Realtors are attempting to mount a challenge to the Zillow dominance. The Broker Public Portal announced yesterday that they are partnering with HomeSnap to develop a new portal, and the National Association of Realtors has pledged $12 million to fund Upstream, a national MLS thingy.
They throw around words like “revolutionary” and “game-changing”, and in the meantime Zillow is running away from the field. Until the realtor efforts start spending millions on crisp, concise advertising that makes a difference, there is no chance of them catching up – even if they can find a smug, cocky CEO like Spence:
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/18/zillow-ceo-heres-why-we-are-killing-it.html
After spending the last two years in the doghouse, online real estate player Zillow Group has bounced back, up more than 11 percent this year.
More people now type the word “Zillow” into Google than the words “real estate,” Zillow’s CEO Spencer Rascoff told Jim Cramer on Wednesday.
Zillow’s database features over 110 million profiles of U.S. homes, and generates revenues through advertising subscriptions aimed at real estate professionals, mortgage lenders and brand advertisers.
Rascoff attributed the success of his to the wide array of brands it covers, which include Zillow, Trulia, StreetEasy, Hotpads and Naked Apartments.
“The combination of that audience across all those brands are the reason that we are killing it,” Rascoff said.
Being in Tech I’ve seen this scenario play out before. The current NAR Execs know they’re screwed and are placing friends in positions of power. They’re just hoping to ride out some bonuses and paychecks. The next step will be Zillow execs starting to pop up at NAR. They will force out NAR execs and bridge Zillow in. Finally NAR will sell in pieces to Zillow or stand as a puppet for Zillow to control.
While NAR is discussing the format of documents by committee. Zillow is automating the processes + cementing formats via computer not giving people a chance to complain. Either get on board of get left behind.
This is all standard operating procedure when a better run business buys out one that’s behind the times.
If NAR wants to change the tide they need to offer something like a $200 spiff for every listing that closes that was listed with MLS sites before ones like Zillow. Once the listings hit MLS first NAR needs to reach out proactively and assist agents on closing deals. Not just provide a site with a bunch of materials to download. Maybe something like Salesforce where all sales actions are tracked. Give reports an agent performance to brokers. Doing these type of actions takes control of the group and provides a benefit for those participating. Once you have control of the group via something like Salesforce NAR can start standardizing/streamlining local NAR entities.
You are giving NAR too much credit.
They gave $12,000,000 to an entity, Upstream, whose goal is to create a national MLS, all in the name of…..uniformity. There has been no mention of needing a public-facing website to compete with Zillow, let alone knock them off the top of the heap.
My vision of the future? This Upstream thingy will spend a couple of million to advertise their “100%-accurate” website, while Zillow spends $100 million per year on advertising their far-superior website.
Eventually there will be Zillow agents, and everyone else with a real estate license.
I remember seeing an interview on TV years ago, and it was the “founder” of Zillow announcing a new real estate site for buyers and sellers. I jumped on my computer as soon as the interview ended.
Much like the brand Kleenex is now a household-word, Zillow is and will continue to be the household word for real estate…