{"id":18128,"date":"2021-05-10T06:54:09","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T13:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=18128"},"modified":"2021-05-10T06:54:09","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T13:54:09","slug":"overnight-news-the-secret-to-zillows-flavor-of-ibuying-sucking-at-real-estate-helps-them-sucker-real-estate-agents-which-is-where-the-real-money-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18128\/overnight-news-the-secret-to-zillows-flavor-of-ibuying-sucking-at-real-estate-helps-them-sucker-real-estate-agents-which-is-where-the-real-money-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Overnight News: The secret to Zillow\u2019s flavor of iBuying? Sucking at real estate helps them sucker real estate\u00a0agents \u2013 which is where the real<\/em> money\u00a0is."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ya

\u201cFinancing dogs? That’s so last century. The trickier way? The purebred puppy of your choice for FREE \u2013 by signing this 15-year dogfood\u00a0contract.\u201d<\/p><\/div>I wrote the other day about Zillow’s losses on its iBuyer “investments”<\/a> \u2013 incomprehensible losses considering that this is one of the few times when it is possible to make money on non-producing real estate.<\/p>\n

The losses on iBuyer “investments” can be stupefying from the point of view of any real estate agent, investor or house-flipper: You should be able to show a profit in any market, since making a profit is the goal, the point and the bright-line go\/no-go signal on how to proceed.<\/p>\n

And this is what is different about Zillow as an iBuyer, as distinguished from OpenDoor and OfferPad: As long as Zillow can sell its web traffic and its fallouts to gullible suckers, iBuying is lead-gen and can be carried as a loss-leader. Witness: Zillow concedes that it lost $30K per “investment” and it still showed a profit for the first quarter \u2013 all credit to the sucker-bilking business it claims to disdain.<\/p>\n

Zillow got into iBuying because OpenDoor was getting in front of it in the lead stream. It is now in a position to crush OpenDoor and OfferPad: There is no practical upper bound on what Zillow can offer \u2013 since they can happily lose money on every “investment” \u2013 with more-typical flippers having only the transactions themselves as income streams.<\/p>\n

This is beyond crazy \u2013 my objection all along. Cinemas show movies to sell popcorn, candy and sodas \u2013 the profit centers. Car dealers sell ugly loans, offering pretty cars as the incentive. And Zillow sells easy-peasy tract homes very slowly and very badly as a way of trawling useless agents into paying 35% at COE for well-worked “leads.”<\/p>\n

If you think that sounds a lot sleazier than the supermarket real estate magazines Zillow replaced, I expect there’s a good deal of sleaze in Zillow we know nothing about. I’m pretty sure there’s a lot about real estate they don’t know, so we’ll bespy more failures of their snickering guile as the market turns.<\/p>\n

In Read more<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFinancing dogs? That’s so last century. The trickier way? The purebred puppy of your choice for FREE \u2013 by signing this 15-year dogfood\u00a0contract.\u201dI wrote the other day about Zillow’s losses on its iBuyer “investments” \u2013 incomprehensible losses considering that this is one of the few times when it is possible to make money on non-producing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,26,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-group-therapy","7":"category-lending","8":"category-marketing","9":"category-real-estate","11":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18119,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18119\/overnight-news-if-zillow-can-lose-30000-per-investment-in-the-hottest-sellers-market-ever-how-much-can-it-squander-once-the-market-turns\/","url_meta":{"origin":18128,"position":0},"title":"Overnight News: If Zillow can lose $30,000 per \u201cinvestment\u201d in the hottest seller\u2019s market ever, how much can it squander once the market\u00a0turns?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Zillow's first-quarter results are out, and the message is plainly obvious: Milk the idiots, but don't be the idiot. They won't learn. The only successful \"disruption\" in proptech, so far at least, belongs to Zillow: They replaced supermarket real estate magazines with the Zestimate\u2122. The difference is, the sleazoids who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17154,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/17154\/overnight-news-its-quiet-too-quiet\/","url_meta":{"origin":18128,"position":1},"title":"Overnight News: It\u2019s quiet… Too quiet…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Despite the headline, it's not so much quiet as boring. That's the way weekends are supposed to be. Housing Wire: OJO Labs rolls out agent referral network. I don't normally link to crap like this, because it's just PR, but two things popped out at me in this one: \u201cThere\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17096,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/17096\/a-fun-fact-about-ibuyers-every-buy-box-is-redlining\/","url_meta":{"origin":18128,"position":2},"title":"A fun fact about #iBuyers? Every buy-box is redlining.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The image is a map of Zillow's sold iBuyer homes in the densest parts of Metropolitan Phoenix. See that Madonana-like shape running West from the I-17 Freeway. Looks like a pregnant single-mom, doesn't it? The poster-child of fair-housing law, right there on the map. Looks like redlining, doesn't it? I've\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Screen-Shot-2020-09-22-at-9.57.47-AM.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17116,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/17116\/zillow-whatever-you-do-dont-poke-the-bear-lol-poke\/","url_meta":{"origin":18128,"position":3},"title":"Zillow: Whatever you do. Don’t poke the bear. Lol. Poke!","author":"Eric Blackwell","date":"September 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"It has been 8 years since I have regularly blogged here. During that time I have learned a lot, broadened what I do, and instead of working as an SEO constultant, I am working full time as the Director of Online Marketing with The Real Estate Group in Chesapeake VA.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "iBuyers"","block_context":{"text":"iBuyers","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/ibuyers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/marc-olivier-jodoin-sI2Dz2dacGI-unsplash-384x480.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18740,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18740\/opendoor-shows-the-world-how-the-ibuyer-idea-will-die-death-by-days-on-market\/","url_meta":{"origin":18128,"position":4},"title":"#OpenDoor shows the world how the #iBuyer idea will die: Death by Days-on-Market.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Ask any old-timer in real estate what's wrong with the iBuyer idea and he'll tell you right away: \"What happens when the market turns?\" It would be charitable to argue that the iBuyers actually thought this mishegoss would work. Perhaps that's so: They're flippers, except they are very bad at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220617_092249-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220617_092249-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220617_092249-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/20220617_092249-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17031,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/17031\/if-youre-an-ordinary-salesmonster-and-you-rook-some-sucker-into-a-raw-deal-youre-just-a-sleaze-but-if-you-are-fiduciary\/","url_meta":{"origin":18128,"position":5},"title":"If you\u2019re an ordinary salesmonster and you rook some sucker into a raw deal, you\u2019re just a sleaze. But if you are fiduciary…","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Me, this morning, at LinkedIn: The words that are going to matter, when all this #iBuyer nonsense all blows up, are: \u201cAgency with an interest.\u201d Real estate brokers are fiduciary. They are obliged as agents to put the interests of their clients ahead of all others \u2013 including their own.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/steve-harrris-aTuAKskNy7Y-unsplash-320x480.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18129,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18128\/revisions\/18129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}