Disturbing New Real Estate Trend - Wikipedia-type Sites Can Distort the Truth

A disturbing new trend I've seen emerging is the electronic mutation of what I call the "cocktail party CMA." We have all experienced the real estate conversations that happen at the neighborhood cocktail parties...People exaggerating sales prices or not explaining the real reasons for selling. The internet is really good at distributing information, but not all that information is valid or correct. The Internet can actually accelerate the distribution of false information.

Some real estate websites have now created blogs and "wiki" where consumers can add their personal "facts" regarding sales prices, listing prices, mortgage and appraisals and reasons for such. As many in the industry know, not all information told by buyers, sellers, their neighbors and friends is correct. This will eventually lead to many real estate websites spreading false information. Smart consumers will begin discounting much of the real estate information on many sites, and again start to relying on better sources like real estate professionals and documented records of transactions.

We have already seen this happen in education, where many teachers and schools do not allow their students to use Wikipedia as research source, due to its questionable factual information.