To some the most alarming event is on the horizon now \u2013 it is official that Zillow IS buying Trulia.\u00a0 Some think they are going to take over the industry.\u00a0 I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u00a0I don\u2019t think they are \u201cgoing to do\u201d much of anything.\u00a0 They have already DONE it.\u00a0 They just absorbed their only major competitor.\u00a0 They now have the bulk of real estate web traffic.\u00a0 This is not something that is \u201cgoing to happen\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Zillow did not marginalize Realtor.com\u00a0 You can thank the apathetic, always looking backwards, and only covering their own ass dunderheads that run the National Association of Realtors (and the blind bats that run MOVE) for that.\u00a0 The meaningful things that COULD still be done \u2013 like shutting down List Hub completely and turning off ALL syndication \u2013 so Realtor.com would be the only game in town (like the Canadian version \u2013 and there is no Zillow in Canada!) will never make it past the, \u201cWe could never that\u201d stage.\u00a0 Translate: we will bury our heads in the sand until we are completely gone.\u00a0 And the executives at MOVE (the company that runs Realtor.com) or anyone at NAR give a hoot about what is best for working Realtors.<\/p>\n
\u00a0So Zillow eats their lunch, along with everybody else\u2019s lunch too.\u00a0 So what is this going to change now?\u00a0 What is going to be different?\u00a0 Does anyone really think that this is going to change something for Realtors?\u00a0 Or for anyone else?\u00a0 Will Zillow now REALLY raise their prices?\u00a0 Or give even worse Zestimates?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Their two choices would seem to be: 1) keep the Trulia brand as a separate brand and just own and run it too.\u00a0 Or 2) shut it down and give all the traffic to Zillow.\u00a0 I believe they will choose option 1 \u2013 because that is the pattern of successful large companies (examples; General Foods, General Electric) but it won\u2019t matter to anyone else which option they choose.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Realtor.com is not and has not been \u201cthe Realtor\u2019s friend\u201d in any way, shape or form.\u00a0 So there is nothing here for agents to win or lose. There is no \u201cservice\u201d that Realtor.com provides the public or agents that can\u2019t be better by someone else.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Anyone who thinks or promotes the nonsense idea that Zillow plans on replacing all Realtors just can\u2019t think very clearly.\u00a0 They will not become a brokerage for the simple reason that it isn\u2019t all that profitable to become a brokerage.\u00a0 And if they \u201creplaced Realtors\u201d (if such an idiotic thing could be done) then they would become their own only customer.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Unless you own stock in MOVE I don\u2019t believe anyone reading this has a damn thing to worry about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To some the most alarming event is on the horizon now \u2013 it is official that Zillow IS buying Trulia.\u00a0 Some think they are going to take over the industry.\u00a0 I don\u2019t. \u00a0I don\u2019t think they are \u201cgoing to do\u201d much of anything.\u00a0 They have already DONE it.\u00a0 They just absorbed their only major competitor.\u00a0 They now have the bulk of real estate web traffic.\u00a0 This is not something that is \u201cgoing to happen\u201d. \u00a0Zillow did not marginalize Realtor.com\u00a0 You can thank the apathetic, always looking backwards, and only covering their own ass dunderheads that run the National Association of <\/p>\n