Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

Does realtor.com have their heads in the sand?

Everyone’s rushing to be an iBuyer — except for Realtor.com

“Industry observers said the fact that Zillow views iBuying as a do-or-die phenomenon makes Realtor’s indifference that much harder to understand.
“How do you have a situation where it’s an existential threat to one portal, but the other is twiddling their thumbs at the back of the classroom?” asked Mike DelPrete, a scholar in residence on real-estate technology at the University of Colorado who studies iBuyers. “I don’t think [Realtor] needs to be buying and selling houses directly,” he added. “That’s not what this is about, and that’s probably a bad idea for them.”

I’ve been curious about this for a long time. I still surprised how many people still don’t understand the value proposition that iBuyers give consumers. The narrative on Wall Street still seems to be centered around iBuying as “flipping” houses. ????‍♂️

Greg Schwartz steps down at Zillow Group.

Zillow Announces Key Leadership Changes

“Schwartz joined the company in 2007 as its first head of Sales and helped grow Premier Agent and other services to reach nearly $1.3 billion in revenue in 2018. Schwartz was named chief revenue officer in 2010, chief business officer in 2015, and became president of media and marketplaces in 2018. He leaves a highly experienced leadership team in a strong IMT segment. Zillow Group’s IMT segment beat financial expectations in the third quarter of 2019, and expanded margins through operating leverage in the first nine months of the year, driven primarily by solid performance in Premier Agent.”

What a great run. $1.3 Billion with a “B”.

Looks like Errol is getting increased responsibilities.

“Errol Samuelson, Zillow Group chief industry development officer, will assume oversight of  Zillow’s New Construction business and Display Advertising. Lucy Wohltman, vice president of New Construction and Display Advertising, will report to Samuelson.”

Zillow’s pivot is something to behold. I can’t think of anything like it before.

Famous investor shorts Zillow stock big time.

The Real Deal: The “Big Short” investor that bet against subprime has a new target: Zillow

“In “The Big Short” – the 2015 film about the financial crisis – actor Steve Carell plays a character based on noted short seller Steve Eisman, who made hundreds of millions of dollars betting against collateralized debt obligations laden with subprime residential mortgages.
In real life, Eisman is now a portfolio manager at the investment management firm Neuberger Berman, where today he’s shorting companies like Barclays and TD Bank.
But one of his largest short positions is in the Zillow Group, which Eisman believes has run out of new ideas to grow its stagnating home-listing business.”

Yikes! I enjoyed the movie and Steve Carell’s character but I have more confidence in the iBuyer model than he does. But one thing I think he gets right is that Zillow is kind of betting the farm on Zillow Offers. Mike DelPrete did a great presentation at Inman Connect and talked about Zillow slow growth of Premier Agent Revenue. They had to do something.

Time will tell. Looking at Zillow stock, which has sacrificed profits in favor of growth, is up from a year ago when it announced it original version its iBuyer model, while Realogy (a profitable company) is down since the announcement that it was partnering with Amazon. ????‍♂️

Keller Williams partners with DocuSign

Patrick Kearns from Inman News: EXCLUSIVE: KW partners with DocuSign to improve transaction management

Keller Williams is integrating its proprietary customer relationship management tool with DocuSign, an e-signature and transaction management platform.

“The integration of DocuSign’s Rooms for Real Estate into the Keller Cloud is a significant step for us as we continue building an end-to-end platform for our agents, who in turn will create a world-class experience for consumers,” Neil Dholakia, Keller Williams’ chief product officer said in a statement.

Nothing says you’re a technology company more than outsourcing your technology. That being said, this is a smart move.

The integration of DocuSign into Command will likely leave many wondering what’s to become of Keller Williams’ relationship with dotloop, which many associates currently use as their transaction management software.

The Zillow-owned dotloop will still be available to associates through an integration with Command — which is expected to be in place by September 15 — however, the service will be fee-based. Using DocuSign will be free for Keller Williams associates.

Not a good day for Zillow.

Redfin and Opendoor – Wonder Twins Activate!

Teke Wiggin for Inman News:

“Hi-tech residential real estate brokerage Redfin is partnering with Opendoor, the private Silicon Valley startup that makes cash offers on homes directly over the internet, in a move that is likely to raise the eyebrows of many competitors in both the traditional real estate and fast-growing online cash offer (or “iBuying”) space.”

So smart. I just love these kind of partnerships. To me it also represents Opendoor fully embracing agents. And I hope it will help more agents to consider what a great tool/option iBuying can be for them and their clients.

“Redfin, which maintains a highly-trafficked home search portal that includes for-sale listings from numerous other brokerages, will also offer special marketing perks on the homes listed for sale by Opendoor that appear on Redfin’s site and apps. The companies will evaluate expanding the partnership to other markets outside of Phoenix and Atlanta.

The partnership looks like a bid by Redfin and Opendoor to jointly counter Zillow Offers, Zillow Group’s iBuyer program, which also lets customers request all-cash offers on their homes over the internet.”

I’ve written about this before. The war between Zillow and Opendoor is one of workflow vs. lead flow. Zillow is obviously winning on lead flow and catching up on workflow. This move by Opendoor (and I expect others) helps them on both sides. Lead flow by putting Opendoor’s “Get a Cash Offer” button on listings (lead flow), and “special marketing” for Opendoor’s own listings on Redfin’s site (work flow – getting homes sold quicker).

“Its integration with Opendoor, however, lets the high-tech brokerage extend instant offers to many sellers whose homes Redfin Now isn’t prepared to buy yet.


Opendoor operates in 20 markets nationwide, while Redfin Now is available in only a fraction as many. For example, Redfin Now currently isn’t buying any homes in Phoenix and Atlanta, the two markets where the Redfin-Opendoor partnership is going into effect.


“Just as traditional agents are our partner for brokered sales our own agents can’t handle, Opendoor is our partner for giving customers reliable, competitive offers on homes we ourselves can’t buy,” said Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman in a statement.”

Simpatico baby! Redfin also wins by expanding iBuying services in areas it doesn’t currently cover. I also think that by expanding the number of properties it can extend a cash offer helps them with seller leads as well.

“The partnership demonstrates striking synergies between Opendoor and Redfin that a merger could fully consummate.
Opendoor CEO Eric Wu had kind words for Redfin and wouldn’t rule out a future marriage.


“What I can share is that I’ve known Glenn for years, and I have a great deal of respect for him, and from my perspective, I’m a fan of the product, use the product that’s built, and so in this chapter, we’re focused on the success of this partnership, and we’ll look for ways to deepen our relationship if it’s successful,” he said.”

Inman News was really baiting both Kelman and Wu on this merger question. In my opinion I don’t think a merger would ever happen. We are all still in the first inning of this game.

As I said in the beginning, this to me is the first real deal representing iBuying going “main stream” in organized real estate. While Redfin isn’t your typical broker, it could be the sign of things to come.

The worry I would have at Redfin is if this move would jeopardize any current relationships, à la the RE/MAX kerfuffle around Redfin Direct.


The second coming of Rich Barton

Making Uncommon Knowledge Common

“His companies take power from the incumbents and give it to consumers. Instead of trying to hoard information, they are on the side of consumers and giving them more data transparency.

Glassdoor revealed how employees really felt about companies. Zillow shed light on what any house was worth. Expedia let people see the prices and availability of flights and hotels without talking to an agent. These were knowable things that people have always talked about with each other. There are few topics adults love gossiping about more than work, real estate, or travel. And few categories as core to their net worth.

Rich Barton took these whispered conversations and made them public for everyone to see. Afterwards, everyone wondered why they were ever private.”

Kwokchain

Great post about what what makes Rich Barton career unique and why his return to Zillow as CEO is a bigger deal than anyone thinks. I recently got a chance to hear him speak live at the recent T3 Summit. I was a bit skeptical when he first came back to the CEO role but I now think this is exactly his moment. Think about it, although he has nothing to prove, he isn’t exactly a member of the “last name” club; think Gates (his old boss), Jobs, Bezos, and Zuckerberg.

If Zillow is successful at transforming the way we buy and sell real estate, we might all start just referring to him simply as “Barton”.

A Vegas Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens…

For the first time the hand appeared to shake.
“Good Spirit,” he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it: “your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me by an altered life?” The kind hand trembled.

“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!”

The quote above is from the last few pages of Mr. Dickens’ famous novel. In which that last spirit, the spirit of death, is pointing at Scrooge’s tombstone in a deserted churchyard, and showing what will happen if he doesn’t change his ways.

Okay, so what does this have to do with Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS recent reversal to end listing distribution to portals like Zillow?

Work with me here…


One group that at first I found humorous, but now annoying, are the “Zillow Haters”. These agents and brokers begin to see red when the subject of Zillow is brought up. This fear, and yes its mostly fear, can make the comments section of any Zillow article on Inman News look like a Trump rally.

Now, I’m not saying Zillow is perfect. They can be heavy handed and a bit tone deaf to organized real estate.

But, I also see many MLS organizations have to deal with these “haters” with their leadership. And sometimes it just takes one director. When the subject of Zillow comes up at the next board meeting the hater’s blood begins to boil and any rational business decision making abilities go right out the window.

The haters don’t want to hear facts. Such as, they (the broker) can remove listings from Zillow at anytime, many of their agents find value in working with Zillow, one of the first things a Seller does now a days is check Zillow to make sure their house is listed on the site, etc.

But none of these facts matter to the hater, they just want to “stop sending listings to Zillow!”. They may as well be shouting to shut down the internet.

But, no matter how many emails are sent, no matter how many special board meetings are convened, the haters simply refuses to understand that they can remove their listings from Zillow at anytime. So what do you do if you’re an MLS?

This is where Dickens come in. You need to show the haters the future. And I think that’s exactly what GLVAR has done. They have given the haters what they want by announcing they were indeed shutting down MLS feeds to Zillow. And look what happen, people were now paying attention. Facts began to matter and GLVAR announced they were “reversing” their decision.

My guess this wasn’t a “reversal” at all. This was exactly what GLVAR wanted to have happen. It’s a Christmas Miracle!

GLVAR reverses decision, now will continue to syndicate to Zillow and other third parties.


GLVAR to continue syndicating its MLS data to third parties

“After what GLVAR President Chris Bishop called months of “careful consideration and discussion,” board members of GLVAR and its MLS voted recently to end agreements with all such portals, effective at the conclusion of each contractual term, with Zillow ending in January 2019 and ListHub in June 2019.

But after hearing concerns this month from many of its members, Bishop said GLVAR has reconsidered and will now continue to share its MLS data as it has been while it explores other options.

I hate being right all the time.

TRIBUS to send agent-sold data to Zillow immediately after a closing

Finally, Zillow will automatically update agent sales data

In a move that could significantly reduce manual data entry, real estate technology vendor TRIBUS on Thursday announced it will automatically send updated sales data through its brokerage platform to Zillow following a closing.

TRIBUS – which boasts a portfolio of clients that includes RE/MAX Results, Zephyr Real Estate and Climb Real Estate – provides brokerages with custom platforms, brokerage websites, company intranet and other tech products.

The new partnership will allow agents to bypass hours of manually entering home sales data into Zillow, executives said in a statement.

“We’re excited to work with TRIBUS on behalf of our mutual broker partners to automate the publishing of a broker’s sold data to Zillow Group sites,” Sara Bonert, Zillow’s vice president of broker services, said in a statement. “This means their data will get to our sites faster and more accurately, eliminating the need for public records and manual data entry.”

This is a vast improvement over the manual process. Big Kudos to Zillow for working with TRIBUS on making this happen. TRIBUS has been really hustling the past few years and its great to see that work pay off. Congrats to Eric, Katie and the rest of the TRIBUS team.

GLVAR to stop syndicating listings to Zillow and other portals

Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS notification email:

“The Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® (GLVAR) and its MLS knows that protection of MLS data is a priority for its members. While it has always been the individual brokerage’s decision as to syndicate its listing data and to which third party portals, GLVAR and the MLS played a role in facilitating syndication with a series of agreements with several third-party portals. After careful consideration and discussion, GLVAR and its MLS have decided to end that facilitation to all such portals. These agreements will end at the conclusion of each contractual term, with Zillow ending in January 2019 and ListHub in June 2019.

The idea behind this decision was that individual brokers here in Southern Nevada will now be able to decide where they send their individual listing data, and to what websites. Each individual brokerage will be free to negotiate agreements with the various third-party portals on their own or choose not to syndicate at all.”

There is also a video talking about how they came to the decision. I think the brokers should be careful what they wish for. I wonder if “syndication” is becoming a thing again……uggh!

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