There’s always something to howl about.

Trulia hires (Lobbyists?) while others contract and layoff…hmmm

I have been pondering something all weekend and now Greg’s post about Redfin’s layoff has changed my focus even further. Please allow me to explain:

Saturday morning: I get an email from a blogger and friend telling me to check my email. In it comes a link to this post. The post indicates that Trulia just hired some pretty heavy hitting folks to help them “connect” with MLSs and NAR. Liasons we will call them. Ah, hell…let’s just use the REAL word-grin. Lobbyists. I even posted my own editorial on the subject of the dangers of Lobbyists on my E & O page on my own real estate blog.

After muttering to myself for a couple of minutes, conversing with my blogger friend, and thinking through it, I came to TWO opinions:

1) They don’t hire a TEAM of new folks to connect with people without expecting to get a SOLID return on that investment. Especially not whilst everyone else is shrinking and laying off.

2) What is the ONLY thing that they would want to get from MLS’s and NAR, pray tell? My opinion?Listings.All of them. Texas tea to wildcatter third party types with limited funds to keep drilling prospecting wells. It is Trump for Chumps. Without it, they are just Joe Home Depots. (grin-still savoring that post, Geno) Listings are the black gold that generates traffic that generates ads that generates revenue that generates more investment as burn rates eat at bank accounts.

Am I waiting with baited breath for the flatline beeeeep of a failed bot? Nope, but I have been stewing on it a bit…and given the difficulties that Redfin (and real estate in general ) is undergoing, can the bots be far behind? Methinks not. They will bleed slower with their advertising revenue model, but they may well bleed out. Is the only reason that they are not laying off because they were the most recent VC funded startups in the real estate space to get funded, so they still have coin (for now) in the account?

I have no way of answering that, but I can predict one thing from this group of lobbyists hired to “educate” NAR and the MLS’s on seeing things the Trulia way…they are going to push hard and fast for what they need to make Trulia viable…and that would be the listings (in my opinion).

Why else would you hire a group of lobbyists other than to lobby?

Now for the tough question: Are the NAR and the MLS’s ready for the challenge and ready to stand on principle? or will they fold like Barney and Chris did to the lobbyists at Fannie and Freddie?

Another tough one: Could we be seeing the beginning of the end game for third party bots?

The lack of another round of VC capital in sight tells me “maybe”.

Thoughts?