Google, Craigslist Do Real Estate

The internet giants have begun offering a range of listing services that could endanger realtor's domination of the market.

April 14, 2006, 5am PDT | David Gest

"Craigslist.com and Google.com, two Web sites that have fundamentally altered the way consumers buy a broad range of products, are emerging as places to shop for residential real estate, a development that in the long term could weaken Realtors' hold on home selling.

Listings of real estate for sale on Craigslist, a popular Web site featuring free classified ads, rose to 335,126 in March, more than triple the level of a year earlier. Google Inc., meanwhile, is testing a tool to help users sort through listings of homes for sale. Several more specialized sites launched in the past year -- including Trulia.com, Oodle.com and Propsmart.com -- offer free access to substantial numbers of listings."

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Google, Craigslist join real estate fray

Published on Monday, April 10, 2006 in The Baltimore Sun