A Note on eXp and Margins

Happy Friday, everybody. I’m deep in the heart of final edits on the June Red Dot report, tentatively titled “Zillow, Redfin, Realogy: The Shape of Things to Come” so haven’t been blogging as much. But in writing the June report, I looked at eXp in some detail as a comparable. In future reports, I may … Read more

No Hat, Lots of Cattle: In Which Zillow Transforms

[Note: I advised Zillow on its communication plan for rolling out the program I discuss herein. I do not have an ongoing relationship with Zillow.] I assume that by now anybody who is reading Notorious is aware of the big announcement from Zillow: Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z) (NASDAQ:ZG), which houses a portfolio of the largest … Read more

Musings on the Parker Principles, Part 1: Principle 7 – Open Data

As many of you know, I was privileged to be at Inman Disconnect this year. This was a different kind of event than ever before — one aimed at getting something done, rather than hearing about what others have done. At the very start of the event, Brad Inman told the gathered leaders that the … Read more

Method to the Madness: Thoughts on the Redfin 2017 Earnings Call

One of my recurring dreams is that some kind of IPO fever sweeps real estate, and dozens of brokerages go public. I want to see KW’s numbers, hear Hoddy Hanna on an earnings call, gain transparency into what Kuba over at RealtyOne is thinking, etc. I can’t wait for Compass to go public, so we … Read more

The Keller Williams Vision Speech: Followup and Further Thoughts

Yesterday’s post on the keynote Vision speech by Josh Team and Gary Keller at this year’s Family Reunion generated… ah… let’s call it “a bit of passion.” The early batch of commenters took issue — and not in a civil fashion — about what I wrote based on the Inman story. Except for the tone, … Read more

Redfin to Overtake Realtor.com by 2020?

I’ve been extraordinarily busy due to a bunch of deadlines for a couple of projects. That isn’t an excuse, or an apology, but a setup since it was research for one of those projects that leads to this post. Let’s not bury the lede: On current trends, Redfin will overtake Realtor.com as the second most … Read more

Please Stop Fighting the Last War

One of the recurring problems of the real estate industry is that it is almost entirely reactive when it comes to problems. We continually look backwards, rather than forwards, then wonder why things don’t improve. A good example is the latest recommendation from Victor Lund of the WAV Group, who promotes Redfin’s idea that IDX … Read more