Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Head of Homes.com resigns

Peter Ill, president of Dominion Homes Media, who is responsible for Homes.com, eNeighborhoods, and Advanced Access has resigned his position. I hear his last day will be in early May.

Dominion Enterprises came in with guns blazing in the real estate technology space back in 2005, when they went on a spending spree aquiring notable companies, such as Katabat, Homes.com, Advanced Access, Number 1 Agent, Pullan Communications, and eNeighborhoods.

I was caught up in the eNeighborhoods acquisition and found Peter to be one of the hardest working men I ever met. A smart and a genuine guy who was very loyal to Dominion Enterprises. I believe he has been with the company over 20 years.

During the 2007/2008 timeframe Dominion Enterprises tried to sell itself but got caught up in the financial crisis and was unable to do so.

Peter held various positions at Dominion Enterprises and Landmark Communications (Dominion’s parent company), including The Weather Channel.

Good luck Peter! Anytime I hear the word “income” I can’t help but smile and think of you!

  1. I will always remember Peter as extremely smart, capable, and very intuitive about people. I wish him well and hope he finds something much better.

  2. He got what he deserved and happy to see him go. He dismantled a good company with good people (eneighborhoods) and was too spreadsheet centric. Dominion has nothing to show for their aggressive buying spree and my guess is that they are tired of waiting to see the market turn. Dominion Homes Media will be a lesson in futility!

  3. Peter has been a great leader for Dominion Homes Media, his retirement is well earned. I couldn’t do what I do today without the leadership, strategy, and operational guidance he’s provided through the years. I suppose when you’re around as long as Peter, you’ll encounter detractors like the anonymous sourpuss above. (I can just imagine the worms that will come out of the woodwork to celebrate my retirement. Or how about yours Greg?)

    In reality, Peter has assembled a strong team of leaders and operators, and successfully navigated several of the most innovative brands in real estate technology through our industry’s most challenging years. His true legacy will be written in the months and years to come, as the strong team he leaves behind executes on the strategies we initiated together under Peter’s leadership. Despite your catchy headline, the real “Head of Homes.com” is the very capable Jason Doyle, and the real people responsible for the businesses you mentioned are not retiring, but are hard at work every day to ensure the success of our customers.

    And if you saw a picture of his new boat, you would all quickly understand why his last day is perfectly timed with the beginning of summer. As they said in Caddyshack, “It’s easy to grin, when your ship comes in!”

  4. I’ve known Peter for 15 years from back when I was a contractor he hired to setup their new server for a little startup company they were trying to launch called TraderOnline.com. I was thrilled when I returned to Dominion in 2007 to find myself working for him again.

    I joined eN in Jan of 2008 at Peter’s request and it has been a thrill ever since–(despite Greg’s jokingly referring to me as “The Plant” ;-)). eNeighborhoods is a great place to work and I enjoy the team here very much.

    Peter has taught me and others a lot of what it takes to turn around companies into profitable ventures. I didn’t always agree with him, but I always knew I could pick up the phone and say, “Boss, we gotta talk.” and he would fill me in on where he was headed–and was usually right.

    He was the pioneer for getting Dominion to take advantage of new technology and leaves his stamp on several successful businesses. His professionalism and demeanor were to be admired.

    I’m going to miss the “Navy vs Air Force” discussions/debates/arguments/trash talking we had, and now I’ll never get him to go up one more time to see who would come out on top!

    Boss, I’ll wander down to the docks to chat on occasion and I’ll bring the Ben and Jerry’s.

  5. I have a huge amount of respect for Peter – not only for his business leadership skills but more importantly for his strong ethical character. He was very genuine and honestly wanted to engage to better understand where you were coming from – whether you were a Dominion team member, manager or client.

    In the four years I have been with eNeighborhoods and Dominion it has been a credit to Peter’s leadership that we have combined an array of companies brought together through acquisition into a functioning whole that is performing and growing organically.

    I wish Peter all the best in his retirement, although knowing Peter I strongly doubt there will be much downtime.

  6. Dear Vendor Alley and ‘anonymous Rick’,

    I feel compelled to add to Andy, Mike and Rick Sherwood’s insightful comments. Peter was a good manager and gave very few orders. With a high level of integrity, he led by example and by being open to new ideas. It is great to work with someone who believes that a company should always do the right thing, no matter the consequences. In the long run it usually works out. Peter knows how to run a company and uses business fundamentals. eNeighborhoods and her sister companies would not be this strong in the most difficult real estate market without looking at a spreadsheet or two.

    Anonymous Rick, I sure hope you were able to get the sour-grape juice stain out of your bib.

  7. The Dominion Enterprises family of businesses in the real estate advertising and technology space are the most financially sound businesses in this space…by a country mile. That is due in large part to Peter’s leadership after leading the acquisitions of all of them. As a result, they are positioned better than any organization in this space to provide end-to-end industry leading services to the industry at the Franchise, Broker, Agent and Consumer levels.

    Peter will be missed at Dominion. He truly encompasses the definition of leadership and integrity.

  8. Peter has always led by example with a great deal of integrity and professionalism. Peter will be missed by the entire DHM family. I wish Peter the best of luck in his retirement but something tells me we will hear from Peter again. Congrats Peter and enjoy! I have to agree with Greg, I will never be able to hear the term “Income” with out smiling and thinking of Peter.

  9. I find it humerous that all of Peter’s lieutentatnts are quick to defend a man who orchastrated a buying spree for Dominion and has nothing to show for it. Was it good bz fundamentals to buy a company that had phantom revenues when many of their subscribers were getting a Free Trial of their subscription service?

    Did he really intergate these companies or tear them apart? Yes, he made many individuals millionairies and I thank him for that, but please don’t patronize the man and put him on a pedestal that he really does not deserve.

    Domininion will never reap the financial benefits or even break even for the blunnders that Ill made. The Batten family lost alot of money with this hire and sadly time ran out on ill!

  10. “@Rick” You don’t have your facts straight. The fact you post anonymously makes it even worse. So go back to sleep in your Mom’s basement. The fact you still live with her is less stinging than the feeling she has knowing she raised such a douche-bag for a son.

    Comments are now closed.

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