{"id":1679,"date":"2014-03-31T22:39:57","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T02:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.renthop.com\/news\/?p=1679"},"modified":"2023-07-24T14:09:30","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T18:09:30","slug":"ghost-listings-and-renthop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.renthop.com\/blog\/ghost-listings-and-renthop\/","title":{"rendered":"“Ghost listings” and RentHop"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s New York Times Sunday real estate section ran an article on ghost listings in real estate sales<\/a>. The article describes both the problem where real estate sites show old, inaccurate or fake listings (\u201cghost listings\u201d). It also highlights different responses, including self-policing by real estate organizations and relying on market disincentives to post fake data. As a rental listing platform, we must also review how ghost listings affect renters on RentHop. Luckily, our site makes it easy to safely search for high quality available listings.<\/p>\n

RentHop Maintains Accurate Inventory<\/h2>\n

At RentHop <\/a>we have tens of thousands of rental listings across New York City<\/a>. We directly work with a large variety of brokers<\/a> and property managers.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re glad to see that renters and reporters also care about the issue of ghost listings. On our end, we work hard to make sure renters see accurate, fresh information on our site. Below are the tools we use to make sure that the listings from brokers and property managers with whom we work stay up and updated on our site.<\/p>\n

Report Listings<\/h3>\n

First, each listing page has a link through which a user can notify us that they believe a listing is fake or inaccurate and explain why. When we receive notice of a fake or inaccurate listing we research the listing to confirm, and if it is we take it down. Often, brokers and property managers are the ones who find and report fake listings; they are extremely knowledgeable about the available inventory and they self-police very effectively.<\/p>\n

Old Listings<\/h3>\n

The other problem, endemic to all real estate listing sites, is stale listings. As the NYT article suggests, brokers with limited inventory may use old listings to attract customers<\/a>. Also, brokers and property managers may not themselves have updated information. Many internet listing services receive listings data directly from brokerage firms, and the firms may not always receive updated information from the landlord in timely fashion. Especially in New York, where apartments come on the market and are rented extremely quickly, it’s always an uphill struggle to keep data updated.<\/p>\n

Learn more:<\/p>\n