Dear Real Estate Agents,
The spin you are hearing is incorrect. Here is what is really going on:
StreetEasy is the one in panic mode. They are the ones who have cracked, and who are being forced to renegotiate their $3 Daily Monopoly Tax. But it makes sense. If your entire business is predicated on having all listings, and then in one month you lose 50% of your rental listings and 30% of your sales listings overnight, wouldn’t you be panicking?
And wouldn’t you do whatever you could do to give “sweetheart” deals to the two largest firms in the industry (Corcoran and Elliman) to at least slow the bleeding?
Check out this recent quote from media analyst Mike DelPrete of Aim Group:
“The amount of backlash Zillow is facing in New York seems to be the biggest, strongest, and most concerted battle against Zillow I’ve ever seen”.
So keep up the good work brokers! And this is just the beginning. We are only in the first inning of this dramatic industry shake up. These things take time.
By the way, doesn’t it really rub you the wrong way how StreetEasy is giving “special deals” to certain brokerages, a firm that was founded on authenticity and transparency? However, they are now in survival mode. Zillow/StreetEasy’s stock has now lost 25% of its value since June. I don’t think they are sleeping too well over there.
Why hasn’t the new REBNY-RLS syndication saved us yet?
It will. These things take time. But here is one reason it is taking a little longer:
Many of you – including us – thought that every brokerage who is already an RLS/REBNY member would be automatically “opted in”. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. If your firm wants your listings to appear on the new “REBNY approved” listing portals, there is a final step some firms do not know about. Each firm has to individually go in and “opt in”. It turns out some firms who thought they were opted in, were not!
And only when all firms “opt in”, will there be real competition in the marketplace.
Take heart! The REBNY effort has been quite impressive. I am seeing it first hand, as Leasebreak is now accepting the feed, and REBNY is putting a lot of resources behind this effort.
If you are not sure if your firm has taken this final step and “opted in” to syndicate to Leasebreak and other sites, just ask me.
We have to get every brokerage to opt in. It is the best way – possibly the only way – to create a more competitive marketplace. I am seeing more and more firms opt in each day. It is all very exciting.
Let’s do this!
Phil Horigan
Dedicated NYC Real Estate Agent for 13 Years
Founder, Leasebreak.com
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