Compare Trulia and mellohome
For Sellers
For Buyers
Answer: Trulia is a Multiple Listing Services (MLS) aggregator while mellohome 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?
Buying and Selling with mellohome
WARNING: Unlawful Kickbacks, Broker-to-Broker Collusion, False Marketing, Wire Fraud, Price Fixing.
mellohome) 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.
mellohome is a referral fee network designed to collect fees by matching consumers with local real estate agents willing to participate. mellohome operates as a licensed real estate brokerage in Texas as mello Home Services, LLC TREC License # 9006745, but it does not produce any services that are typically offered by real estate agents and does not represent consumers when buying or selling real estate in any State.
When consumers submit information to mellohome, this information is simply sold to real estate agents who are willing to pay for it with 25%-40% share of their commission.
mellohome Pricing
mellohome revenue comes from referral fees and sale of user data.
Listing Services
- This Service Does Not Represent Sellers
Buyer's Agent Services
- This Service Does Not Represent Buyers
mellohome Editor's Review:
mellohome is a Texas licensed real estate broker that collects an undisclosed referral fee (estimated at 25%-40% of agent's commission) 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, mellohome is a real estate agent that "does not engage in actual real estate broker services." mellohome systematically applies pay-to-play bias towards all matching results, meaning, only real estate agents that have agreed to pay a referral fee are matched with consumers.
mellohome 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.
mellohome further claims to match consumers with "top-rated professionals," but there is absolutely no third-party evidence for this. The main qualification for real estate agents who participate with mellohome is their willingness to pay a referral fee.
mellohome is an affiliated brokerage of loanDepot. loanDepot is unable to collect referral fees from real estate agents directly due to rigid RESPA regulations. Instead, loanDepot is using mellohome's license as a loophole to bypass RESPA provisions that were designed to protect consumers from illegal kickbacks between real estate agents and mortgage companies.
mellohome plays fees down to consumers - it states directly "mellohome Services is a free service for real estate buyers and sellers," but it rigidly locks every participating real estate agent into a 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 mellohome because the price of the referral fee can be easily incorporated into their client's agreement with excessive commissions. mellohome receives the lowest score because this service is clearly biased and it claims to provide the complete opposite of what it actually does. mellohome must be well aware of this issue but continues to operate on pay-to-play methodology in order to collect fees that needlessly make home buying and selling more expensive.