[VIP] On the Realogy-Compass Kerfuffle

The battle between Realogy and Compass took a strange turn in recent days, when Compass claimed that they rejected a marriage offer from Realogy according to The Real Deal: With his back against the mats, Realogy CEO Ryan Schneider considered selling the brokerage to its chief rival: Compass. In a statement Friday, the SoftBank-backed brokerage … Read more

[VIP] Zillow’s Possible Long Game: Mortgages and iBuyer

It’s VIP Content Week, as I am home for several days without any travel. All that changes next week, but… in the meantime, I thought it worth putting together some posts for subscribers that reflect some of the things I’ve been working on in recent weeks. One topic that keeps coming up both online and … Read more

[VIP] What NAR Can Do, But Likely Won’t

Happy Monday, everybody. A couple of you have asked for this topic in the Notorious VIP Network (all VIP Subscribers have been invited, so check your inbox if you don’t know what the Network is), so I figure I’ll kick off this week of writing-while-at-home with some free advice (worth exactly what NAR paid for … Read more

Notorious ROB’s Shiva Award 2019 Edition

It’s that time of the year again… by which I mean, the second time we have had the National Association of REALTORS put on the Innovation, Opportunity & Investment Summit. So last year, I wrote this post in which I congratulated BoxBrowie for winning the iOi Pitch Battle, but awarded my Shiva Award to BoxMLS. … Read more

Keller Williams and Offerpad Partnership: A Step Too Far

Brokerages and national franchises partnering with big money companies to offer iBuyer services appears to be all the rage these days. Realogy was first, partnering with Home Partners of America, for its cataLIST program. Redfin was next, partnering with Opendoor… while saying that they plan to compete head on against their partner in overlapping markets. … Read more

[VIP] Realogy, Q2/2019: Justify My Love

Realogy reported its Q2 results last week, and on balance, it was a very nice quarter. The highlights of the presentation are improved profitability, strong cash flows, paying down debt, and a narrative that the broken fundamentals at the NRT are changing. Or trending like it’s changing. Maybe it’s more of a looking like it’s … Read more

[VIP] Zillow Q2/2019 Earnings: Going All In

When Rich Barton took (back) over as CEO of Zillow earlier this year, I wrote a Red Dot and titled it, “The Return of the King.” I didn’t realize then that the king was not just a fighter, but a gambler. With giant brass ones. After the Q2 earnings results, I know that now. Zillow’s … Read more

Zillow Raises the Bar in Real Estate, Whether You Like it or Not

Happy Friday everybody. I realize most of you won’t get to this until tomorrow or perhaps Monday, but since I’ve been working on the Zillow Q2 earnings analysis (likely publishing on Monday), I wanted to end the week on a… well… interesting note. Most of you have seen the headlines on Inman about Zillow’s massive … Read more