Smart Moves in Minneapolis

Edina Realty gets it.

"Edina Realty President Bob Peltier announced ambitious plans Wednesday to tap into the growing pool of 20- and 30-something home buyers by beefing up the company's website, hiring younger sales agents and redirecting its advertising dollars to nontraditional venues. To move forward over the next five to 10 years, we have to be positioned differently than we have been in the past," Peltier said in an interview before taking the stage in St. Paul at the annual Edina Realty Expo."

Check out the whole story in the Star-Tribune. Note the mention that they will be acquiring Cyberhomes. Some times to beat em, you gotta join em.

"Make Me Move" = A New Lead Resource

I wanted to let the dust settle a bit before I posted on the news regarding Zillow's entrance into the world of home listings. How do I see it? If I were an agent or broker I'd be pleased as punch that someone with whatever's left of 57 million bucks in the bank and a darling of the PR world is now going to create a new resource for me to find new leads. It's called, "Make Me Move". Anyone who owns property that has been "Zestimated" in the Zillow index can now attach a price that they are willing to accept for the property. As Joel points out, it's not an original idea. In fact, I am still scratching my head at why the industry is buzzing like a hornet's nest that just was poked with a stick. Is anyone really that surprised by this? They had to do something. As I pointed out in a recent post, the online valuation space is already getting a bit crowded. If you're going to please the VC Gods, you better be able to stoke the coals, and this was the only play they had in the book to do it with.

From what I've seen so far, no has pointed out that this could be an agent's dream for generating leads. Zillow isn't going to work as the only marketing effort for a property any better than Realtor.Com or it's ilk has in the past. Call it a national MLS or whatever you want, it's still just one more point of distribution for listing data. Sure there are some nifty new Web 2.0 tools associated with it and I like them all, but at the end of the day, it's not a magic distintermediation bullet. In fact, the API's and others features of Zillow might just turn out to be some of the more effective tools in an agent or broker's arsenal of web features. Time will tell.

Greg Swann has an extensive write up on the issue. I'm guessing his recent cuddle up with Zillow has him close to the top of the pre-IPO friends and family list. His tone has changed completely regarding Zillow. He still holds true to his original desire of disclosure regarding Zestimates. I'm not with him regarding his doom and gloom forecast for other listing sites like Trulia and Propsmart. I also don't see Zillow as being the 900 pound gorilla in this space quite yet. We still haven't heard from the real 900 pound gorilla in the AVM world. They have billions with a B and they own what Zillow doesn't. Only time will tell if Zillow's traction helps them maintain dominance in this new space.

I'll wager there are creative real estate pros that realize that real estate is always going to be local and will figure out how to convert "Make Me Moves" into new clients all the while gearing up to add their listings as just one more point of distribution in their marketing plans.