Last Wednesday I sent an email to Go Homing telling them to stop publishing my blog content and remove all of it from their Go Illinois REO site. Go Homing is an online bidding site for REO (real estate owned) also known as bank owned or foreclosed homes. Go Homing is part of Altisource Portfolio Solutions.
I made it clear that they do not have permission to publish my blog content, but since last Wednesday they have continued to publish my new content as shown below.
Gomer Homingway did not write Edgewater’s 60660 median condo price up 1%. I wrote it.
Go Homing has published several of my blog posts in their entirety on their Go Illinois REO site. The only differences are that they remove my name as the author and at the end of the complete post they provide a link “Go to the Original Source of this Post”.
Go Homing has several sites that are publishing other Realtors’ blog content. Such sites include: Go Arizona REO, Go California REO, Go Colorado REO, Go Florida REO, Go Georgia REO, Go Michigan REO, Go Nevada REO, Go Ohio REO and Go Texas REO.
I certainly have no problem with other sites linking to my blog content or even quoting parts as long as I’m given credit for my work. Since Altisource Portfolio Solutions is a big enough company to be traded on the NASDAQ (ASPS), they surely can afford to hire people to develop content for their web sites instead of harvesting the blog content of individual Realtors who never agreed to blog for them.
I have alerted other Chicago Realtors who’s blog content is being published by Go Homing. I will now start contacting Realtors who’s content appears on the Go Homing REO sites for other states.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fran Bailey shows, previews and tracks downtown Chicago homes for sale giving her the insights needed to help her clients negotiate the best price and terms. Fran has been quoted in numerous Chicago and national publications. To schedule showings of listings regardless of broker or to contact Fran email her at fran.bailey@bairdwarner.com or call 773.793.4516. Learn More
Fran Bailey, Realtor
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
That kind of cr*p makes me nuts. Sue them!
Fran- thanks for heads up. They seem to be spending a lot of time “borrowing” copyrighted content. Hopefully some of our complaints will get to the person in charge. Keep up the good work.
ksk
Within the past hour Altisource Portfolio Solutions (AKA Go Homing) removed my blog posts from GoIllinoisREO.com. The also removed the blog content from a couple of other Chicago Realtors that I alerted a few days ago. However, they are still continuing to display blog content from other Illinois Realtors.
Yesterday I spoke with a half dozen Realtors in Florida, Ohio, and Texas who had no idea that Altisource Portfolio Solutions and Go Homing were publishing their content on GoFloridaREO.com, GoOhioREO.com and GoTexasREO.com.
I will continue contacting Realtors in other states and monitoring the activities of Altisource Portfolio Solutions and Go Homing.
OMG! How hard is it to give someone credit for their blog that you are republishing! I’m guessing they are using some software that pulls the content and republishes it on their site via the search engine, but still that’s no excuse for stripping the author credit.
Hi Icarus,
I was bothered far more by Altisource Portfolio Solutions publishing my blog posts in their entirety than leaving my name off. Duplicate web content causes problems for blog authors.
Yes, they are using an automated RSS program to grab blog content which can be dangerous. Before they removed my content from GoIllinoisREO.com this morning, I was able to make a screen shot showing my headline “My blog content used without permission by Altisource Portfolio Solutions” on their site!
Fran, thanks for the heads up. I don’tmind that people use or adapt my material–when they quote verbatim and don’t give credit, I think it is despicable. What ever happened to the person who ws finding out about the bloggers at Baird & Warner–have you heard anythinbg recently. Again, thanks–Ruth Karel, Gold Coast Office
Hi Ruth,
I haven’t heard anything regarding we bloggers at Baird & Warner.
Hi Fran, couple things I’ve tried: Add this verbiage in the middle of your post:
(Copyright © 2009 This content feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. The use of this content feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, or on any other site than http://www.yourwindycityguide.com it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright and the owner of the site a thief. )
Normally the copy stealer doesn’t notice this buried in the middle of the post.
I also use a service called My Free Copyright: http://myfreecopyright.com. The service verifies that content is yours by keeping track of the publishing date and times for posts. But it’s up to you to chase down a thief and sue.
Google search the topic and you’ll find even more fun techniques for tripping up the thieves.
Thanks for the suggestions, Bob!
Has anyone represented a buyer for a listing using the Altisource or GoHoming web site? I ask because when a Realtor registers, they are agreeing to Web Transaction Fees, Service Fees, Cancellation Fees, etc. etc., if the buyer decides to cancel the contract. We think the buyer is responsible, but their contract says that the person registering on the site to submit the bid, as I would be doing as a Realtor for my client, then I would be responsible for these fees. Am I worried for nothing?
I have been trying to get an offer submitted using this company for three days. I have not been able to get registered due to some kind of problem with the registration process. These people are totally unresponsive. They do not answer the phone or reply to emails or phone mesages. Absolutely pitiful. How can this company even stay in business. If I was a seller using this company I would fire them immediately. Worst experience I have ever had.
I am a Texas realtor representing a buyer for a listing on Altisource and GoHoming. The experience has been confusing and frustrating for me and my clients. I would like to hear from anyone who has participated in a “Highest and Best” bid offer with a set time for bid cut-offs on GoHoming.
I currently have an accepted contract for my buyer through Altisource Homes. I submitted the signed contract on Monday and have yet to hear if they have even received it! The listing agent is in Orlando (calls go directly to his voicemail…no answer), the “transaction coordinator” is in India and the title company is in Georgia. I have attempted to call the transaction coordinator a number of times with no avail. After reading the above comments, I am starting to get a little worried! Especially the comment from Debbie about all the fees being the responsibility of the agent!
Jeanine Standing Bear,
Did you every end up closing on the house with Altisource? I currently have a house under contract but getting these people to respond is terrible. I wonder if we will ever be able to close.
Krista,
No we did not close, we withdrew our bid!. After I received the bank contract from the transaction coordinator and it had the wrong strap number and the incorrect seller (different bank than was listed), I tried to contact the transaction coordinator to correct these issues both via email and phone and never got a reply back. I then tried to contact the “listing agent” with no luck either. I advised my buyer of these issues and after much thought, she decided to withdraw her bid rather than “opening up a can of worms”. The property wasn’t worth the headache.
My word of advice is to go over EVERYTHING they send you with a fine tune comb to make sure it is correct before moving forward. Good Luck Krista!
I’m a broker with an altisource home under contract in colorado. They signed a contract with fha financing. The home cannot be inspected because they have a plumbing problem. I was asked to get propane to the home for insp, it has city natural gas. Then they keep sending me an email to give them the list of repairs. Have not done an inspection yet. We extended inspection until repairs complete they have done nothing since march 1.. We terminated and asked for em back that was June 9th. After being a compete ### to these people they send an email that I must terminate and cancel contract first. They signed that form on the 12th of june and still will not send em back.
I hope someone besides my buyer and myself report this to the real estate commission.
We came back in and submitted a contract after cancelling 8k less. They are giving the honest brokers a bad name.
I represent a buyer on a property in Tucson, AZ. We are supposed to close on 8/5 and after repeated requests I have not been able to get a title commitment or a HUD-1 that is accurate. This has been extremely frustrating and I’m concerned about the earnest money if the transaction does not close.
I received an asset assignment from Brighton REO in December of 2010. After three eviction hearings we finally got possession of the property in June, 2010. We very quickly got an offer accepted on the property but because of the delay with paperwork from Seller, the FHA maximum loan limit declined before we could get the deal closed.
At this point the property was sold to OCWEN and servicing was assigned to Altisource. We were informed that we no longer had the listing. Since we had just received a very good offer on the property simultaneously with losing the listing, I fought for the listing. After many emails I did get the listing and the offer was accepted by Altisource.
Four weeks later – Altisource still had not opened escrow and the Buyer walked. Countless emails and phone calls – all ending up in India – were useless.
We re-activated the listing on the MLS and quickly received a sign call resulting in a solid offer where we would also represent the Buyer. Altisource will not negotiate the offer.
THE ONLY OTHER OFFERS THAT ARE COMING IN ON THE GOHOMING.COM WEBSITE ARE LOWBALL INVESTOR OFFERS; THE HIGHEST OF WHICH IS STILL $89,900 BELOW LIST PRICE!!!
Has anyone ever had a positive experience with Altisource? And we wonder why REALTORs® are ranked at the bottom of the profession ranking – behind used car salesmen…