Lloyd Frink at Zillow.com is playing CYOA games, and Joseph Ferrera at Sellsius&176; is looking for truth from a horse that’s all ass, but here is how the other shoe will drop, in the Zillow.com shake-down, when it does:
Watch for a joint announcement of something that Zillow.com and NCRC will do together. There will be a window-dressing “solution” to the manufactured dispute, perhaps a more robust disclaimer. This, whatever it is, will be nothing but a show horse. The pay-off will be in the joint program, whatever form it takes.
Clint Bollick or someone like that might file a suit solely in pursuit of a policy change. The NCRC will expect to get money or power or both. They’re playing straight out of the Jesse Jackson playbook, and they will not stop maligning Zillow.com until they get what they want or until their tactics are fully exposed.
It would not surprise me if the payoff came from the personal fortunes of Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink, to keep the VCs and the SEC out of it.
When you see a press release like the one I cited yesterday from NRT, you’ll know the deal is done. Read that press release carefully and you should be able to figure out what the payoff is. Learn to read everything that carefully and you will discover how America works.
There is an alternative: They could stand firm. The web has fairly successfully held itself aloof from the way America works for the rest of corporate America. To my knowledge, this is the first time a purely web-based company has been shaken down in this manner. Because of this — because the web has been exempt from this kind of officious thievery so far — it is a matter of particular moment whether Zillow.com is able to hold the line.
I would love it if they did, but I honestly don’t expect it. Except for people like Steve Jobs and Mark Kuban, corporations are run by cowards. Most likely, they’ll try to save face with a seven-figure bribe, then set up a fund to buy off future pirates, who will swarm not just Zillow.com but every set of deep pockets on the net.
All of this should be completely sickening to you, but it is not entirely without benefit: If you should learn to read between the headlines when these kinds of stunts are pulled — dozens of times a year — at least you will know what’s going on around you. Much good may it do you to try to change it, but at least the scales will have fallen from your eyes.
Godspeed, Zillow. Godspeed, Barton and Frink. If you will fight this, I’ll put my shoulder beside yours to the bitter end. This technology we celebrate has made it next to impossible for ordinary thugs to steal anything. Let’s find a way to deploy it against the thugs in the Brooks Brothers suits…
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Technorati Tags: blogging, disintermediation, real estate marketing
jf.sellsius says:
IMO, you can only successfully shake down someone who has something to hide or fear. Since Zillow has nothing to hide or fear, what reason do they have to pay off anyone, whether they wear Brooks Brothers or black leather? To save face? For whom?
>>I would love it if they did, but I honestly don’t expect it. Except for people like Steve Jobs and Mark Kuban, corporations are run by cowards. Most likely, they’ll try to save face with a seven-figure bribe….
>>It would not surprise me if the payoff came from the personal fortunes of Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink
Sorry, but I don’t see Zillow as run by cowards or bribeable. And I really must be naive to think either Barton or Frink would even consider paying that bribe.
I may be the horse’s ass in the end & I’ll eat crow but I’ll wait before I judge. Rather than speculate, I picked up the phone and called David Berenbaum (who filed the complaint)& spoke to him at length, as I have engaged David G. to get as much information as I can.
In the end, I can give a horse or rodent’s ass about NCRC or Barton & Frink Inc. It’s the consumer I have my eyes on & their perception of what real estate professionals do & the expertise they provide over AVM. And I think most real estate professionals are concerned with what consumers (prospective clients) think. They are the ones they engage on this issue, not Rich or Lloyd or the horse NCRC rode in on.
October 28, 2006 — 12:36 am
Greg Swann says:
The Jesse Jackson shakedown in its modern form was perfected by Ralph Nader. Karl Marx used to run the same game against individuals to provide for his own support. Around 40% of the funding of the American left comes from running games like this.
You could learn a lot by going over past instances of what you thought were “public issues” “brought to light” by “non-profit groups.” I already showed you how NCRC shakes down banks.
Your naivete is as American as apple pie.
Zillow will pay — if it does — to make the bad publicity stop. If it doesn’t, NCRC will ratchet up the racism charge to hysteria. The price will go up in lockstep.
I would be delighted to be wrong about this. I don’t think I am.
October 28, 2006 — 6:49 am
REBlogGirl says:
Excellent observations. I completely agree that a deal must be in the works to put this thing to bed. Here’s my $.02: I was agast as I watched Dalton berate Zillow. How unprofessional can you get, then the follow-up law suit is just too much. All new technologies have their growing pains. Zillow will improve if given time and competition for Realtor.com and others isn’t a bad thing, it should be good for Realtors and consumers alike. Competition is what makes companies produce better technologies… otherwise you have a monopoly.
October 29, 2006 — 10:51 am
Beach City Real Estate Info says:
As much as I’m not fond of Zillow… after reading more articles on the suit against them I must agree.. this is a shakedown. I’m tired of real estate being viewed as the universal “deep pocket”.
That said..Sorry REBlogGirl… I think Dalton was dead on about Zillow and similar companies. It’s hard to get the public to repect REALTORS and value what we offer if we don’t project ourselves as more then “order takers”. An experienced agent knows the local market. Agents know why homes sell for more on the south side of the street then the north side. They know why one neighborhood sells for four times more then another.
I was at EXPO when Dalton spoke and that is my take on what he was saying. It isn’t so much that Zillow is terrible as it is that an online service can’t give a seller a true market value. Unfortunately many sellers don’t realize that and think that a “Zestimate” is the same as market value.
October 30, 2006 — 6:21 pm