Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Red Rocket

Rocket Companies to Acquire Redfin, Accelerating Purchase Mortgage Strategy

“Rocket and Redfin’s approaches to lending and brokerage service have always been two halves of one vision to make the whole home-buying process magical,” said Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin. “We want a customer to be able to check her phone to find out what she can afford, see which homes are just right for her, schedule a tour with a local, expert Redfin agent, and get pre-qualified for a loan, all in a matter of minutes. Varun and I see how much better real estate could be when AI guides customers not just through that first step in their search, but all the way home, through the sale, the loan and then a lifetime of accumulating equity and wealth.” 

Talk about attachment rate! But in the end, Redfin had to do something. I remember reading their last announcement about laying off 450 people due to their deal with Zillow Rentals and thinking, “Do they still have 450 left?” There were rumors swirling about Zillow acquiring Redfin, but I never took those too seriously.

I’m still processing what this means for Glenn Kelman—or GFK, as I affectionately refer to him. In an industry dominated by big personalities, Glenn was the guy who was going to fight the good fight. I’m sure the biggest reason this happened was that Glenn saw it as the best path for Redfin’s survival.

The consolidation continues…

Bada Bing

Microsoft Bing Real Estate Portal in Violation of Copyright Infringement – MLSs Must Act Immediately

“It seems like Zillow and Redfin started a relationship with Microsoft to leverage innovative OpenAI technology to deliver some interesting consumer benefits to people searching for homes on Zillow and Redfin. It is hard to ascertain how this relationship started with Bing Chat and evolved into Bing.com/realestate providing a full listing display breaking so many MLS rules, that links out to advertisers, and points to Zillow and Redfin as the sources of the data rather than the brokerage or MLS. It’s not Zillow or Redfin’s data to give!”

Victor Lund, WAV Group

Great write up from Victor regarding the Bing controversy, go read the whole thing. Sam DeBord was the first to start posting about this and Marian at Inman News did a story as well. Good reporting.

Okay so let’s first let’s get something straight right from the top, Bing.com/realestate is a mother fucking real estate portal, not a search results page.

  • I can like properties
  • I can save a property
  • I can setup a saved search
  • I can see multiple photos (sans watermark) – WTF?
  • I can “claim ownership”
  • I can see an “estimated value”
  • I can even get a mortgage!

And it appears that Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com may be complicit in powering Bing. From Victor’s post,

“Here is how easily Zillow and Redfin can stop bing from accessing and republishing content – code courtesy of OpenAI “<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>.” Inventory is turning in 30-90 days in most markets, rendering search on Bing irrelevant in a short period of time. If current listings are not displayed to active home buyers in today’s tight market, consumers will abandon them. Of course, this would be a poison pill for Zillow and Redfin who rely on search engines for a significant amount of their consumer traffic.”

Victor Lund, WAV Group

Shout out to Homes.com for not being a part of this scheme, as Victor also points out.

But MLS organizations need to step up, more from Victor.

“MLS must protect the assets contributed by each broker, or firms will simply contribute their content to OpenAI for free, and access the listing content of other brokerage firms using OpenAI. CMA vendors like Inside Real Estate, Delta Media and dozens of others can stop paying $5 Million a year in Data License fees and access the data from OpenAI. An OpenAi driven CMA would work like Cloud CMAs revolutionary 1 Minute CMA, only it would be almost instant. Moreover, consumers could simply run their own CMA without a professional.”

Victor Lund, WAV Group

“AI” is the new “lion over the hill”. If MLS orgs want to protect their data licensing revenue you need to nip this in the bud now.

Ziltorfin just peed in its pants

“Over $1B invested” 👀

Redfin say it’s “leaving NAR”

Redfin is Leaving NAR

“Redfin is moving to end our support of the National Association of Realtors for two reasons:

  • NAR policies requiring a fee for the buyer’s agent on every listing
  • a pattern of alleged sexual harassment. “
Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin

Whoa! The post from GFK also adds this nugget.

“We Want NAR to Decouple MLS Access from NAR Support

We’re asking NAR to decouple local access to these tools, including the listing databases known as Multiple Listing Services, from support for the national lobbying organization. Agents shouldn’t have to underwrite policies and legal efforts that hurt consumers when most of us got into real estate to help consumers. Redfin’s mission after all is to redefine real estate in consumers’ favor. “

Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin

There is also story in the New York Times regarding this decision, for those with access check it out too.

State of the housing market: Glenn Kelman and Spencer Rascoff

GFK and Spencer? Yup, I’m in. Click here to register => Virtual Panel Registration: State of the Housing Market

Adam Wiener leaving Redfin

Redfin’s president of real estate operations to depart

“We know with Adam’s departure what Redfin will lose. He’s one of the smartest, kindest, most hard-working and creative folks you’ll ever meet,” Kelman said in the email. “And Redfin will keep changing. We couldn’t keep doing things the way we’ve done with Adam, and we shouldn’t try. Change is necessary and good.”

A Redfin spokesperson didn’t say where Wiener is heading after Redfin. In his email, Kelman said in a year Wiener “will probably be running his own show, at another company also poised to conquer the world.”

Rick Morgan – Inno Senior Reporter

Huge loss, but happy for Adam. As our industry enters a “hunker down” mode I think you’ll see more of these departures. It’s a great time to build.

Podcast roundup

Two great podcast episodes to listen to for anyone in organized real estate

Stratechery
An Interview with Opendoor CEO Eric Wu About Building a Marketplace in a Real Estate Slowdown

“I had a chance to talk to Wu about both his and Opendoor’s origin story, competing and now partnering with Zillow, why the speed of the current slowdown caught Opendoor by surprise, acquiring customers for an infrequent transaction, and how the company will get a marketplace off of the ground.”

Ben Thompson’s Stratechery is must listen. Some of the content is behind a paywall, but do yourself a favor and subscribe.

This Week on Startups
Managing a recession, housing market insights & more with Redfin’s Glenn Kelman + OK Boomer | E1616

“Jason Calacanis and Molly Wood cover startups, tech, markets, media, crypto, and all the hottest topics in business and technology. They also interview the world’s greatest founders, operators, investors, and innovators.”

Great interview of one of my favorite CEOs in real estate, GFK, Glenn Fucking Kelman. Keep grinding Glenn we are all rooting for you.

Redfin partners with Down Payment Resource

Redfin Launches Down Payment Assistance Feature to Help Make Homeownership More Attainable

“Nearly half of Americans who have never owned a home say that saving money for a down payment is a barrier to homeownership, and many young people in particular feel like they’ll never be able to own a home,” said Christian Taubman, Redfin’s chief growth officer. “Down payment assistance programs can make homeownership more attainable, but information about them is often fragmented and hard to understand. We saw a big opportunity in partnering with Down Payment Resource to raise awareness about these programs to help more people become homeowners.”

Love this! Congrats Rob.

Redfin hires new Industry Relations rep, Joe Rath

Meet Redfin’s Head of Industry Relations

“Joe comes from a real estate family and understands the day-to-day challenges that brokers and agents face and the complicated dynamics of this industry,” said Jason Aleem, Redfin’s senior vice president of real estate sales. “He’s a clear communicator, effective relationship builder and strategic leader who will be a strong advocate for policies that improve the agent experience and help us all better serve our clients.”

Welcome to the jungle Joe!

Looking for some talent?

The industry is going through a lot right now. Both Compass and Redfin have announced layoffs. I’ve been working with Melissa King of Bright MLS and she has scored a list of those at Redfin that were recently part of the cuts. Looks like some great talent available for those companies looking to hire. Let’s do this!

Here’s the link below.

Link=> Redfin Alumni Talent Directory

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