Zillow has been consumer-centric since its inception in 2006. And in the early days, the tech company didn’t pay much attention to agents. Now Zillow realizes that reducing friction for consumers means helping agents respond to online leads and schedule showings, for example. But is it too late to earn the industry’s trust?
Errol Samuelson is the Chief Industry Development Officer at Zillow Group. With 25 years of experience in proptech, he served in leadership roles at Realtor.com, Top Producer Systems and Move, Inc. before joining Zillow in 2014. On this episode of Industry Relations, Errol sits down with Rob and Greg to explain why Zillow is acquiring ShowingTime and explore what’s behind the industry’s volatile reaction to the announcement.
Errol discusses the real estate industry’s distrust of Zillow, acknowledging the frustration the tech company has caused over the years and assuring us that his team will not misuse ShowingTime data. Listen in to understand how Errol thinks about CoStar as a competitor and learn why he believes an industry without cooperation and compensation is not good for agents, brokers or consumers.
What’s Discussed:
Why the real estate industry went apeshit over Zillow’s acquisition of ShowingTime
Zillow’s assurance that ShowingTime will remain an open platform with a strict privacy policy
What problem Zillow is trying to solve by acquiring ShowingTime
Errol’s insight on the rumor that Zillow bought ShowingTime to keep it out of CoStar’s hands
How Errol thinks about the fact that people assume Zillow is lying
Errol’s acknowledgement of the frustrations Zillow has caused agents over the years and how the company’s behavior may have amplified the industry’s distrust
The possibility that social class and age are a factor in the industry’s mistrust of Zillow
The focus of Zillow’s Q4 earnings call (Zillow Offers vs. streamlining the consumer experience overall)
Why innovation in the lending space is limited by federal regulations
The unique opportunity Zillow has to innovate around ownership models
Errol’s thoughts on CoStar as a competitor and why CoStar’s success hinges on the government putting an end to cooperation and compensation
Connect with Errol:
Connect with Rob and Greg:
Resources:
Rob’s Post on Zillow, ShowingTime & Paranoid Realtors
Zillow’s Press Release on Acquiring ShowingTime
Zillow’s Q4 2020 Earnings Call
Gary Keller’s 2021 Family Reunion Vision Speech Recap
Rob’s 2020 List of the Seven Most Interesting People in Real Estate
Federal Regulations on Mortgage Finance
CoStar’s Q4 2020 Earnings Call
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As the real estate industry has evolved, we’ve been trained to focus on who owns the data. And Zillow’s acquisition of ShowingTime has many concerned about sharing their data with the proptech giant. But what if hoarding your data is not the only way to compete with a company like Zillow? What if it’s not really about access to the data but what you do with it?
Nick Bailey is the Chief Customer Officer at RE/MAX. With nearly 25 years of industry experience, Nick served as an agent, broker and proptech vendor before becoming the head of a major real estate franchise. On this episode of Industry Relations, Nick joins Rob and Greg to share his take on Zillow’s acquisition of ShowingTime and what’s behind the industry’s emotionally-charged reaction.
Nick offers insight on how the data Zillow acquired was already publicly available, explaining why that information doesn’t necessarily give the tech company a competitive advantage and reminding us that it’s not unusual for companies at scale to offer various products and services to the industry at large. Listen in for Nick’s perspective on what we can do to improve the process of buying or selling a home for consumers and find out why you shouldn’t panic about Zillow’s acquisition of ShowingTime.
What’s Discussed:
Nick’s background as an agent, broker, tech vendor and head of a major real estate franchise
Why Nick sees Zillow’s acquisition of ShowingTime as one tech company acquiring another to make the process of buying and selling homes easier for consumers
How ShowingTime’s market share influenced the industry’s emotionally-charged reaction to its acquisition
Nick’s argument that the data Zillow has acquired was already publicly available
How Nick addresses the objection that the ShowingTime acquisition forces agents and brokers to provide Zillow with a competitive advantage
How it’s not unusual for companies at scale to offer various products and services (e.g.: RE/MAX’s acquisition of Motto Mortgage)
What Nick is doing to educate agents around the spirit of cooperation in the industry
How Nick thinks about whether Zillow is a RE/MAX competitor
What the real estate industry can do to improve the fragmented process of buying or selling a home
Nick’s insight on what differentiates RE/MAX in a competitive industry that includes a growing number of iBuyers
The trend toward a greater concentration of power among fewer agents and how that might contribute to the panic around Zillow
Nick’s advice for MLS, franchisor and large brokerage CEOs on using data to identify trends and create contingency plans accordingly
Connect with Nick:
Connect with Rob and Greg:
Resources:
ShowingTime’s Press Release on Its Acquisition by Zillow
Nick’s Video on Zillow’s Acquisition of ShowingTime
Rob’s Post on Zillow, ShowingTime & Paranoid Realtors
Brad Inman’s Piece on Zillow & ShowingTime
Gary Keller’s 2021 Family Reunion Vision Speech Recap
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Zillow’s Economic Research Team just released its forecast for 2021, and they expect it to be the best year for home sales since 2005. In fact, Zillow’s number crunchers believe that a whopping 6.8M existing homes will close next year, marking the biggest one-year gain in sales (nearly 22%!) since the early 1980’s.
Jeff Tucker is a Senior Economist at Zillow Research where he studies the causes and consequences of changing supply in the housing market. On this episode of Industry Relations, Jeff joins Rob and Greg to discuss the inputs his team used to make its predictions for 2021 and describe how current growth differs from what we saw at the height of the bubble in 2005.
Jeff offers insight around the demographics of who’s buying and selling homes right now, sharing his take on why the low millennial marriage rate may not impact the housing market as much as we think and how feasible it is for young, working-class Americans to afford homeownership. Listen in to understand how COVID facilitated the single-family home inventory crash and get an economist’s perspective on why the housing market will stay hot through 2021.
What’s Discussed:
The inputs Jeff’s team used to predict that 6.8M existing homes will close in 2021
How current growth differs from what we saw at the height of the bubble in 2005
The decrease in the share of income spent on mortgages since 2018
Why the iBuyer’s mission to create a frictionless experience is so important moving forward
Jeff’s insight around the demographics of who’s buying and selling homes
The distinction between family and household formation
Why the low millennial marriage rate may or may not impact the housing market
How COVID facilitated a single-family home inventory crash
Why Jeff sees appreciation slowing down by the end of 2021
Jeff’s take on the feasibility of homeownership for working-class millennials
How the skyrocketing US money supply might impact the real estate market
Connect with Jeff:
Connect with Rob and Greg:
Resources:
NAR Data on Single Women Home Buyers
Pew Research on Millennials & Marriage
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