Elliman gives in to StreetEasy’s manual listings

Earlier memo to agents said listings feed would stay intact

Douglas Elliman’s New York City CEO Steven James and Zillow Group NYC general manager Matt Daimler (Courtesy Elliman via Youtube; Zillow)
Douglas Elliman’s New York City CEO Steven James and Zillow Group NYC general manager Matt Daimler (Courtesy Elliman via Youtube; Zillow)

The Douglas Elliman-StreetEasy drama has taken a new turn.

After emailing agents June 19 that the two sides had settled their bruising contract dispute, sparing agents from manually entering listings on StreetEasy, Elliman’s leaders have told them manual entry must continue.

In a memo obtained by The Real Deal, the brokerage tried to spin the news as positive — despite months of criticizing StreetEasy’s decision to stop taking automatic listings feeds from residential firms.

“We are excited to inform you that beginning July 15th, you will directly enter all new sales and rental exclusives on StreetEasy using Agent Tools,” read the June 30 memo, signed by Elliman’s New York City CEO Steven James. “By allowing you access to Agent Tools, we are providing the most effective means for you to upload your listings quickly and accurately.”

Read more

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

The policy amounts to a 180-degree turn for Elliman, which last year was among the New York City brokerages to condemn StreetEasy for pivoting to manual entry. Previously, the Zillow-owned portal had agreements with individual firms to take their listings in bulk.

Things came to a head in May when StreetEasy emailed Elliman’s nearly 2,500 New York City agents (and landlord clients), threatening to pull rental listings unless the firm resolved an undisclosed contract dispute.

After hasty negotiations, Elliman sent its June 19 memo to agents, letting them know the dispute — and the tedium of typing in data — were over. “As of today, the listings feed between Douglas Elliman and StreetEasy is live and you will no longer have to perform any manual entry for the site,” it declared.

Douglas Elliman declined to comment on the email sent 11 days later, in which it said it was working with StreetEasy to develop training for agents and ongoing tech support.

In a statement, a Zillow spokesperson said, “We are pleased to offer Douglas Elliman agents uninterrupted access to Agent Tools and the StreetEasy platform.”