1) Nice to “see” you again
2) Speak for yourself when it comes to “what types of clients ‘we love’..

I’m not sure why many agents haven’t registered that you are not here to compete with us. The only reasoning I can come up with is Zillow was founded by the same guys that put travel agents out of business?

I posted on another forum, back when you guys started leaking more information, and were coming out of the closet, that I thought your ultimate customer would be agents. Customer = who pays. It was something in an email you sent out right before the launch. Then came the launch, and it was pretty easy to figure out who paid the bills with all the real estate banner ads. From an appeal to the agents, and brokers stand point, you guys nailed it. From an appeal to the consumer stand point, you guys nailed it.

The only issue I have with Zillow, is that many consumers are taking their Zestimates as gospel. I find consumers, mostly the tech savvy ones that Ardell, and I both love so much seem to think you guys are 100% right, 100% of the time. Can you change that perception? Probably. Should you? I think so for the sake of consumers. Will you? It might not be the best business decision as you strive to become more accurate.

Ardell,

Why did I have to find out about the rain city guide from someone else?

Have you heard of Broker Only Licensure yet? In direct answer to your question, the primary function of a DESIGNATED Broker is to track Earnest Money Deposits.

Even Brokers don’t understand Brokers. I am a Broker but I’m not “THE” Broker. Some agents who are “Brokers”, but not DESIGNATED Brokers, think they are automonous when they clearly are not. Some agents think that they are a Company and then say they are associated with “John L. Scott” AS IF they are a branch office or something.

Todd T…you are my best bounce off point as you have one foot in Dinosaur territory and the other in the Blogosphere. You are at the brink of “getting it”.

I find you very exciting, indeed.

The first thing I learned in Real Estate was that a Broker was a Cheerleader and NOT the expert with regard to Real Estate matters. Heck, some Brokers used to be used car salesmen. My first Broker was a bit of a loveable Ner-do-well transplated from the hotel industry. Brokers ARE NOT what agents think they are…nor is it their function to be what agents think it is.

Now that we don’t have forms for them to organize, as we all use computer generated forms, and we don’t sit “in our desks like good little agents” anymore, heck, the Broker doesn’t even SEE us at times. Mine does, because I sleep with him LOL. But he can’t control me.

Brokers never ever, ever controlled or interacted with competent agents, nor did they learn what they know from the Broker. A few exceptions.

My absolute favorite Brokers of all time are: Frank Mancuso, Coldwell Banker Hearthside, Bucks County, PA I still adore him and I learned much from him, but he never sat me down to teach me something. A tie with Robert (Bob) Schumann, Real Estate West, Manhattan Beach CA

I don’t think either one of them has ever touched a computer They are both ACES!! Frank’s a “Padrone” type and Bob’s an “old curmudgeon” by choice. They are two of the top real estate people in the Country and neither knows a lick about technology…last I checked.

Technology is NOT the Real Estate Industry. It is a TOOL of the industry. And many, many, many sellers do not have a computer. Sellers more than buyers, of course.

Technology has proven to be inadequate in reaching seller leads…speaking of which, why did Inman sell out on Homegain? My hope is with Zillow…though I won’t have time to “get” them until “get” time, which in this business comes around Thankgsgiving and ends on January 2.

P.S.  My definition of “top agent” is not about how much money they make…nothing I talk about is about how much money is involved.  You work for the work and the money follows.  The issues stand separate from the money.  The money is just a bunch of paper. 

Why have brokers then??

The first time I heard the word Zillow.com was early this year when an MLS consultant spoke about Zillow in a presentation. Maybe I’m being to quick to react, and honestly the formulation of my feelings on this very subject is still in the infancy stage. I don’t have clients talking to me about Zillow.com. The only conversations I’ve either witnessed or have been a part of have been mostly on weblogs. I’m still trying to get my arms around the whole thing.

And I’m sorry Ardell, we just see things different. You and I are in the same biz, not the same market though. But if you were in my market we’d be competitors. Now you are right, I don’t share my thoughts about competition with my clients. When I have a client I’m working for them to facilitate what they want. I’m very friendly with other agents that are representing other clients in the process and do not view them as any kind of competitor in the transaction. I imagine that I could feel the same about a computer program as well.

However Greg Swann had a brilliant article about how Zillow fails, when it came up with a value for a burnt down dwelling in Phoenix. So I beg your pardon while I still try to grasp the Zillow concept. If they are trying to, and I know David says they aren’t, if they are trying to do my job at all I will view them as a competitor. Right now I see them doing valuations of property, or CMA’s. I do that. I do it much differently and I’d bet much more accurately.

If a client comes to me and says that Zillow says his property should be worth X on the market, and after I do my CMA and find the number off maybe 10% or so to the negative side — the client is left with a choice to make. Take the higher figure a computer program came up with because it nets them more proceeds, which could mean that they may end up choosing a different agent that is willing to ‘cave’ into that request because in this market I won’t.

David, I’ll take some time to really look into your company and its product. I’ll be fair as well. Perhaps I am missing something here. After all our gracious author of this post has tagged me misguided before. If I’m in error on something I’ll own up to it.