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Morgan Stanley: Look out for a global recession, thanks to declining home prices - 03/29/08 11:00 PM
In case you're interested in geeking out on economic info, some of Morgan Stanley's top brainiacs hosted an interesting conference call on the global economic climate. The first 10 minutes are the most interesting and relevant to most of us. Basically they explain that the entire global economy is propped up by the US Consumer because even though China and India have 40% of the world's population, they consume very little. Over the last 10 years, the US Consumer has used their house as a piggy bank and has lived high on the hog, which has helped the entire global economy. … (1 comments)
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Travel tips from someone who travels too much - 03/29/08 12:21 AM
I worked in the online travel industry for five great years, first at Hotwire and then at Expedia & Hotels.com (both part of Expedia Inc.). For the last eight years I estimate that I have spent over 150 days a year on the road, including a two year stint commuting weekly between San Francisco and Seattle, and a one year stint (thankfully about to end) commuting between Seattle and LA. So I know a thing or two about traveling. I’m also a notorious cheapskate. I thought I’d pass along how I book my travel:
Air: I almost always use Kayak to … (6 comments)
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Electrical outlets at 36.000 feet - 03/29/08 12:17 AM
I flew cross-country today on Virgin America, a terrific new airline. I’m a big fan. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to have electrical outlets at every seat; no longer will I need to fly with 3 heavy batteries for my laptop. Why don’t all airlines have outlets at seats?
… (4 comments)
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I'm back - 03/29/08 12:16 AM
Sorry I haven’t posted in so long. I’ve been on the road all week (LA->DC->NY->SF->LA all in 4 days) and it has been a little nuts. Lots of good stuff happening at Zillow though. Was on Fox Business News this week talking about the housing climate which was fun, as usual.
… (6 comments)
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Check this out - 03/19/08 11:50 PM
Check this out.
… (4 comments)
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Come get remodeling ideas on Zillow - 03/19/08 11:48 PM
Tonight we launched a feature called Dueling Digs and I have to tell you that in my opinion this is one of the coolest features Zillow has ever built. It's basically "hot or not" for real estate. We built a fun game where you can choose which of two photos you like better. But more importantly you can now get great remodeling ideas by browsing top photos. I'm in the process of deciding how to remodel my bathroom and this is going to be incredibly helpful -- much better than doing things the old way: buying a lot of magazines and … (3 comments)
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Seller's Quandry - 03/17/08 09:12 AM
I went to see a house for sale last week with an architect friend of mine, which was a first for me. The seller is a builder/developer friend of his, who built his townhouse. It was interesting going though a house with the builder and an architect -- they notice dozens of details that I (and most people) don't. It gave me an appreciation for what a builder goes through, and what a tricky business this really is.
This listing has a particular challenge: it's a brand new, modern, very cool house. But it's a little ahead of its time for the … (4 comments)
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Shakespere comes to Wall Street - 03/17/08 09:08 AM
Last week, we saw two catastrophic train wrecks of Shakespearean proportions play out in New York.
I’ll say less about the Eliot Spitzer saga because it’s more cut and dry. There’s little I can add to that discussion other than to shake my head in disbelief at the things men are willing to risk for gratification.
I have more to say about the sudden and swift implosion of Bear Stearns, a company which I know well. Bear Stearns was where I had my first “real job” – the summer between freshman and sophomore year at Harvard, I was a Financial Analyst in … (2 comments)
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Online advertising dollars moving towards vertical sites - 03/11/08 09:12 AM
In my role as Zillow’s CFO, I’m frequently asked three questions about the viability of our revenue model:
1. Is there enough advertising money spent on the Internet such that Zillow can really remain free to consumers?
2. Is the housing downturn bad for Zillow?
3. How can a vertical site like Zillow compete with the bigger sites like the online portals (e.g., Yahoo, MSN, AOL)?
The first answer is a simple “yes”.
I’ve addressed the second question here. (Update: our traffic continues to spike – up 30-40% year over year depending upon the week -- as buyers, sellers and agents seek … (0 comments)
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Rough month at MOVE - 03/10/08 10:58 PM
The Active Rain lawsuit pushes on.A 7% shareholder calls for the CEO and CFO to be fired this week. Uh-oh.Alan Dalton (former head of Realtor.com), having already been pushed aside months ago, finally gets the boot. (But don't feel badly for him -- he got full vesting on all of his options, plus $675K. Details here.)Hitwise reports that their traffic moved from #2 to #8 in the category in just one month. Personally, I don't really trust that data. But it still must have bummed MOVE out to hear it. … (5 comments)
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RE.net -- you rock - 03/10/08 10:58 PM
There have been some very public squabbles in the RE.net over the last few weeks and a lot of ink (and keystrokes) have been spilled about it. I’ve mostly ignored the back and forth, and I want to stay focused on the big picture: the real estate industry is incredibly lucky to have such an extraordinary blogosphere. I haven’t found anything like it in any other industry. We have several well-read corporate blogs (ZillowBlog, Redfin), several industry collaborations (Geekestate, Carnival of Real Estate), many city-specific blogs (Phoenix Real Estate Guy, Kris Berg's San Diego blog), several pundits (Bloodhound, 4Realz) and of … (0 comments)
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Zillow's new mortgage product...coming soon - 03/06/08 11:45 PM
Zillow has brought information transparency to the real estate industry, and turned the real estate lead gen model on its head. We're getting ready to enter another ginormous industry, with a product that we think holds enormous appeal to consumers and lenders alike.
We're a few weeks away from launching the new service, and I wanted to give my AR friends an opportunity to get in the door early. The new service will allow lenders free and unlimited access to borrowers. But we're taking great pains to verify lenders before letting them into the system. So if you want to be … (1 comments)
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Wall Street's dark side - 03/06/08 10:43 PM
I used to work on Wall Street as an investment banker. I enjoyed it very much, and it was a great way to start my business career. Most of my friends still work in finance (as investment bankers, equity research analysts, hedge fund investors or private equity investors). Overall, I have an enormous amount of respect for finance jocks. But the huge dollars at stake (and accompanying huge egos) sometimes get the better of people.
Most Wall Street scandals involve the little guy getting hosed. And the recent commissions scandal at Fidelity is no exception. Here's what happened, in a nutshell:
Fidelity, … (2 comments)
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