Written By: Drew Meyers

Who is getting quoted by the local media regarding real estate market trends in your area?

I had a discussion about this topic with an John Payson at #REBCSEA last week and saw this tweet from Kristal Kraft — and I decided it’s worth a blog post to explain my thoughts on this subject.

Let’s first answer the question of who is the real estate expert when it comes to the local media.

More often than not, the answer is Zillow.

Who should be?

I know, from a real estate agent/broker perspective, the answer of who should be quoted is a real estate professional with in depth knowledge of the local area. You are in the trenches, Zillow is not.

Behind every question, it’s crucial to understand the why. So why is Zillow being referenced and not you? Two reasons.

1. They show up. To succeed in life and business (& blogging), YOU HAVE TO SHOW UP. Zillow has a team of people building relationships with local media all across the county. They send them valuable market reports on a regular basis, and help reporters get whatever questions they have answered. In many cases, it’s Zillow that is connecting reporters with local agents when asked.

2. They are unbiased. If the market sucks and is trending downward, they are just as willing to help a reporter and be quoted as if the market is on the upswing.

There’s nothing stopping you from being that local real estate source — except your time, effort & the fact that you have to battle the inherent bias you have since you make money when buyers buy and sellers sell.

Find the reporters covering your area and start building relationships — send them story tips, follow them on twitter, send them a monthly market snapshot, be there for them when they are in a bind and need a story. But tell it like it is; don’t champion “now’s a great time to buy” if your local market sucks.

Sure, some agents have more than they can handle as is right now and don’t have the resources to spend ample time on this. But there is no reason a large regional brokerage like Coldwell Banker Bain in Seattle or Baird & Warner in Chicago couldn’t have a dedicated broker to building relationships with the local media (and I’m not singling those brokerages out, just using as examples of the type/size of brokerage I’m referring to).

What’s stopping you from being the expert?

YOU ARE. Now, get busy.

Disclosure: I think most people reading this know I worked for Zillow for a long time and am a shareholder in the company. So while I actually would like to see Zillow remain the local data expert, I still want to provide agents and brokers good strategic advice to better their business. The fact of the matter is that many agents will read this and say “I can do this” but won’t actually follow through and do it. Be a do-er and prove me wrong.