Posts

#1 Factor Zillow Estimates Get The Most Wrong (Why We Need Appraisers)

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I lived in the same neighborhood for over 20 years and did hundreds of loans within the area – so I knew every nuance of the area. As a former appraiser and armed with my extensive neighborhood knowledge, I was often shocked by how wrong Zillow’s estimates were. Here are some of the things Zillow […]Read More

When Lofty Missions Meet Reality

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SUCCESS GOES TO MORTGAGE BROKER’S HEAD Prior to the 2008 mortgage meltdown, I knew of a moderately successful owner of a mortgage broker shop who had ridden a couple good years, and it went to his head. As a result, he was convinced he could change the world (because what mortgage broker can’t?) and he […]Read More

Zillow Exits iBuying & Proves ALL Is Right With the World

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BETTING ON CANADA! In the 2010 Olympics, Canada played the U.S. for the gold medal in hockey – and I upset a hockey fan and friend by betting on Canada. My bet on Canada was really a bet on “efficient markets” because Canada’s team had a larger aggregate payroll in the NHL. So, efficient markets […]Read More

The Real Reason Zillow Stopped Buying Homes & Why It’s Good For Housing

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Zillow announced yesterday that they are no longer buying homes (through the end of the year). It was all over the headlines, and numerous people sent me links to the announcement. At first, I thought: “oh, no… I wonder if their algorithms are predicting a softer housing market…” But then I started to see links […]Read More

“Silver Tsunami” and “Golden Age” of Real Estate Coming Soon!

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In October, I wrote a blog titled The Biggest Housing Boom In History Has Just Begun. I pointed out how a massive surge of millennials, hitting peak homebuying age, will foster a huge increase in demand for housing. But then in early November, I blogged about people staying in their homes much longer nowadays and […]Read More

Zillow and Other “Most Flawed Business Models … Ever”

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ZILLOW’S PENDING DEMISE Steven Eisman is the investor who made billions by shorting mortgage-backed securities prior to the 2008 meltdown. He was also made famous in the movie “The Big Short.” Mr. Eisman is now shorting Zillow, claiming it is one of “the most flawed business models he has ever seen.” You can watch his […]Read More

What Are iBuyers (Zillow/Opendoor) Really About? Lead Gen, Revenue Growth & Friction

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Inman has a great video about iBuyers (companies that buy homes directly from consumers) called “Battle of the Behemoths” and it conveys a really interesting perspective. Zillow hopped into the iBuyer market for reasons many don’t understand. iBuying for Revenue Growth First of all, Zillow’s revenue growth from their “Premier Agent” program (selling Zillow leads) […]Read More

Adding Eggs & Why Agents Should Let Sellers Help Sell Their Home

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  When General Mills introduced Betty Crocker boxed cake mixes in the 1950s, they included dried eggs. Aspiring cooks just had to add water to the mix in order to get a perfect cake. But, the cakes were so easy and so good that women felt guilty about deceiving people and sales lagged. So, General […]Read More

Life Events That Influence Decisions to Move; Big Data

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Zillow, with all of its faults, often publishes interesting articles. A recent example is Behind Every Move Is a Story (Life Events That Influence Decisions to Move). It is of course no surprise that major life events influence decisions to move – almost 70% of all movers surveyed experienced one or more major “life events” […]Read More

iBuyers; Higher Fees vs Lower Commission; Friction Avoidance All Over Again

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The National Real Estate Post recently posted this interesting comparison of iBuyers and real estate agents. As most of you know, iBuyers are large firms that buy homes from sellers outright so sellers don’t have to go to the trouble of listing and showing their homes. The iBuyers then resell the properties as quickly as […]Read More

Godzilla vs. Bambi; Zillow vs. JVM

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In the classic 1969 film, Godzilla vs. Bambi, the action only lasts for 90 seconds as Godzilla stomps Bambi into oblivion with a single step. But, that was in 1969. In 2019, the much smarter Bambi would be empowered and waiting for Godzilla with superior technology and nimbleness. He would most certainly take Godzilla out […]Read More

JVM’s Lead Incubation Center- We Call Leads, as “Your Team”; Success!

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Our Lead Incubation Center is having extremely good luck contacting leads for our Realtor partners. Our Lead Incubators use a carefully planned script to contact Zillow, Trulia and Database Leads, and their success rate has been surprisingly high. Our Lead Incubators introduce themselves as part of the team of the Realtor who provided the data. […]Read More

Zillow/Trulia; Digital Age; Social Media; Yelp: Are You Ready?

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Last week alone, we had four borrowers say that they prefer to work via email alone (instead of face to face or via telephone). Yesterday, we had a borrower and a Realtor tell us they prefer to communicate via text. All of these borrowers vetted us (checked us out) via our website and/or YELP before […]Read More