Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Has Silicon Valley given up?

Its been something I’ve been sensing for awhile. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, just a feeling. But in the past few months I feel like Silicon Valley (at least for now) has given up on trying to replace the real estate agent/broker. This latest announcement by Zillow that they will begin buying and selling homes with agents really drove it home for me.

Make no mistake, that was Silicon Valley’s goal, to replace real estate agents. Disrupt! But real estate agents aren’t travel agents and it turns out that people want someone to advise them on the biggest purchase/sale of their lives.

There has been some great writing about Zillow’s latest announcement. I would check out Rob Hahn’s post, No Hat, Lots of Cattle: In Which Zillow Transforms. In which Rob argues (among other things) that Zillow is the only organization in the industry that is truly raising the bar for agents.

Drew Meyers (a former Zillow employee) reviews a competitor to Zillow in the iBuyer space, Knock, co-founded by a former Trulian, Sean Black: An Inside Peek at Knock, and Zillow’s Entry into Purchasing Homes

And I also just love Eric Wu’s, CEO of Opendoor, response to Zillow’s announcement, which harkens back to the Apple vs. MicrosoftIBM days.

Then there’s the content that Zillow themselves put out. The videos are great. Amy, Errol and Greg do a fantastic job explaining Zillow’s thought process in an easy to understand manner. Best use of video I’ve seen in this space.

Lastly if I had to recommend one thing to read it would be Ben Thompson at Stratechery: Zillow, Aggregation, and Integration
I’ve been reading Ben for a long time and subscribe to his newsletter. He does a great job outlining Zillow’s model and why they are making a shift. It’s a bit wonky but worth it.

Although I did have a quibble with his main premise Zillow was changing their business model. His response was to say the least, interesting.

ARMLS and Metro MLS announce new joint venture

ARMLS & Metro MLS Lead Advancements of Noncontiguous Markets

The collaboration began as two innovative CEOs, Chris Carrillo (Metro MLS) and Matthew Consalvo (ARMLS), decided to combine their industry expertise by connecting their respective organizations in order to advance the MLS industry and best serve their broker and agent communities.

“We see real value in a shared vision,” stated Chris Carrillo, CEO Metro MLS. “It requires action in the moment and the opportunity for progress is now.”

Simply put by Mr. Consalvo, “It came down to our DNA, Metro MLS shares the same values, commitment to service and vision of the MLS of the future. We are better together than apart.”

I gotta be honest, when I first heard about this it was a bit of a head scratcher. Scottsdale and Milwaukee? But I think it’s pretty simple. You have two organization with a similar structure (the same DNA as they call it) both wanting to grow. And I’m not really talking about growing in geographic sense, I talking about growing my learning, doing things, building, and experimenting. The “non-contiguous thing” is interesting but the collaboration is what I think is key here.

It was also announced that they hired Cameron Paine’s new counsulting firm, Inevate, to facilitate. I think Cameron says it well…

“It’s a brave new world out there and it’s going to take innovative thinking, leadership, and industry expertise to navigate the challenges successfully. CEOs Chris Carrillo and Matt Consalvo are more than up the job and I look forward to helping them achieve success. We are focused on progress, tangible success, and intentional, strategic decisions to keep the MLS relevant to Brokers and agents.”

I’m very curious to find out what two passionate and progressive CEO’s like Matt and Chris can come up with.

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