Realtor.com has changed their default search so it sorts listings by number of photos. Listings with more photos display first. The problem with this is that you may not know this and not realize that there are other listings further down on the list that meet your criteria.

So, why do they do this??

Realtor.com is operated by a public company, Move Inc. They have a relationship with the National Association of Realtors to get listing data from local MLSs. Realtors are supposed to get a "free" listing on Realtor.com.

But, Move Inc. needs to make money to satisfy their shareholders so they try to get as much money as possible from Realtors from ads and other programs. One way is a listing enhancement service. With this service, the listing agent can add photos (up to 6) and put in their own description. Without this enhancement, only one photo is displayed.

By making the default search by number of photos, what Move Inc. is actually doing is displaying listings that Realtors have paid to enhance first. This forces Realtors to have to pay for enhancements or there is an increased chance that their "free" listing will never be seen.

If a Realtor that is listing your home says that Realtor.com is part of their Internet marketing strategy, ask if they enhance their listings. If they don't, then I wouldn't put too much value on this part of their service as a "free" listing has little chance of being seen if there are a lot of enhanced listings in the price category the Buyer is searching. Also, a Realtor can't just enhance one listing. They need to sign up for the enhancement service for a year and pay in advance. Depending on the number of listings they had the previous year, the enhancement service could cost over a thousand dollars.

Move Inc. just announced their latest quarterly revenue results and their stock dropped over 30%. There are already so many ads that you have to wade your way through when searching on their site but it looks like there may be even more in the future as Move Inc. tries to make more money from Realtor.com and Realtors.

I don't know what the future is for Realtor.com under Move Inc.'s control. Their priority appears not to be providing the best home search tool for Buyers as evident by the change in the way they are now sorting and displaying listings.