Latest / Massive Agent Podcast / The Big Zillow News: What Realtors Must Know
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: All right, guys.
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: Zillow just did something super interesting that agents need to know about and understand.
- 0:06SPEAKER_00: A lot of agents right now are celebrating what just happened, but I'm going to caution you a little bit.
- 0:12SPEAKER_00: But here's what you do need to know to be informed as you go out there meeting with sellers and talking about why Zillow maybe isn't their best option.
- 0:22SPEAKER_01: The massive agent podcast.
- 0:30SPEAKER_00: I'd love to buy houses.
- 0:31SPEAKER_00: I like to sell houses.
- 0:41SPEAKER_01: I'd like to pay attention now.
- 0:44SPEAKER_01: Here's your host, Dustin Brohm.
- 0:48SPEAKER_00: What is up, everybody?
- 0:49SPEAKER_00: Welcome to episode 202 of the Massive Agent Podcast.
- 0:53SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Dustin Brohm.
- 0:55SPEAKER_00: Are we 202?
- 0:56SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're episode 202 today.
- 0:58SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
- 0:59SPEAKER_00: Um, well, I had a show planned for this week, and I I just called an Audible at the last minute and scrapped it.
- 1:06SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do that another time.
- 1:08SPEAKER_00: About 30 minutes ago, Zillow just announced some big, big, big news.
- 1:13SPEAKER_00: And uh a lot of agents are celebrating, claiming victory.
- 1:18SPEAKER_00: A lot of I told you so's and finger wagging, maybe, maybe rightfully so.
- 1:23SPEAKER_00: But um, I'm gonna tell you what they did and why it's important for you to understand, but then also what to do about it and how to use it to grow your business and to get more clients.
- 1:34SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, that's what matters.
- 1:35SPEAKER_00: Whatever the hell Zillow did or didn't do doesn't really matter that much unless you know how it affects you, then you know, then here we go.
- 1:44SPEAKER_00: And that's why we're doing this this podcast, an emergency podcast, if you will, on on why Zillow decided to quit the iBuying business.
- 1:54SPEAKER_00: Zillow, as of about 30 minutes ago, announced that they are no longer buying homes, that they're quitting the Zillow offers is no more.
- 2:04SPEAKER_00: And as a result, they're they have to lay off a fourth of their company, they have to lay off 25% of the company.
- 2:11SPEAKER_00: Pretty crazy stuff.
- 2:12SPEAKER_00: I feel bad for you know, that's a lot of people that are you know being laid off.
- 2:16SPEAKER_00: Um, shitty all the way around.
- 2:19SPEAKER_00: Before we get into it, my name is Dustin Bro, I'm your host.
- 2:21SPEAKER_00: I'm an agent in Salt Lake City, Utah.
- 2:23SPEAKER_00: And if you've been listening to this show for a while, you already know who I am.
- 2:26SPEAKER_00: If you don't, now you do.
- 2:27SPEAKER_00: Um, but I I'm passionate about helping other agents to grow their business, not just with tactics and lead generation tips and social media strategies, which is all important, but also helping you think in a different way, helping you understand certain concepts, or understand the way you talk to yourself at a much higher level than you than you were before you listened to the show.
- 2:50SPEAKER_00: So if you're here, this has become a very well-rounded, uh, much more diverse podcast than just marketing, social media, lead gen stuff, which is really what it started as.
- 3:00SPEAKER_00: And it's evolved because I've evolved and hopefully you've evolved.
- 3:04SPEAKER_00: And here we are.
- 3:04SPEAKER_00: So welcome to the Massive Agent Podcast, episode 202.
- 3:09SPEAKER_00: Um, I wanted to say real quick, we are almost done with the Massive Agent Social Boot Camp, our second season.
- 3:15SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've we've done a second season of that.
- 3:17SPEAKER_00: It's a four session.
- 3:19SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a four-week, well, it's every other week.
- 3:22SPEAKER_00: So a 60-day, it's a 60-day social boot camp that we've done.
- 3:26SPEAKER_00: We've done two seasons of it.
- 3:27SPEAKER_00: We have only allowed 20 agents in at a time.
- 3:31SPEAKER_00: And um, we're we've already done three of the four sessions.
- 3:35SPEAKER_00: And uh this next Wednesday will be the last.
- 3:38SPEAKER_00: Now, I want the reason I'm bringing it up, we are not planning on doing another season for right now.
- 3:44SPEAKER_00: I don't have any plans to do social boot camp again in the near future.
- 3:48SPEAKER_00: I'm sure at some point we will.
- 3:49SPEAKER_00: I'm actually planning something and working on something that I think is gonna be even better, more accessible for more of you, more affordable, and greater impact, I believe.
- 4:01SPEAKER_00: So look forward to that.
- 4:02SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be you're gonna have to act quickly, but it's gonna be priced in a way where every single one of you can freaking do it.
- 4:11SPEAKER_00: So uh stay tuned for that.
- 4:12SPEAKER_00: It's not ready yet, but I'm putting together the finishing pieces.
- 4:16SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, my goal is to make a very deep impact in your business and help you to make an impact in your business, in your family, in your community as a result.
- 4:26SPEAKER_00: So uh really excited about what we're putting together.
- 4:29SPEAKER_00: Um, that's why we're not doing social bootcamp again in the near future, is I'm focused on um doing something new for you guys that uh a lot of you guys have requested, or at least you've suggested, or uh you didn't really know you were were requesting, you didn't know you were requesting it, even though you were.
- 4:49SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, holy shit, everybody's asking for this.
- 4:52SPEAKER_00: It's time to build this.
- 4:53SPEAKER_00: So that's what we're gonna do.
- 4:54SPEAKER_00: Stay tuned.
- 4:55SPEAKER_00: All right, guys.
- 4:55SPEAKER_00: Zillow, what the hell are they up to?
- 4:58SPEAKER_00: Zillow, uh, they are you know, they are quitting the iBuying business.
- 5:04SPEAKER_00: So today, Zillow's stock is down about 15%.
- 5:08SPEAKER_00: Open Door stock is down, or sorry, open door as a result is up about 7% because Wall Street sees it as well.
- 5:16SPEAKER_00: Wait, if Zillow's jumping out of the iBuin game, that leaves more market share for Open Door and OfferPad and the others.
- 5:23SPEAKER_00: So it's big news.
- 5:25SPEAKER_00: Um, I just watched an interview on CNBC on their website from uh Rich Barton, the CEO of Zillow, talking about how um it's really a no-brainer.
- 5:36SPEAKER_00: It's just hard with the emotion of it because they have to lay off 25% of their workforce.
- 5:41SPEAKER_00: 25% of the Zillow corporation is being laid off as a result of this.
- 5:46SPEAKER_00: I mean, that that sucks.
- 5:49SPEAKER_00: That that hurts.
- 5:50SPEAKER_00: But Zillow is making a decision that they think makes a lot of sense.
- 5:54SPEAKER_00: They and you're probably wondering, well, why?
- 5:56SPEAKER_00: You know, are are they just stupid?
- 5:58SPEAKER_00: No, they're not stupid, but Zillow is trying to predict the the value of a home six months into the future so they can buy it at a certain price, maybe do some repairs, maybe not, and then sell it for a profit.
- 6:11SPEAKER_00: That was the whole goal.
- 6:12SPEAKER_00: And obviously, they then sell seller leads to agents, and and there's a few other ways that they can monetize that model, but um, they found it very, very difficult through COVID and then after COVID, how COVID just froze everything, you know, at least in the beginning, you know, March, April, May, and then it just took off.
- 6:30SPEAKER_00: It's really, really hard to predict the price of you know what a home is going to be valued at in the uh six months in the future.
- 6:37SPEAKER_00: So they're having a hell of a time with that.
- 6:39SPEAKER_00: They're underwater on a lot of the properties that they're currently sitting on.
- 6:44SPEAKER_00: Zillow has they have 7,000, approximately 7,000 homes that they need to sell.
- 6:50SPEAKER_00: And the majority of them, they owe more than the house is worth.
- 6:54SPEAKER_00: They paid more than the house is actually worth.
- 6:57SPEAKER_00: So they there could be a big loss coming there.
- 7:00SPEAKER_00: Um, they say they're not, they don't need to do a fire sale.
- 7:03SPEAKER_00: It's not like, oh my God, we got to sell these 7,000 properties immediately, but they are working on getting them ready, selling them, um, and they're gonna do that in an orderly fashion, they say.
- 7:14SPEAKER_00: So we'll wind down the inventory in an orderly, orderly way, says Rich Barton, their CEO and co-founder.
- 7:22SPEAKER_00: Really interesting.
- 7:23SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is a massive operation, guys.
- 7:26SPEAKER_00: Zillow is buying in the second quarter 3,805 houses.
- 7:31SPEAKER_00: They bought 3,805 houses in the second quarter.
- 7:35SPEAKER_00: They sold just over 2,000 in that same time period.
- 7:39SPEAKER_00: Super interesting.
- 7:40SPEAKER_00: Um, but but but what else do you guys need to know here?
- 7:44SPEAKER_00: So, right now, online on social media, by the time this episode comes out, you will probably have seen this and heard about this.
- 7:52SPEAKER_00: And, you know, agents, you know, maybe rightfully so, saying, We told you so, Zillow sucks, they don't know what the hell they're doing.
- 8:00SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want you guys to avoid, all right, and fight, fight really hard.
- 8:06SPEAKER_00: Fight making it seem like Zillow is just a bunch of idiots and you're so smart as an agent.
- 8:11SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 8:12SPEAKER_00: Now there's other ways to get that point across without being an ass, without being a douchebag, and without actually discrediting yourself as a professional.
- 8:20SPEAKER_00: Because if you do that in the wrong way, a seller is going to be like, well, you just don't like Zillow because they're your competitor.
- 8:27SPEAKER_00: And and then you have no credibility anymore.
- 8:29SPEAKER_00: So avoid that.
- 8:31SPEAKER_00: But what you really here's here's the lesson.
- 8:34SPEAKER_00: Here's you, here's what you guys need to know, and here's how you can use this in listing presentations and in conversations with sellers, and even your your friends and family over you know, Christmas parties that are talking about real estate.
- 8:47SPEAKER_00: Zillow tried, I mean, Zillow is the most powerful real estate company on the planet.
- 8:52SPEAKER_00: They just are.
- 8:54SPEAKER_00: They have a ton of brain power, endless amounts of money to pour into their ideas and to implement what they want to do.
- 9:02SPEAKER_00: And even they, with all the data they have and all the money they have, they still had a hard time predicting what the value of a home is going to be.
- 9:13SPEAKER_00: Now, if they had in every single market, if they had a local agent who understood that specific street that they were buying a property on, and that agent could give them a CMA and and really show the you know the price history and the price projections and everything like that on a case-by-case basis, they probably wouldn't need to shut this thing down.
- 9:34SPEAKER_00: They probably would have been much more profitable, but they were trying to do it at scale.
- 9:38SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if they can do that at scale, but we you can, right?
- 9:44SPEAKER_00: You work in your neighborhood, you work in your farm area.
- 9:48SPEAKER_00: So you are better, you are better suited and better prepared to help a seller to figure out here's what your house is worth today, if you're gonna wait, if you're gonna do some repairs and whatnot, here's what it should be worth, here's what we believe it'll be worth if you wait a month or three.
- 10:06SPEAKER_00: And and you you can really give them much better, much more accurate and much more targeted information, which is wildly beneficial to a seller.
- 10:17SPEAKER_00: So if you guys are gonna be doing any videos on your social media or posting at all, try to avoid the tone of look at these idiots, they're so dumb, I told you so.
- 10:27SPEAKER_00: And and change it more to an educational like, look, these guys are really smart, and even they had a hard time doing what they're trying to do.
- 10:35SPEAKER_00: What you really need is someone who understands your neighborhood specifically.
- 10:40SPEAKER_00: And so if you do that in an educational way, you're still it's still the same conversation, but it's one of, okay, you are the professional that understands that neighborhood, the economics, the demographics, you know, is the market moving, is it not?
- 10:54SPEAKER_00: What causes it to move?
- 10:55SPEAKER_00: What causes it to not?
- 10:57SPEAKER_00: If you understand all that stuff, you now the game just becomes getting more sellers to know that you exist.
- 11:05SPEAKER_00: So video posts, stories, even running some Facebook ads, some YouTube videos, getting that point across.
- 11:12SPEAKER_00: But make sure that the tone of it is not one of Zillow's stupid, look at these idiots, because they're not, they're not stupid.
- 11:21SPEAKER_00: It's the opposite.
- 11:22SPEAKER_00: Even they have so much data, so much brain power, so much money behind them, even they had a hard time doing the ibuing business model at scale.
- 11:33SPEAKER_00: So that actually validates us as local real estate professionals even more.
- 11:40SPEAKER_00: Focus on that in your marketing, focus that, focus on that, that tone in your content.
- 11:46SPEAKER_00: And that's how you're going to get sellers to um to pay attention to and and to really understand why they need a local real estate professional and not some algorithm.
- 11:58SPEAKER_00: All right.
- 11:59SPEAKER_00: The algorithms are great in a steady market, in a steadily appreciating market or a steadily declining one, or an algorithm, cool, they can figure that out.
- 12:09SPEAKER_00: Kind of, they still can't see inside your house.
- 12:11SPEAKER_00: Oh, by the way.
- 12:13SPEAKER_00: But when the market's volatile and and it's it grows really fast and then it slows down a little bit, whether that's seasonal or not, you have the upper hand over Big Z.
- 12:24SPEAKER_00: That's pretty empowering, don't you think?
- 12:27SPEAKER_00: So hopefully by now, if you listen to this show regularly, you're not one of these agents that freaks out about every little thing Zillow does because it doesn't affect you that much, but you can use it to better educate and better position yourself.
- 12:43SPEAKER_00: And you can better educate yourself, better educate the sellers, better educate potential buyers, all while positioning yourself as the knowledgeable educator who can actually get the job done.
- 12:56SPEAKER_00: Pretty important stuff.
- 12:58SPEAKER_00: Pretty important stuff, guys.
- 13:00SPEAKER_00: So um just looking at Zillow at this article to see if there's any other pieces I missed.
- 13:06SPEAKER_00: Um their earnings, they were way off on their earnings.
- 13:08SPEAKER_00: So Zillow stock's gonna take a hit.
- 13:11SPEAKER_00: Um, it I believe this will cause them to be a little bit more conservative or a little more gun shy on investing in new new things, new areas, um, new business models.
- 13:23SPEAKER_00: Um, but again, look look at look at how they've grown.
- 13:28SPEAKER_00: Like I've been in I've been an agent for about 11 years now.
- 13:31SPEAKER_00: Zillow back then was just a website where you could look at listings.
- 13:34SPEAKER_00: They're now a brokerage, they're now well, we're an investor, you know.
- 13:40SPEAKER_00: They they have more data on real estate than anyone on the planet, and they're powerful.
- 13:46SPEAKER_00: So that's all happened while we're sitting there saying you're dumb, we're not gonna let this happen, you know, stop paying Zillow.
- 13:54SPEAKER_00: Well, they're still evolving and growing.
- 13:56SPEAKER_00: That's gonna continue to happen.
- 13:58SPEAKER_00: So don't underestimate them, don't count them out, keep an eye on them, but also understand what they're trying to do at scale, you know, across the board for the country or for a whole state or a whole city.
- 14:11SPEAKER_00: You can do much better in the neighborhood, you can do much better in the subdivision, in your farm area, on your street.
- 14:19SPEAKER_00: And that's just a fact.
- 14:21SPEAKER_00: It's just a fact.
- 14:23SPEAKER_00: So that that's pretty damn empowering.
- 14:25SPEAKER_00: Um, if you and remember, guys, Zillow is a brokerage, so be careful with what you say because you know they're a brokerage.
- 14:34SPEAKER_00: We have the code of ethics.
- 14:35SPEAKER_00: If you're a if you're a realtor with uh with NAR, you have a code of ethics to adhere to, and then there's also common decency, and you don't want to make yourself look like an asshole or a douchebag by discrediting yourself.
- 14:46SPEAKER_00: So there you go.
- 14:48SPEAKER_00: I've cautioned you, take that how you will, but this is an opportunity once again to educate the community on why they need a professional and and then show that you're that professional.
- 15:01SPEAKER_00: Now, if you just teach and educate, naturally people are going to be like, okay, that's the person that I want to hire.
- 15:07SPEAKER_00: You don't need to say, if you're looking, you know, call me for all your real estate needs.
- 15:12SPEAKER_00: What is it about like because I used to do that all the time early in my career, and and it came across so needy.
- 15:20SPEAKER_00: When I look back at when I say, please, if you have any real estate needs, I'm the guy, or please call me.
- 15:26SPEAKER_00: If they really needed you, if you attracted them in the right way, you don't need to even say call me.
- 15:31SPEAKER_00: They're naturally just gonna do it.
- 15:33SPEAKER_00: So when you say call me, you're almost killing it.
- 15:37SPEAKER_00: You know, like they would have until you said that, and then you sounded needy and less professional.
- 15:41SPEAKER_00: And now they're like, eh.
- 15:43SPEAKER_00: You want them to believe it's their idea that they're reaching out to you or that they're hiring you.
- 15:48SPEAKER_00: You do that through positioning yourself as an expert through your content.
- 15:52SPEAKER_00: You want to be likable, you want them to see your personality, you want them to see you're an actual human being that they want to work with who can also get the job done for them.
- 16:00SPEAKER_00: All right.
- 16:01SPEAKER_00: Enough of the soapbox.
- 16:03SPEAKER_00: You guys get it at this point, I think.
- 16:06SPEAKER_00: But uh big news.
- 16:07SPEAKER_00: Um, enough, enough of a headline or a news story today to get me to completely call an Audible and scrap what I was going to talk about this week, because uh I think this is pretty important.
- 16:17SPEAKER_00: What will there be more of this backpedaling or you know, um correcting, course correcting coming from Zillow in the near future?
- 16:26SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
- 16:26SPEAKER_00: I I think market conditions play into that quite a bit, and we'll see if there's a big shift in the economy or in home prices or in interest rates or in inflation or anything like that, we could see more of this, and not just from Zillow, but from you know the other companies.
- 16:43SPEAKER_00: And they're not Zillow's not the only game in town.
- 16:46SPEAKER_00: So keep your eye on it, but also focus like a freaking laser beam, double down, even triple down on getting your message out there and make sure it's an empowering educational one and not some sore loser, like ha ha, look at these idiots kind of way.
- 17:01SPEAKER_00: Because again, you're the one that comes out looking like an idiot if that's the overall tone of your content.
- 17:07SPEAKER_00: Most people don't want that shit.
- 17:09SPEAKER_00: They they're not gonna hire somebody who's supposed to be a professional who's petty and childish.
- 17:16SPEAKER_00: So be an adult and you're gonna win, guys.
- 17:19SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
- 17:20SPEAKER_00: Stay tuned for more about um what we have up our sleeve to replace the massive agent social boot camp.
- 17:26SPEAKER_00: Um, that's gonna be pretty fun.
- 17:27SPEAKER_00: And we're doing it actually before the relaunch of the Massive Agent Society.
- 17:32SPEAKER_00: The Massive Agent Society is gonna be big, it includes a lot.
- 17:36SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's it's a big thing.
- 17:37SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do this before because um I think not everyone necessarily needs the big, huge massive agent society thing.
- 17:45SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna do one, then the other, and I think it's gonna be great.
- 17:49SPEAKER_00: So stay tuned.
- 17:50SPEAKER_00: Uh but you're gonna you're going to need to take action quickly on it once we do announce it.
- 17:55SPEAKER_00: Um if you are if you are going to be at exp con, if you happen to be with exp and you're going to expcon, make sure you um shoot me a message, follow up boss, one of our partners and a sponsor of the show, they are throwing a a party at a speakeasy at the Cosmopolitan.
- 18:14SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, they reached out and they're like, hey, if you know anyone who wants who we should invite to this thing, please let me know.
- 18:20SPEAKER_00: So if you're going to be at expcon and you want to get into this um this follow-up boss party, let me know and I can make an introduction.
- 18:27SPEAKER_00: Follow up boss has been an incredible partner, and it's cool to watch.
- 18:31SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, since we partnered with them a few months ago, I've spoken with a lot of team leaders, solo agents, uh, brokerage owners that have used follow-up boss for years.
- 18:41SPEAKER_00: And I I've asked them, I was like, okay, look, I've partnered with these guys, they seem really awesome.
- 18:46SPEAKER_00: I've you've used them myself, but like, tell me, like, are they really that awesome?
- 18:51SPEAKER_00: Like, are they really everything they say they are?
- 18:53SPEAKER_00: Are they really meant for those that want to scale?
- 18:56SPEAKER_00: Do they really give you tools that you can't get with other CRMs?
- 18:59SPEAKER_00: And every single one of these team leaders or brokers that I speak to is like, you have no idea.
- 19:05SPEAKER_00: You have no idea.
- 19:06SPEAKER_00: It's more than that.
- 19:08SPEAKER_00: They could not build their team or scale their company the way that they wanted to or at the speed that they wanted to with any other CRM, because it's more than a CRM.
- 19:18SPEAKER_00: It's a business growth platform.
- 19:21SPEAKER_00: So you guys can check it out, whether you're a brand new agent, whether you're a solo agent who sells 50 homes a year and you're trying to get to 100, or you're just you just want to be more efficient and have more tools available, go try it out.
- 19:33SPEAKER_00: How cool is follow up boss for giving you a 30-day free trial because you listen to this show.
- 19:38SPEAKER_00: Just because you're a massive agent listener, you're gonna get a 30-day free trial, but you must use this link.
- 19:43SPEAKER_00: You must use Massive Agent Podcast.com slash follow up boss.
- 19:48SPEAKER_00: MassiveAgent Podcast.com slash follow up boss.
- 19:51SPEAKER_00: If you go anywhere else, you're gonna get a 14-day free trial.
- 19:55SPEAKER_00: You get a 30-day through our link, and they don't even ask for a credit card.
- 19:59SPEAKER_00: They're that confident that they kick that much ass.
- 20:02SPEAKER_00: So go check it out, use it, set up some drip campaigns, start using the features and plug into some of their training and decide hey, should you be using this or is what you're currently using sufficient?
- 20:15SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
- 20:16SPEAKER_00: I can't answer that for you.
- 20:17SPEAKER_00: You can, but you've got to you've got to know first.
- 20:20SPEAKER_00: So go check out Follow Up Boss.
- 20:22SPEAKER_00: And I can't thank them enough for their support of the show, which really means their support of you guys and our industry.
- 20:28SPEAKER_00: So thank you guys for listening.
- 20:29SPEAKER_00: We'll be back next week with another episode, probably not an emergency podcast, probably a little bit more planned and not so off the cuff with some Zillow news.
- 20:38SPEAKER_00: So appreciate you guys.
- 20:40SPEAKER_00: If you're watching on on YouTube, please go ahead and subscribe and like this video.
- 20:45SPEAKER_00: And in the comments, let me know what you what's your biggest takeaway from this.
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- 21:08SPEAKER_00: That's all we ask.
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- 21:11SPEAKER_00: We'll keep coming back.
- 21:12SPEAKER_00: Go out there, guys, sell some homes, close some loans, have a great freaking weekend.
- 21:16SPEAKER_00: Talk to you guys soon.