[photopress:thumb_glenn_1_2_1.jpg,thumb,alignright]I was ROTFLMAO reading Glenn’s rendition of what happened at the Inman Conference where Glenn shared the stage with Allan Dalton…and apparently Zillow was there “didling with a microphone” when Glenn was looking for moral support. LOL Read Glenn’s article, it is a HOOT!!
[photopress:dalton_allan_1.jpg,thumb,alignleft]Allan Dalton is a fabulous speaker. If you’ve never had the honor, I highly recommend it. But let’s face it. Allan is as talented as David Letterman, and watching Glenn and Alan must be like watching Richard Simmons as a guest on the David Letterman show…PAINFUL!
Glenn says , “Many people afterwards congratulated me, for nothing in particular, which was very kind.” They were congratulating you for having the chutzpah to get up there in the first place and for going the whole Ten Rounds! And so do WE! But you have to ask yourself, what do you have to gain to stand in front of the a roomful of Realtors going toe to toe with their fearless leader? And as for “desk fees”, you were in NY for crissakes…they’re still paying splits out there. You’re lucky they didn’t drag you in the back and leave you for dead LOL Well, I for one am very glad they didn’t, and that you made it back in one piece.
Now I really do think it is time for Allan Dalton to have to face Zillow and Redfin in front of a crowd of Microsoft and Google employees! Come on! Let’s start selling tickets to that one. Allan’s a sport…he’s probably game. We’ll donate the proceeds to free Realtor.com Virtual Tours.
As for the Title of the Smackdown…”High Touch vs. High Tech”, ain’t too many people more “High Touch” than Glenn Kelman. Now stop going “nose to nose and toes to toes” with the wrong people! Go give a guest lecture at Microsoft. I’ll go on stage with you. They can throw tomatos at me 🙂 Little cherry ones though.
Ardell,
I just cringe when I read your Redfin posts. They are like reading “Back Street Boys” fan club posts. “Oh Glenn your so great, so wonderful, and so forward thinking” – – PUKE.
As for Allan Dalton being the fearless leader of the Realtors I have to disagree. Move is a for profit company that has an open path to pull money out of the hardworking hands of Realtors all around the country. Move.com is no different then lendingtree or housevalues. The only difference is they have an agreement with the National Association of Realtors that they hide behind. Allan Dalton works for the shareholders of Move not the Realtors.
Imagine if there was a real “REALTOR.COM” that had every realtor listing in it. It didn’t have non Realtor listings in it like the current Realtor.com does. Every listing would have the agents contact information on it and drive traffic to that agent’s website. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful place? Wouldn’t that be were the consumers went to find homes? We have calculated what it would take to make a website like this based off the dozens of MLS’s we currently work with. We guess it would take about 1 to 2 dollars per month from every Realtor. Imagine for 12-24 dollars a year a website that was truly Realtor friendly and that the Realtors were the customers not the shareholders like it is now.
(Sorry Dustin just my thoughts)
Allen,
Do you also cringe when you see Glenn bashed? Which discussions of Redfin make you smile? Is it my tone, or the topic in general.
I can’t figure out where you are coming from most times…except to be negative most times.
What could I possibly do to make you happy, Allen…besides stifle myself?
Ardell,
Don’t want you stifled at all I enjoy most of your posts that’s why I keep coming back. Its just many times facts tend to get in the way of your stories. Like here saying Allan Dalton is the fearless leader of the Realtors. I think Dalton’s support of the Realtors is self-serving to his shareholders and they are the ones he has to answer to not the hard working Realtor on the street. I think Glenn is a big boy and can defend himself. As far as me being negative I would say that is you not knowing me. I am a glass half full kind of guy.
Allen,
Opinions are always welcome here… I’ll lay off the Glenn comments since I probably didn’t help with Sunday’s interview.
You make some good points about Realtor.com, but I don’t follow your overall logic. Realtor.com is definitely a draw by simple existing with the majority of listings. However, consumers go to the site for many more reasons than you suggest and I think you underestimate the work and expense that goes into driving traffic to the site. I (legally) can’t give any numbers, but I can say that a considerable amount of money is spent on driving traffic to the site through portal deals (Move runs the real estate listings of AOL, MSN) and considerable amounts are spent on driving traffic to the site through SEM campaigns.
I’ve traveled around more than a bit now, and from what I can tell, most of the agents who do use the site to enhance their listings feel like they get a good return on their investment thanks to the traffic Move is able to drive to their listings. The reality is that Realtor.com wouldn’t be able to exist as a business if it wasn’t making money for the people who buy it’s products!
Just building a listing site (and building it without all the MLS listings?) doesn’t seem like a recipe for success to me.
Dustin,
First thanks for letting my opinions be made.
Now to answer your question.
It really depends on what you mean by success.
1) Success is growing the value of the stock of your company.
Or
2) Success is getting consumers to make contact with Realtors.
You have to choose which one of these 2 is your definition of success. For me #2 has always been my definition of success. I am looking at Realtor.com not as it stands today but what it could be. First of all why does Realtor.com need to have a public face why couldn’t Realtor.com just be the aggregator of the data and let the Realtor Brokers and Agents feed off that dataset to power their websites? Instead of competing against them on these portal sites you mention. Image if every Realtor could have all the million + realtor listings on their site. None of the sites would have to look or act the same. And best of all the consumers would be connecting with the agents.
Dustin you will have to refresh me on the current stated purpose of Realtor.com because it has been restated many different times over the 10 years I have been watching and dealing with them. As far as the portal sites like AOL and MSN they want to deal with who has the most and most accurate data. Im sure they would love to tap into the structure I just mentioned.
As far as traffic goes I would be willing to bet that the aggregate of traffic to broker and agent sites flatten the traffic to Realtor.com.
Just using Alexa as an indicator.
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=realtor.com&url=realtor.com
If you look at the traffic that some of the larger broker sites get, you will see that a company like Windermere gets about 10% the traffic of Realtor.com. Image the hundreds of Windermere like companies out there. If you aggregate their traffic numbers it destroys Realtor.com numbers.
Allen,
I don’t get “where you are coming from” which is SO important to me. It’s how I get to “you are right…for you”. In my mind most people are right if you look at it from their perspective. The same way that I am right from my perspective.
But I cannot understand your perspective. You sound like “an agent” and yet you are not. You seem to take the stance I would expect an agent to take…and yet you are not an agent. It totally confuses me.
As to Glenn…NO WAY Redfin is a “big boy” who can fend for themselves in THIS game. Sure, I don’t blame Allen for his stance at all. He has much to gain from his stance and it is appropriate to his purpose. He plays it well, and I like him. But clearly he plays the “we Realtors vs. those who would bring us down” game. I know who he really is and you know who he really is…but does that matter? Of course not. He does his thing quite well.
I think my defense of Redfin and Glenn is about generally getting on the side of the underdog. I see Redfin as the ONLY Company in the ENTIRE COUNTRY who “gets it”. That’s how I see it. YMMV Now go puke.
My $.02….Allan Dalton and his tactics are that of a desperate man trying to substantiate his desperate and crumbling organization.
I give alot of credit to Glenn (and the Zillow guys at the CAR conference) for agreeing to put themselves in a room of a ‘can’t win’ situation.
I don’t have the benefit of knowing either man…just an objective opinion.
Allen B. Your point about the aggregation of other related sites sinking Realtor.com is an accurate foresight of the very near future 😉
I am a Realtor in Metro Detroit. Unlike the previous poster, I will say my name . . . Al Block of RE/MAX First.
If all there was to transacting real estate sales is web info and a handshake, then Realtors as we know it would have long ago went into extinction. This is not the case. We have no monopoly. We control nothing. Buyers and sellers CHOOSE our services. I have never heard of a Realtor put a gun to the head of a prospective client (or real estate agent for that matter–there is a difference–a Realtor subscibes to the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Realtors who polices any violation of it). We fill a need. Especially in the Detroit market. A skilled Realtor has experience from selling many properties (I have sold over 700 in 17 years), so I think I have seen almost every situation and know how to protect my clients and also save them money. The average home owner or buyer maybe will complete a handful in a lifetime. I sell more homes in one month than you may in your whole life! Who brings experience, skill, knowledge, and insurance to the table??–Redfin, Zillow, I don’t think so. Don’t get me wrong, there is lots of room for every business model. There always has been. Do you think discount brokers are new to the game? They have come and gone, and some do well and I welcome the competition. Anyone who has experienced the dealings of a smart, highly skilled Realtor can tell you they were worth their weight in gold. Don’t take my opinion. Go to this website and check out a survey that was conducted randomly on consumer’s view of their Realtor and real estate transaction:
http://www.realtor.org/pac.nsf/pages/ConsumerResearch
You know, there is an old Southern saying, “Its a sorry dog that can’t wag its own tail.” Well I’m waggin’ the tail of Realtors and also my own. Need a great Realtor in the Metro Detroit area. Call Al Block at 1-800-SOLD-678 or go to my website. http://www.alblock.com
To the man with all the letters besides his name: Speaking of dogs wagging its own tails, you to to remember also that, the sun don’t shine on the same dog’s ass every day. — that quote from a former friend of mine and fellow North Carolinan, James A. Hunter, better known as “Catfish.”
And I do believe that quote of you’re is about coon dogs.
JeffX.. go Pirates! Come to Greenville sometime and see me, and lets do what East Carolina folks are known to be good at.
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