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We Need to Talk About Zillow · Massive Agent Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: On this episode, we're going to have an adult conversation about Zillow.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: Zillow is being bitched about yet again.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like worse than ever.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like every time they come out with some new move, it seems like our industry bitches even more and it's getting out of control.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of pathetic, but there's some stuff that we need to talk about.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: There's some things you need to know, there's some things you need to be aware of.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm not saying totally ignore Zillow because there's a lot we should actually be looking at and paying attention to.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna have the Zillow conversation right now.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: The massive aged podcast.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: We need generated different strategies to give you more leads and sell more balls.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: I love to buy houses, I like to sell houses.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, go attention now.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Here's your host, Dustin Brome.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: What is up, everybody?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to episode 167 of the Massive Agent Podcast.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: I am your host, Dustin Brohm.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: I am an agent in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the co-founder of the Industry Syndicate Podcast Network and founder of the MassiveAgent Daily.com.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Today, guys, we're gonna have a conversation about Zillow.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna uh maybe I'll step on some toes.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: I might even call you out if you're being a little bitch, but uh, you know, little bitches deserve that.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but for real, Zillow.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's talk about Zillow.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is a topic that never dies, and I don't think it ever will.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's it's important.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: We should not ignore Zillow completely, but there's some things you guys need to be aware of that Zillow's doing.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: So and I want to give you some different perspective on those things because I think they're very important.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: We as an industry need to at least understand what's happening, all right?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: So we're just gonna have an adult conversation and we'll start with this question.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so is Zillow, okay, multiple choice question, okay?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: Is Zillow a friend, an enemy, a partner?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Are they a leader?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: Are they a disruptor?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Are they to be feared?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Are they to be celebrated?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Are they to be respected?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Are they you know, fill in the blank?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: The answer is yes to all of it, right?
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: This is a very nuanced conversation.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: No one who really like no serious thinking person in the real estate world can say that Zillow is all bad, all good, all, you know, because it's a nuanced conversation.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's the conversation we're gonna have.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Before we get started, I wanted to bring something to your attention that I think is really, really interesting.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: So one of my friends, one of one of my agent partners, Missy Bentley in Evansville, Indiana, she posted in our team Facebook group earlier today that she's had multiple sellers this week, okay, multiple, meaning more than one, sellers this week say to her, Well, I don't really need an agent because agents are always talking about how how easy it is to sell a house, how a house sells in five hours with 173 offers.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: And her point was stop telling consumers that they don't need us.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what do you think happens?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I think she's spot on with this.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think happens when you as an agent post sold in two hours with 20 offers?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then a consumer sees another post from another realtor that says the same thing, and you know, and everyone's posting the same shit.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: We think when we're posting that stuff, we think that we are uh we're building credibility in the in the eyes of the consumer, that we're making ourselves look good, right?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we're not.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Sellers aren't stupid.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: If it was just one time, if no one else was having that experience and you were the only one who was able to sell a house with multiple offers in a number of hours, then yeah, that's pretty, that's pretty awesome.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's worth humble bragging about a little bit.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: But when everyone is doing it, what does the consumer think?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the market's so hot, what the hell do I need a realtor for?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: And they're right.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're right to think that.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: So stop it.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Can we please stop posting that shit all the time?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because what we're doing is exactly the opposite of what we think we're doing.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: The effect that we're having is exactly the opposite of what we intended.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: We're teaching consumers that the market conditions are so out of control that their house will sell for a million dollars over asking price in a matter of minutes.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: And they're not wrong in getting that impression because we gave it to them.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: So next time you're about to post like that, thinking that you're this magical realtor that did all this awesome stuff to sell a house so fast, you're not that's not what the consumer sees.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Food for thought.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Missy, for sharing that.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think you're spot on.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're hearing multiple sellers say that within a week, I'm sure a lot of you guys listening are too.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of sellers you're never even hearing from because they don't ever call.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: They don't ever reach out because they don't think they need you.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: They're just throwing a sign in the front yard, putting it on the internet, getting what they want.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: And in their eyes, they won.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: And now, forever moving forward, they don't need agents.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's actually doing them a huge disservice.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: They may feel like they got the most out of it, but we don't know that I'm not going to go into the whole thing of why they should hire an agent, but you know, now they have that experience.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: They're going to tell their friends.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: Their friends are going to be like, well, hey, Susie over here sold her house and in one day without an agent, saved all this money in commission, right?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: They don't know what they don't know, but we are causing that to happen.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: We are.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: So stop.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Stop.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: And two quick announcements.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: First one, make sure you go over to the Massive Agent YouTube channel and subscribe.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: You can watch our episodes now, except for this one, because honestly, this is the second recording of this episode because the first one, I crashed my goddamn computer.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I have a MacBook that's five or six.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: What is it?
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: Six or seven years old.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Works great, but it's been running out of memory.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was recording video on my laptop uh to go with this episode, to put up on YouTube, totally crashed it, didn't record, and lost it.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm not recording video this go around because I don't want to crash it again.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: I obviously need to get myself a new computer, but uh yeah, no YouTube for this one.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: However, our previous ones, make sure you watch on YouTube.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're taking clips from each episode as well, and then I'll be doing YouTube specific content on there.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: So please go subscribe to the Massive Agent channel on YouTube.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: You could, if you would like a URL, go to MassiveAgent Podcast.com slash YouTube.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Or if you know how to use YouTube, you can find the Massive Agent channel on YouTube by searching for Massive Agent and then hitting subscribe.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: So there you go.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you guys doing that.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'll continue to step up my YouTube game as we move forward as soon as I get a new computer because uh this one's pretty much toast.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: And lastly, why are you guys that are struggling with social media or wondering how to level up your social media game and you're looking at other agents, you're like, how do they just sell three houses and they got the deals from social media?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: How are they doing that?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, there's an easy button.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Why aren't you using the easy button for social?
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: If you're spending hours a day thinking about or producing content to post on social, you're doing it wrong.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, you don't need to do that.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: You don't need to do that.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's much more simple.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: It could take 15 minutes a day and you could be posting everywhere.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Why don't you let me tell you what to post?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: So you need the massive agent daily, which is the easy button for agents to post on social media.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Seven days a week, we'll send you a notification that says, hey, post this today.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: And here's why.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: So not only are we telling you what to post, making it super easy to do so, we're training you on why.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: So it's part coaching and training, part uh social media posting platform.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: MassiveAgentDaily.com is where you get it.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Go check it out and use the easy button so that you can be one of those agents other agents are looking at with envy, saying, How the hell do they get so many deals from social media?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, when you do the right things consistently and you save a bunch of time, yeah, you could be pretty successful as an agent.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: MassiveAgentDaily.com.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: All right, guys, the Zillow Conversation.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about Zillow.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I mentioned earlier, all Zillow is all those things.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like they are they're an enemy, they're a friend, they're they should be respected, they should be feared, they should all these things, right?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but what I really what inspired me to do this episode was Zillow acquiring showing time for$500 million just a few weeks ago.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: And and and not just that, but the reaction from our industry freaking out, absolutely losing their minds, that here's yet another example of why we need to uh cut Zillow out of our lives and businesses, which I don't necessarily disagree with, um, but there's more to it than that.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, oh my God, here we go, they're gonna put us out of business.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna get into all that, okay?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because you're partially right, partially wrong, but the way you're approaching the issue is wrong and not helping you, it's actually hurting you.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: If you're approaching the Zillow conversation out of fear and scarcity, thinking that you are in danger personally, that your livelihood is gonna be taken away or made obsolete because of what Zillow is doing, you've already lost because your mindset is one of a loser.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying you're a loser.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: But you know what I mean.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like you are approaching it as someone who loses the mindset of a loser as opposed to a winner.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: A winner does not look at what a big competitor is doing and saying, Well, that's it.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: I better just pack it up now.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: When that competitor does not own 100% of the business done in that industry, they do not.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: Zillow will absolutely take a bite out of our industry and take some market share because they're they're they're creating the ability to control the transaction from start to finish.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: So a consumer can come in, land on Zillow.com, and before they know it, they've sold their house or purchased a house or both, and they've gotten the mortgage, they've gotten the title, they've uh they've bought the home, they've sold the home, they've done it all while never leaving the Zillow ecosystem.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's gonna be attractive to a lot, to a lot of people.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that's okay.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because let's say it's not like Zillow's gonna take a 50% market share.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: You think they're gonna get half of the business?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Of course not.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Does look at the retailers out there?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: Does uh Walmart have 50% of the like food sales business?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Does Nordstrom like there's no not food, definitely not food.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Let's say clothing.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, does Walmart control the clothing because uh because it's cheap?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what if you don't want Walmart?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: What if you want a premium uh experience like you'd get at Nordstrom, you know, with customization and personalization, and you know, it's just it's more convenient and all that stuff.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, there's a reason why Nordstrom's so successful while Walmart is extremely successful at the same time.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, there's room for all of us.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: There's room for Zillow, there's room for Redfin, there's room for EXP, there's room for you, there's room for momandpoprealty.com.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, all of it.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: So have some perspective.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, Zillow will take market share, and I believe that will increase.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: But let's say they get up to 10 or 15% market share, which would be ridiculous.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: That'd be that'd be a very high number.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: That means there's still 85 to 90 percent of the deals of the homes to be bought and sold that you can participate in.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you look at that and you're like, well, that's it, I can't compete, I'm out of business, then you're right.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: You can't.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: You can't compete.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: If you look at uh 85 to 90% of the pie and think that's not big enough for you to have success, you've already lost.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: Sucks.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: But the good news is you can change the mindset.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: You can change your approach and you can do different shit with a positive, uh, abundant mindset, and you can write the ship, you can be fine.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: But if you won't, if you continue to look at the moves Zillow's making, and they are master chess players.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_01: They are absolutely master chess players.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: And and to be honest, and we can be honest here, right?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: We can like let's not let's not beat around the bush.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Zillow is doing exactly what they should be doing.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, they here's the honest truth.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: And some of you guys may not like it, and I know some of these crybabies in the real estate Facebook groups won't like this either.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: But this this is a fact.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Zillow isn't they shouldn't really give a damn about the realtor profession.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what do they owe us?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: They don't owe us.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: Who do they owe?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, who are they responsible to?
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: They're shareholders.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: They're employees and their shareholders.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's who Zillow cares about, and the consumer.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: They're trying to do what's best for the consumer from their standpoint.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: So Zillow is doing exactly what you'd expect them to do.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I don't have a problem with that.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's fine.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: What do you expect them to do?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Check with realtors to see if we're okay if they acquire showing time, and then if we say no, that they just don't do it.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like I think there's so many heads and asses in our industry right now.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's embarrassing.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's also quite funny.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's really comical, but it's comical because it's freaking embarrassing.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's stupid.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what do you expect them to do?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Zillow is so masterful in their uh, you know, constant moving forward and adding one more piece to their ecosystem and adding one more piece and doing this, that, and the other.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: That I I respect them.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think that we should respect them as an industry.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: We should look at what they're doing and think of, okay, what are they doing?
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: Is the industry going to be moving in that direction?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Why are they doing the things they're doing?
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then and looking at it as if they are mentoring us.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like they're showing us the way.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like they're the they're the guide.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: And we as an individual agent can look at them and be like, wait a minute, they're doing this, this, this, and this because the customer experience is obviously very, very important.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, how about my own customer experience?
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: How do my clients, how do they, how does their experience look?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then we can make tweaks based on what Zillow's doing and what Zillow is showing us is important and what people care about.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: Here's something that I think everyone needs to consider as well.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: I probably should have set it up front, but I didn't.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Here we are.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: I did in the first recording, but that's gone because you know, laptop crashed, didn't record.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that was such a better episode than this one, I'll tell you that much.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: That was pure gold.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Best podcast ever recorded in human history.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: I can guarantee you that.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: And now we'll never know.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you'll just have to take my word for it.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Zillow is a brokerage now, right?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: They're not a brokerage everywhere, but they're going to be.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: They're a brokerage, uh, probably should have pulled this up in a few markets around the country.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: And what does that mean?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, now, if we are bad mouthing Zillow, if we are dis uh not discouraging, disparaging them, if we are, you know, saying untrue things about them and all that, now we're opening ourselves up to code of ethics violations because they are a broke ridge.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: So remember that.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, the same way as you can't talk shit or uh say untrue things, things that cannot be proven, right?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: You can't just um badmouth without any proof or anything like that a competitor.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: You can't do that about Remax or EXP or you know, anyone else.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: You can't do it about Zillow.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: So remember, like we have to remember, they are members of the board now.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, maybe not in your market, but coming soon.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: So consider that.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Code of ethics.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Now, that's why we're having this conversation.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: I respect Zillow.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think that there should be a healthy skepticism of them.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: There should be um, I I do not think it's unreasonable at all for agents to not want Zillow to have all of our information and data.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think that's an unreasonable thing.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you are with Remax, do you want Keller Williams to have all the data to all your leads, your your sellers and buyers info, your transaction information?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Would you want Keller to have it if you're with Remax?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Of course not.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's stupid.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like you know, you've gotta you've gotta weigh um what's reasonable and in and just intelligent business moves with what's not reasonable.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you use dot loop, I don't think it's unreasonable to be like, you know what, I don't want Zillow to have all that data about my transactions, so I'm out.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not using dot loop anymore.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's reasonable.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you're using showing time, which a lot of MLSs and a lot of agents are around the country, including my MLS here in Salt Lake, uh, it was fully integrated a year or so ago, and we were just starting to get used to it.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: We were just starting to really like showing time, and then Zillow's like, oh, we bought them.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so now agents are like, that's it, we're done with showing time.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I understand that.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's probably a wise move, but what's the alternative?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: If we're not using showing time, what do we use?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: I've heard of something called Insta Showings.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know a damn thing about it.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: I've just heard Byron Lazine on the Real World podcast talk about it.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: So go check out his podcast.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he and Nicole do an amazing job and they they talk about insta showings quite a bit.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so I know that there's other options out there for scheduling showings.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: So if that's important to you, I don't think that that's unreasonable at all.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think you need to be, I don't, I'm not if you don't want Zillow to have your data, that doesn't mean you have a scarcity mindset.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: That means that you're just doing smart business, right?
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: You don't give all your data to a competitor.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: You just don't.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that's fine.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: But where I think people are going way overboard with Zillow is we're going out of business, they're gonna take over, you know, no one's gonna hire us anymore, whatever.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, again, if that's what you believe, I think you're probably right, unfortunately, um, because you've chosen that that's reality for you.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna tell you here in a minute what you guys should be doing to isolate or insulate, not isolate, to insulate yourself from Zillow in your local market, and then they can't touch you.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: And and it's simple stuff, but it's gonna take some hard work.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna take hard work, it's gonna take time, energy, effort, money, all those things.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: But guess what?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Anything you're doing for success, you know, that that'll make you successful, anything you do that will make you successful is gonna take all those things anyways.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll get to that in a second.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're someone that uh when Zillow bought, uh what was it?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: Let me let me pull this up here.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: When Zillow bought the mortgage company in November 2018, they bought mortgage lenders of America in November 2018.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, oh well, now they, you know, they're just gonna go to Zillow, Zillow will sell them the house, and then Zillow will do the mortgage and we'll never see the consumer again.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, some people will.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: Some people will.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: What they're doing is showing the emphasis on the can on the consumer experience.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: From the second you land on Zillow.com, or you use their app or you find their Apple TV app or whatever you use, however you land on Zillow, you can now complete a real estate transaction fully in the Zillow ecosystem.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: And they're just going to continue to advance that and and grow that and scale that all across the country in all markets.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: As they should, as they should, right?
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: They don't owe us a damn thing.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: They owe their shareholders and employees damn things.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: But it shows that you guys need a great web presence.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: You guys need a website and not just any website, not just some shitty website that looks like it was made on MS DOS or GeoCities.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Do you guys remember GeoCities?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: That well, I barely remember GeoCities.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: But if your website looks like it was built on GeoCities back in the day, you are not doing yourself any favors.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: You need a website that is just as easy to use, looks just as good, and can accomplish all the same things as if a consumer landed on Zillow.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you don't, guess whose website they are going to use?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Zillow or Redfin.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because let's be honest, and we said up front, we're going to be honest today, Zillow and Redfin have amazing apps.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely incredible.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: If I'm looking up properties in other markets that I don't have MLS access to, you better believe I'm using Zillow or Redfin because they're the best apps.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Simple as that.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Because the consumer experience matters.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: So is your consumer experience awesome?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Is your consumer experience dialed in for your people?
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: If not, you better audit it.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Is it is it confusing?
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Are there holes in it?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Are there things that aren't as clear as they could be?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Are there certain services that you're just not providing that you should?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: All of that.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: You guys need to look at that and make sure that your consumer experience is dialed in and is as good as it could possibly be.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because then you can compete with someone like Zillow.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: But even more than just the consumer experience, you need people to know that you exist before they can ever experience your consumer experience.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: God, if I had a dollar for every time I'm saying experience today, I'd have about$30.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: So they need to know about you.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: So what you guys need to do to insulate yourselves from Zillow and from ever having to worry about what the hell Zillow's even doing is you have to be known.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: You have to be seen.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: You have to be uh visible locally.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: People in your community need to know who you are and see you often.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: How do you do that in 2021?
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: You do that on social media.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: You do that through content, video, audio, written.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Video anywhere, like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: You could do it in stories, you could do whatever.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's gotta be video.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Then audio, podcast, Twitter, audio post, whatever those are called, Facebook Live, all that stuff.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think Facebook Live still even has the audio only version.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe they only were maybe they got rid of that.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: But you could Do podcast, clubhouse, like if you just want your voice out there.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Then there's written.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: You could blog, you can write LinkedIn posts, you could write on Medium, you could guest post in local publications and write articles about certain things for local media companies, local news channels, uh, local mommy blogger websites, all that stuff.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: You can do that.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: The more you do that, the more you show up locally, the more people know you.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: And if you are interesting, if you're entertaining, if you are likable, if you demonstrate that you have a personality and would be fun to work with, and you're also good at what you do, then guess what?
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: People won't think of Zillow, they won't think of the big brand, they'll think of you when it comes time to hire an agent to buy or sell.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that by dominating social media and the internet with content that the consumer finds valuable in one way, shape, or form, entertaining, educational, uh, thought-provoking, funny, whatever.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like that that's all good.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever it like, all those things are valuable.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you can put that stuff out there repeatedly in as many places as you can, as often as possible, you will be thought of instead of Zillow.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: So you don't need to win at a national level.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: You don't.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: Zillow's gonna win that conversation every time.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: But at a local level, in holiday, Utah or Sioux Falls or you know, Daytona Beach, Florida, you can absolutely be the local celebrity.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it it's local content.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Putting out content on the internet as often as possible, being likable, being yourself, you'll attract the right people and repel the wrong people.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: And the more you do it, the more of the right people you attract, the more of the wrong people you detract or repel.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: Detract a word.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: It is a word.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: Jeez, I should use it more often.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: But you guys get what I'm saying.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's how you insulate yourself from Zillow.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's how you win at a local level.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the only level you need to win at.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: It really is.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: So stop being so damn fearful.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: You can control whether or not you're putting content out.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: Can't you?
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: You can control whether or not you record a video and whether or not it's entertaining or educational or whatever, or highlighting a new business that's coming to town, or talking about the high school sports, or, you know, the Utah Jazz of one, you know, 1200 games in a row, something or other, and you give your opinion on it.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Some people find that valuable and they'll keep coming back.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: You could literally talk about local sports all the time on social media and just happen to be the realtor who's the local sports celebrity guy and win very big.
• 24:45
  unknown: Okay.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Sean Mitchell, who's been on our show before, the Tesla realtor, he talks about Tesla and electric vehicles all the time on YouTube and social media.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's all he talks about.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: He's he loves it.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: He's a he's obsessed with it in a good way, right?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: He's obsessed with it.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: He he really dives into like the nerdiest little, like most minute little things, and he's become the electric vehicle expert and the Tesla guy.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: But in Denver, he sells a crap load of homes to Tesla owners.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: Weird.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: But he doesn't ever talk, he doesn't ever do videos really about how to buy a house in Denver.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: He talks about how to buy a Tesla and the new Tesla coming out, and this, that, and the other, and the, you know, all the stuff, like all the nerdy stuff, right?
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of cool because I like Tesla too, but not like he does.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: But he attracts his tribe.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_01: He attracts those who care about Tesla.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: And guess who hires him to be their realtor?
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: So that's how it's done, guys.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: He's gonna continue to win because he's found a niche and talks about what he cares about, what he's really knowledgeable about, and he attracts the right people, and he doesn't have to worry about what Zillow's doing.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you get the lesson there, guys.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: Very important.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: So, one other bit of Zillow news uh after that came out after the acquisition of Showing Time for half a billion dollars, which is a big deal.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, this came out.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm reading the Housing Wire headline Zestimate to double as Zillow's iBuying offer.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: This came out February 25th, 2021.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, Zillow will use the Zestimate to make offers in 20 markets, including LA, Houston, and Phoenix.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: So now, instead of just you having to find and click a button, you know, get an offer on my house, what Zillow's doing is, which is freaking genius, by the way, and makes all the sense in the world, when you go to find out your zestimate, right there, it's like, hey, we'll buy your house for this much.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like, your zestimate is your offer.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: Wanna sell?
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how genius is that?
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're listening to that now and you're like, oh boy, there it is, that's it.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's the that's the final nail in the coffin.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: If you if you really believe that Zillow is dominating our industry, why wouldn't you buy Zillow stock?
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, shouldn't you be buying stock and investing in companies that are dominating their industries?
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: You should be a Zillow shareholder.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now, shouldn't you?
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: And if you do, if you are a Zillow shareholder, you'll not care quite so much or not worry quite so much uh because you're playing both sides, if you will.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: So there's one option for you guys, you guys that are super fearful that Zillow's gonna take over, buy Zillow stock, right?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: Why wouldn't you?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't care if it's in the like food and beverage industry, like any company that's about to take over and dominate, like, why wouldn't you want to own that stock?
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, forget that it's one of our competitors, you know.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: Just buy the stock, you know?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: So there's one thing you can do.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: Anyhow, um, yeah, Zillow is doing great things, smart things, but they're making it easier for the consumer.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: Now, why can't you start an iBuying program yourself?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hmm?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Why can't you do that?
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: Why can only Zillow and Open Door and OfferPad and EXP's Express offers?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: How come they're the only ones that can be iBuyers?
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, there's no rule that says that it's limited to them now, is there?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: For example, one of one of our friends, Jason Cassidy, an agent with Compass in San Diego, good friend of mine, uh, killer agent, great team, sells a lot of freaking cool houses or uh condos, really, in San Diego.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like the coolest freaking condos ever.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: Cassidy kills it.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: Anyways, that should be his tagline, right?
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: Cassidy kills it.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: Should be.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it is.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: Cassidy, if you're listening, make it so.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he, when when you know Zilla was coming out with their offer program and all this stuff, and people are kind of freaking out, he's like, wait a minute, I have some investors, why don't why don't we just offer to buy their house too?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so he did.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: He created his own iBuyer program.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: You guys can do that too.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Partner with an investor, show up at a listing presentation, and instead of just giving option A, which is I must list your house and you must put 10 grand into fixing it up, you must paint the kitchen, you must put some flowers in the front, blah, blah, blah.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: And only giving them one option, why not show up with another option, which is, hey, this investor, they'll buy it.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the offer is a little bit less, but they'll close in seven days, you don't have to do a damn thing to the house.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then give the seller the option.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's what Cassidy, excuse me.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's what Cassidy did.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I know he's not the only agent that's done this.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: So Zillow and Open Door and all these guys have shown us a model that works.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: If if you've chosen to not follow that model and not implement that same thing that now the consumer is starting to look for, that's on you.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like that that's a bad move on your part.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: You're your your feet are locked to the ground.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: You're not you're not quick on your feet, you're not nimble.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to use like boxing analogies here.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: You're not nimble.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: But those who are, and those that look at Zillow and Open Door and these big quote unquote disruptors as mentors and guides, you're gonna do well because they're leading the way, they're showing what consumers want, they're inventing new business models.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: Why can't we do the same thing?
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: We can, you could, you should.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I hope this is giving you some more perspective, guys.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you show up at a listing presentation with multiple different options for the seller, the seller stops looking at you as someone who just wants to sell their house.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, as which is kind of if they wanted to look at you critically and be like, you know, all that agent wants to do is sell the house, he doesn't give a damn, he doesn't give a damn about us and what what our needs are.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: I could understand how they'd come to that conclusion.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I can understand, I don't think that's an unreasonable way to view an agent that shows up with just one option for the seller.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: However, if you show up with more than one option, we'll list it, get top dollar, we'll buy it for you within seven days, as is, or even in some markets, you know, if it's an Airbnb-worthy property, you could partner with the seller, you could put it on Airbnb, you could split it, you know, you could do that.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and now there's three options so they can keep the house and then cash flow it.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: Who do you think they're gonna respect the most?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever shows up with the most options, because when you have options, now the seller's thinking, wait, they're they're thinking about me.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: They're thinking about our needs as the sellers, not just theirs.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just another realtor trying to sell the house so they can get a commission.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: You're now looking out for the seller by giving them multiple options.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_01: And you are.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, guys, I hope this perspective really sinks in.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: I hope this has been helpful.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever Zillow comes out with something new, don't look at it and be like, oh my God, you know, end of the world, we're all done.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: Look at it and think, how can I do that too?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: What does it mean?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: What did they do?
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: Why did they do it?
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: How are they implementing it?
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: Why is it important?
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: Can I do that too?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: And if so, how?
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: If you can do that, if you can think of their moves that way, you can win in a very, very big way while they win too.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's such a big industry.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: On the worst day of look at the worst day of the worst market ever in your in your local uh housing market, I guarantee you there were still homes bought and sold.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: And there's two sides to every transaction now, aren't there?
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: So there's always homes selling.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: So if you decide that you can't be one of those who who's involved in the transaction, sucks for you.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry that you decided that.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: But those of you that decide, why not me?
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: Why can't I be the one selling that property?
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: You're the ones that are gonna win.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you guys listening are winners.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: Hope you don't have too many losing mentalities here.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: And if we do, I hope you can change that mentality.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: Because Lord knows I've had plenty of losing, loser mentality in my life recently, even.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like I have days still where like I have a scarcity mindset or I look at something pessimistically, and then I look back and I'm like, whoa, what a little bitch! Like I was being such a little bitch.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: But what's important is that you you see it and you change it.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's what matters, guys.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: Hope you guys can change it.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Hope you guys learned something today about Zillow, what they're doing, how we should, I believe, respect them, and move forward.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: Worry about you.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about them.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: Keep an eye on them, like see what they're doing, and then just steal their good ideas.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: Steal their good ideas for yourself.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: If you take action and do the stuff, you're gonna be just fine.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: Guys, remember the easy button for social media, massiveagentdaily.com.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Go get it.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Super inexpensive for what it is, and I think you'll really enjoy it.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'll see you back here next week.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, next week we will have a YouTube, a YouTube video for the episode.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, you know, since we don't this week, go to YouTube catch up on some of our previous episodes and the video clips of them.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: Massive Agent on YouTube.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you guys so much.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'll see you next week.