Connecting Dots: Zillow, CoStar, Realogy and the Battle for Brenda

I’m not at Inman New York for a variety of reasons, and apart from a hot karaoke night, I’m not feeling the FOMO yet. However, there is one interesting thing to come out of the event based on reporting on Inman. To make it interesting, I have to connect the dots from three separate articles. … Read more

Zillow Q4 & FY2021: Zillow Becomes Scott Pilgrim

I think it’s safe to say that I was reeling in a bit of shock and disappointment last quarter, when Zillow abruptly quit the iBuying business. I thought for years that Zillow’s overall strategy made perfect sense, and that becoming the market maker for residential housing was at the center of that strategy. So I … Read more

Seven Predictions for 2022: Fresh Sounds of Jamaica Edition

Welcome to yet another edition of the Seven Predictions, sure to be wrong or your money back. This is one of my favorite annual traditions around this time of year, and whatever the changes in focus to the blog, I’ll have to keep this one up. For those keeping track at home, I just published … Read more

Defender of the Faith: iBuying Will Dominate

Three years ago, I wrote a post titled, “The Case for iBuyer Becoming the Default.” It came up in my social media feeds, thanks to the hard work of my social media manager. And the timing couldn’t have been better, since I’ve been thinking that I need to reassess iBuying as a category in light … Read more

Project Ketchup: iBuying Is Just Fine, Zillow Was Not

I’m still traveling around the country, but wanted to jot something down real quick from a random hotel room in Houston. Based on this story in Business Insider about Project Ketchup, I’m expecting fantastic things from Opendoor’s earnings call. [Note: I own OPEN in my personal portfolio.] All of the jubilation from the industry about … Read more

Thoughts on Stratechery’s Article on Zillow Offers

Ben Thompson at Stratechery, the man responsible for setting Zillow on its path into iBuying, has published a newsletter discussing Zillow’s exit from iBuying. He’s very generous to Rich Barton and to Zillow, and eats a bit of crow. I rarely find anything in Thompson’s writings and opinions to disagree with, because he is one … Read more

Zillow Q3/2021: Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma

I was in mid-air when the Zillow Q3 earnings release happened. By the time I had landed, there were dozens of texts, emails, and of course, social media postings. There were and are a lot of hot takes. I’m reasonably convinced that all or most are wrong in some significant way. Many are laughably shallow. … Read more

REX v. Zillow Goes Forward: Analyzing the Court’s Decision

One of the lawsuits going on right now, which I’ve discussed in podcasts and such, is REX v. Zillow. I didn’t really write on it before for a variety of reasons, the biggest of which is that I regarded the lawsuit as an unfortunate waste of time for everybody involved. Another reason is that I … Read more