KILLING BROKERAGE--HOW LONG BEFORE ZILLOW SUCCEEDS???
The Headline says it all: Zillow Launches Instant Offers Pilot Program
This is another way to allow sellers to list their homes and for buyers to buy them, resulting in a deal without having to pay a commission!! Sound familiar? I wrote a post several weeks back about another such Zillow link designed to side-step brokerages and to allow deals to get done without the "interference" of an agent:
MAKE ME MOVE...Another Way To Take Money Out of Your Pocket!!
Meanwhile, the push to get agents to pay Zillow for their own listings has heated up and here in the Hamptons now there are more and more agents buying into it just to survive.
It is a major shakedown that Zillow is doing--like the mafia---making you pay for "Protection" of your own listings!!! By the way they now have THREE ways for owners to list their properties with Zillow so they can do direct deals--with no commission at all!
Unfortunately, informing our fellow agents has had very little if any impact--I have been blogging about this since 2007!! It is a fact that Zillow has a stated goal to put ALL brokerages out of business and they are well on their way to doing just that.
A CONSERVATIVE GUESS OF THE IMPACT ON SOUTHAMPTON ALONE
Zillow just bought out our local MLS! So not only do they have the local brokerages GIVING their listings to Zillow, they are paying them a huge fee to do it!!! Ah, the absurdity!!!
It is not easy for an agent to stop paying them especially if they have been doing it for a while and it begins to appear that Zillow is the source of their income!! However, Zillow is NOT doing what you think they are doing!
In just this one office here in Southampton, if 10 agents pay a conservative $1000 a month to Zillow that is $10k a month---and since THEY MAKE YOU SIGN UP FOR AT LEAST 6 MONTHS that is $60,000!
Think about that! And then multiply that by 6 major offices here in Southampton alone, that is about $360,000 for 6 months from those who are paying them!!!---Multiply this figure by 7 (for the number of Hamlets here) and it looks like Zillow brings in approximately $2,520,000 every 6 months just in the Hamptons!!
I hear it is actually a conservative amount if you are paying them only $1000 a month. Realistically it is more like $2,000 a month per agent from those who have found out you NEED to pay that amount or more just to get valid leads!!!
Add into the equation, the fact that we have well over 2000 agents on the East End of Long Island. The Hamptons is made up of 7 small hamlets and our business is made up of over 80% second home purchases...
THEY WILL PUT YOU OUT OF BUSINESS AND IN PERSONAL BANKRUPTCY IF YOU KEEP GOING BACK TO THE WELL! THERE ARE TOO MANY AGENTS AND NOT ENOUGH PROPERTIES TO MAKE A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF MONEY!
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