iBuyer Earnings Calls and a new investigation for the 800-pound Gorilla

This week the discussion centered around a new FTC investigation of Zillow and recent quarterly earnings calls for the big iBuyers.

 

A pair of republican lawmakers have asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate Zillow’s business practices. This stems from their acquit ion of ShowingTime and the potential harm to consumers it presents. 

 

How can Zillow buy a home one day and list it the next for $100,000 more? Does that seem fair to the consumer? This begs the question then has there been manipulation, or has Zillow just made good bets? They do have access to big data and surely use that in their decision making. They also have most of the internet traffic. Zillow commoditized real estate data and made it make sense to the consumer, kudos to them for that. This acquisition will give them access to some of the most accurate forward looking data there is.

 

We are living through the institutionalization of real estate. For agents to survive it boils down to advocating for our clients, that is how the agent fits - the agents who adapt to this market and to the iBuyers are the ones who are going to crush it and the others will slowly wither away.

 

Let’s talk earnings calls

 

At Recreate in Atlanta last week they talked about the Open Door quarterly earnings call. They put out that they bought some 8,500 homes last quarter and have nearly as many under contract. 

 

The question is do you think 8,500 people don’t know a REALTOR? Of course they did, and they decided not to work with them. It is the “done for you” solution the consumer is demanding. Open Door is taking down 185 home a day across 39 markets (and growing!). Their CEO attributes it to the “seismic shift in consumer behavior” … And guess what they created that. 

 

We can be the agent iBuyer, we can be the Open door for agents. With the power of the agent we as a collective 1.4 million REALTORS, if we band together, we can be more powerful than these huge companies.

 

What should agents be doing, what is the messaging you should be putting out there? If you are in a market where the iBuyers aren’t as prevalent, this is an amazing opportunity. You can be the Open Door of your market, and you’ll crush it. Start with this message, we’ll buy your home for full market value and even let you lease it back for 6 months.