Compare Trulia and Sold.com
For Sellers
Answer: Trulia is a Multiple Listing Services (MLS) aggregator while Sold.com is a referral fee network that enables broker-to-broker collusion with use of blanket referral agreements
Buying and Selling with Trulia
Trulia is an MLS Aggregator that allows buyers and sellers to list homes and find out what local homes are available for sale. Trulia aggregates home listing data from thousands of private MLS databases across the United States.
By making this otherwise unavailable information to consumers, the company creates a positive value-added experience with local results for a vast majority of available listings.
Trulia generates revenue with ads using Zillow Group's Premier Agent and Premier Broker programs.
Trulia Pricing
Trulia does not offer paid services to consumers directly, instead, portal generates revenue with ads and referral fees from real estate brokers as part of the Zillow Group.
Listing Services
- This Service Does Not Represent Sellers
Buyer's Agent Services
- This Service Does Not Represent Buyers
Trulia Editor's Review:
Trulia is a Zillow Group subsidiary with similar search results, data, and options available to consumers. Trulia is an Internet MLS aggregator, where brokers and consumers may post listings independently. Until recently Trulia was an Internet company, not a real estate broker.
In 2018 Trulia’s parent company Zillow Group began to operate a pilot program called Zillow Premier Broker.
This program operates as an actual real estate broker in order to collect hidden referral fees from any leads originated via Trulia. Anytime consumers use Trulia and provide this portal with private information, this information is then sold for referral fees to a select group of brokers willing to pay for it. This fee is backloaded and paid only if the consumer is persuaded by the real estate agent to enter into a representation agreement.
Trulia’s original revenue generator is called Premier Agent, this is an ads-based process where agents advertise their services and consumers contact an agent themselves.
Unlike Premier Broker leads pipeline, Premier Agent process is not “blind.” When consumers use Trulia, it is impossible to tell if private information is sold to Premier Brokers and what brokers get to see it. When using Trulia, consumers should be careful not to leave any private information such as email, name or a phone number.
Where does Trulia operate?
Selling with Sold.com
WARNING: Unlawful Kickbacks, Broker-to-Broker Collusion, False Marketing, Wire Fraud, Price Fixing.
Sold.com) is a broker-to-broker collusion scheme, where "partner agents" unlawfully agree to pay massive kickbacks to receive your information and engage in market allocation, consumer allocation, false advertising, unlawful kickbacks, wire fraud, and price-fixing practices in violation of, inter alia, 18 U.S.C. § 1346, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, 15 U.S.C. § 1, 15 U.S.C. § 45, 12 U.S.C. § 2607, 12 C.F.R. § 1024.14. As a consumer, you will always significantly overpay for Realtor commissions subject to hidden kickbacks and pay-to-play steering promoted in this scheme.
United States federal antitrust laws prohibit consumer allocation and blanket referral agreements between real estate companies.
Be smart; do not allow your information to be "sold as a lead" to a double-dealing Realtor in exchange for massive commission kickbacks paid from your future home sale, or your future home purchase.
Sold.com is a referral fee network designed to collect fees by matching consumers with local real estate agents willing to participate. Sold.com operates as a licensed real estate brokerage in California under BRE License #01937601, but it does not produce any services that are typically offered by real estate agents and does not represent consumers when selling real estate in any State.
When consumers submit information to Sold.com, this information is simply sold to real estate agents who are willing to pay for it with a 30% share of their commission.
Sold.com Pricing
Sold.com revenue comes from referral fees.
Listing Services
- This Service Does Not Represent Sellers
Buyer's Agent Services
- This Service Does Not Represent Buyers
Sold.com Editor's Review:
On paper, Sold.com seems to have a great idea – to provide its users with the best way to sell a home, but in reality, it is a referral network designed to steer consumers toward agents and other services willing to pay a cut of their commission back into the network.
Sold.com states that it is an “unbiased” and consumer-focused service, but the actual model turns out to be much less effective - Sold.com is a California licensed real estate broker that collects a 30% referral fee from all real estate agents that participate.
This fee makes it hardly a free service for anyone since referral fees are inevitably passed down to consumers. More importantly, Sold.com applies this pay-to-play bias towards all matching results, meaning, only real estate agents that have agreed to pay a referral fee are displayed in match results for consumers.
Sold.com audits all transactions because it needs to find out how much money real estate agents receive in commissions, inevitably collecting private details of consumer’s agreement for home purchase or sale.
Sold.com plays fees down to consumers - it states directly that the service is 100% free, but at the same time, it rigidly locks every participating real estate agent into 30% referral fee attached to the back-end of every contract. As a licensed real estate agent that doesn’t perform any real estate services or takes any responsibility for the transaction, it is not entirely clear how this process works under the Business and Professions Code and RESPA.
Clearly, real estate agents only sign-up with Sold.com because the price of the referral fee can be easily incorporated into their client's agreement with excessive commissions. Sold.com receives the second lowest score because this service is clearly biased and it claims to provide the complete opposite of what it actually does.