Craigslist should improve real estate data transfer

Re: 'Craigslist HTML limits could doom flashy listings' (June 9)

Dear Editor:

I like Craigslist and have a real respect for agents and brokers who make the effort to put their listings in craigslist's real estate section. Craigslist is a growing real estate marketing presence in many areas, and it's good to have one local site where buyers can see both a large number of broker and FSBO ads in the same place. With the market as slow as it is in many areas, no one can blame brokers or agents for using craigslist's free ads to save on marketing costs.

One thing that could help buyers and brokers alike would be if craigslist could establish a simple, standard real estate grid that was technology friendly so that brokers could port over the data from their MLS listing with one stroke. That same grid would remind FSBO sellers of important information they should key in to help buyers.

That said, simplicity is a craigslist virtue, and that simplicity has not prevented craigslist from becoming a growing presence in the marketplace. Brokers and FSBO sellers can always provide a link to a Web site for the home or directly to the listing on their Web site where buyers can get more information.

The self-policing aspect of craigslist is also a virtue. Car scams and other scams usually get flagged pretty quickly, as do the occasional real estate ads that include grossly inaccurate words, such as stuffing the ad with the name of every town within 50 miles of the home's location.

To keep stuffing and the need for flagging to a minimum, craigslist is also wise to adopt any steps necessary to assure that bots can't continuously stuff ads for a home in one city into every other craigslist real estate section in every other part of the country.

Bruce Hahn
President
American Homeowners Foundation
Arlington, Va.

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