StreetEasy Doesn't Sell Homes

Did you know that you can see more homes on Compass.com than on StreetEasy? As of yesterday, Compass had 61% more West Village listings than StreetEasy (140 vs. 87), 36% more in Tribeca (180 vs. 132), and 22% more in all of Manhattan (7,200 vs. 5,953). It's the same thing in Brooklyn, where Compass has 62% more Park Slope listings (160 vs. 99).

StreetEasy doesn't sell homes. Agents do. StreetEasy sells advertising and leads. If you look at one of my listings below on StreetEasy, you probably won't see my name or contact information on it. However, you'll be be invited to contact an agent.

The agent who responds is not the listing agent hired by the seller, who knows the property and can represent it properly. These agents agree to pay a hefty percentage of their commissions to StreetEasy for any transaction that results, whether it's from that particular listing or another.

In order to have my name and contact listing on my listings, StreetEasy would charge me $799 a month. That's for my clients, my listings, and the photos, floor plans, and videos I paid for. Zillow, which owns StreetEasy, operates similarly.

I'm not disputing that aggregators like StreetEasy can be useful and have a right to exist. However, there are additional resources, and they're worth exploring.