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:52:33 PDT</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Zoocasa Dev Team</title>
<description><![CDATA[
Richard, you make some good points that I'd like to address.  

Zoocasa is not a traditional real estate listings site.  We are a search engine that indexes what can be found online.  Like other search engines, the goal is to help users online find the things they are looking for quickly and efficiently.  In this case they are looking for houses online.  The difference between us and a search engine like Google is that we specialize in real estate.  We are connecting people looking for houses with properties for sale that they are interested in and more importantly the listing's brokers and agents.  This is why we only display a small fraction of a listing's information on our site. Just enough to give the person a sense for whether there may be interest or not, not too different from  the descriptions that someone like Google provides to users when they list their search results. The button labeled "See original listing" on our "home details" page connects anyone interested in a property directly with the listing broker or agent's posting online from where they are able to contact them directly.  Because we are a search engine and not actively listing or advertising properties for sale, we believe we are onside with the Real Estate Council of Ontario Guidelines you mention.  We did spend a lot of time making sure that we understood the guidelines while designing the Zoocasa experience.  
Also, we do acknowledge that some of the properties we have listed for sale may be sold. We have already put in a number of systems to catch listings that are sold from being improperly indexed but, as you noticed, some still get through.  We are continuing to refine the technology here.  As some people are now providing us with direct feeds, these issues get better everyday

While it is far from finished (interesting stuff still to come ;) ) I hope people see it for what it is intended to be which is a way to help drive traffic for those brokers and agents  who are actively marketing themselves online and hopefully we can make a little bit of money through advertising along the way.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311562</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311562</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 19:16:07 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>m</title>
<description><![CDATA[
For renters there is myhood.ca which scrapes craiglist and other sites.  It also has reviews by previous tenants.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311557</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311557</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:53:53 PDT</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Phil</title>
<description><![CDATA[
Zoocasa is promising, but I found the now defunct housing123.com was easier to use. Just go there and scroll around, the default settings got interesting results automatically. There are a few irritating things about Zoocasa - the scrolling of the map and the listings at right are clumsy. I can't figure out how to find a property in the listings and get it to highlight the map, only the reverse seems to work.  I don't want the results sorted from most expensive to least, I want the reverse but I don't think it's possible to change. Otherwise, it's great to have a google maps-based site for finding real estate listings again.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311553</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311553</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:43:03 PDT</pubDate>
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<title>Matt Elkind</title>
<description><![CDATA[
As a REALTOR I would love there to be a better search out there. Giving people access to out of date listings isn't it. I agree with Richard I would be happy to see my listing on there. Hopefully this will at least be a kick for Realtor.ca to up their game a little. "Real Estate" has this fear that if you make it easier to find houses the public won't need us. If agents don't add more value than just access to listings...we don't deserve to get used anyways.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311546</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311546</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:08:08 PDT</pubDate>
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<title>Aj</title>
<description><![CDATA[
"We are not scraping, and we will not index any site that does not want to be indexed. "
There are quite a few listings on ZOocasa from Realtor.com - I doubt they have agreed to be indexed. In fact indexing their listings is prohibited by their terms of use. SOunds like scraping to me. Also, if building relationships with Realtors is the plan...not displaying the agent or brokerage name is not the way to go.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311513</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311513</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:48:57 PDT</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Richard Silver</title>
<description><![CDATA[
I am a REALTOR and they have some of my listings on their site without permission of either me, the Broker or the Seller and there is no way to get in touch with me or the Broker (which is against the Real Estate Ciuncil of Ontario Guidleines). They also have properties that I have SOLD and have closed but they are showing them as active. I am happy to have them put my listings on their site if they comply with the Provincial Rules but until so they should remove them.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311496</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311496</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:03:20 PDT</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Alex G</title>
<description><![CDATA[
Unless MLS start sharing their data, this site will fail very soon.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311447</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311447</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:44:24 PDT</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>K Sawyer Paul</title>
<description><![CDATA[
This is pretty cool. You know what this engine could also be used for? JOBS. Why isn't there a cool google-enabled job search site? Or is there and I'm missing out?]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311446</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311446</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:43:46 PDT</pubDate>
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<title>Andy Bray</title>
<description><![CDATA[
I have to say I love this site.  So many useful features!!  Nice]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311414</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311414</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:28:52 PDT</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>apetimberlake</title>
<description><![CDATA[
^^^^works for MLS.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311399</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311399</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:40:08 PDT</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Rick Mason</title>
<description><![CDATA[
I'd suggest taking the listings on ZooCasa with a grain of salt. Apparently my house is for sale. This is news to me.

They have the original listing for my house from May 2007 on their site. What's really bad about this is that the house was listed twice after this, with more current photos. So not only is it a house that's off the market since December 2007, it's not even the most recent listing for the house. 

So don't get your hopes up when you find your dream house. It might already be sold. Or don't get discouraged when you see prices from last year's housing market when everything is generally cheaper now.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311397</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311397</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:37:27 PDT</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Sandy Ward</title>
<description><![CDATA[
ZooCasa is a step in the right direction. As Jason said, finding a house is more than just looking at a listing.

My company, HomeZilla (http://www.homezilla.ca/) is helping to speed up the home buying process by providing in depth neighbourhood information.  

We will have listings in the future but for now we want home buyers to quickly find schools, parks, subway stops, close to an address. 

There is a lot of neighbourhood information out there; HomeZilla is making it easier for Canadian Home Buyers to find.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311394</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2008/09/zoocasa_aims_to_clean_up_mlss_mess/#c311394</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:25:36 PDT</pubDate>
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