AN OPEN LETTER TO ZILLOW

The consumer needs to understand that they're no longer being serviced and that Zillow isn't as great of an asset for the consumer as they thought, especially if you're the seller. And I think the consumer, as the buyer needs to understand is that the people you're being connected with are typically newer, not as experienced agents. And you're going through a process. They've had to zig and zag based on what a corporation requires them to do, and they no longer have control over that side of their business. Well, it's time. Let's talk about Zillow and the current news in 2025. But more importantly, let's unpack the journey as a agent in the industry that has been around since the inception of Zillow, the disruption to our market in many ways in the journey. And is it still a good thing? Is it a bad thing? I just want to unpack a thought and it's my opinion from my journey with it, and it's probably wrong, but I lived it, so you didn't. But I think it's worth the thought just in unpacking everything in this thought. So we're going to get a little lengthy, but I promise it's worth walking through the journey from the inception and what I've dealt with as my business has changed. And what you're going to see at the end is maybe some practical, tactical things for you to really think about as you're building a real estate business or as a consumer, to understand who you're being connected with when you're buying a house or calling Zillow. So they understand the whole ethos that's happening and where even in the news today, it kind of is being controlled a little bit and it's profitability control with also environment control. And I'm going to show you why this isn't a good thing for either side of the fence. At the end of the day, the only person that's really benefiting from it is Zillow. So, Zyl, let me start off by this saying this. Thank you for the innovations in the industry, for the tools that you brought us, for the fact that the consumer can actually get some semblance and not ask us a bunch of questions when they call. They can do a lot of search themselves, data themselves. Our goal and strategy is to help them put the strategy together to accomplish the goal after they know the data. It's one thing to know the data, it's another thing what to do with it. And you've given us a Lot of tools, a lot of connections. And by the way, thank you. Because when I was paying for zip codes, when I was allowed to do that before you change the system. My very first rental property that I still own was a result of a Zillow lead that didn't want to sell his house on the open market because his grandmother died and he didn't want to deal with it. But I was able to offer him some money and we agreed on it, and that was great for me. But you took that ability of for me to connect with the human being that needs to have a problem solved. In fact, you competed with me on that when you did Zillow offers. And that was painful and I watched it pretty closely. But we continue on this journey where at the beginning we were all so connected. It was great for the consumer, it was great for the agent. We could pay more money to be connected with more people. And then you change the rules because the data that you were showing, from what I understand and what I've heard, not thoroughly researched, you were starting to understand that the consumer was thinking that Zillow wasn't answering the phone rather than the agent. So you went down the road of changing everything based on the consumer's response that 50% of the agents are not answering their phone on these properties. Versus how do you fix the agent problem? Or was it a consumer bitch fest? I don't know. So instead, you take the consumer's complaint and you change everything for people like me that were returning the phone calls that were serving the people. In fact, you know what it reminds me of? It actually reminds me of a time when I stopped doing Dave Ramsey leads during the short sale days because I wasn't performing for Dave Ramsey. He wasn't making the referral leads and I wasn't performing to the metrics. So I was cut off. But what they didn't know was the three or four people that I had helped save their houses rather than having to short sale or be a listing. So because I was performing, and what I've always believed is that I'm in the people business, not in the housing business. And everybody has different variables and different scenarios. And they need the choice to connect with the right people to talk to in certain situations. And you've taken that away from the consumer. You've controlled where the consumer goes, which on the other end is also controlled in how the scripts and the timing and the calls and the conversations and the people that control the data. You see, for the consumer, you have to understand if you sell A house with me. And we've been in business for 26 years together. And you know that I have these crazy strategies like my friends in Muns park who were doing a seller carry. There's a retirement reason. There's all these things that we're trying to accomplish on this property for their future. But guess what? Zillow is going to answer the phone every time on this property. And the agent sitting behind the desk that probably doesn't know about Munds park or that area is going to be the one that's trying to set up an appointment for that consumer that knows nothing about the situation that they're in. Therefore, I have to go and educate an inexperienced agent as to how I'm trying to help my client because they're not yet experienced on the investment strategies and the purpose of what we're doing. You see, Zillow, you took these abilities for me to help more people away from me and then on top of it in recent news, you've decided that I'm not allowed to share my stuff. You're going to hold me hostage. And this is the debate that we have right now. And what you've done is suppress. Every real estate agent is a small business owner. Some of them are small businesses inside larger businesses. And our breakdown as a real estate agent, we get paid a commission. Depending on our businesses and our structure, we spend about 70 to 80% of that money back out the door in marketing and advertising and things in order to live and expand our businesses. When you come in and take that ability away because you're going to control the profitability and scalability by controlling the teams that get the leads and then controlling them, You've also done a good job of probably right now settling the voices of some of the greatest industry leaders because they're tied to you. That sucks too, because I'm sure some of them aren't super happy about this data thing and the threats that are being made and how we do business and our ability to do that business. And it's a shame that it is that way and because it creates a divide in the industry and it creates a poison that we're all trying to avoid. And we've missed the opportunity to truly help and impact the consumer and make it better. And it's a frustrating thing to see in the industry where it's become so cutthroat and away from what it originally, what I started in, which is about helping people. And I think most people get into this business as agents to help people. Sure. There's a money component to it. And we all want to grow and we all want to expand and we want to connect with people. But the way you forced the disconnect is not great for us. And at this point, I think it's the consumer needs to understand that they're no longer being serviced and that Zillow isn't as great of an asset for the consumer as they thought, especially if you're the seller. And I'm supposed to be doing that job like I talked about earlier. And now they are not getting the service that they require to accomplish their goal. And it takes me more time, energy, and effort, and it's so that Zillow can control where the commission goes and the referral fee happens. And I think the consumer, as the buyer needs to understand is that the people you're being connected with are typically newer, not as experienced agents. And you're going through a process which is all fine. Consumers like you got to make your choices and where you start. I think consumers should do a better job of interviewing who's actually guiding them through the most expensive purchase or investment of their life. That's just me, by the way. Consumer, if you didn't know, our industry requires a whopping 90 hours of education to sell you a house. And most of that education is not great. And you really learn through experience. And I can say that after more than 5,000 experiences in this business and a lot that work deals right, the amount of people that we've helped and worked through. So I encourage you to ponder this thought and join the conversation below. Are there any questions? Am I missing anything? It's okay. We can chat about it. This is just the journey I've been on. And what I realized in all of this as it came out is that I'm actually grateful. There was times that I wished I had more Zillow leads or Zillow Flex leads or how do I work into this? What does it look like? And the reality is, from some of my dearest friends, that I know they have had to zig and zag based on what a corporation requires them to do, and they no longer have control over that side of their business. And I'm probably gonna get some shit for this. It's truth. And some of you can't talk about it. And I know just enough to be dangerous. And I also have some connections of people that worked in that business that are with me now. And you also look at where the push is for somebody to learn this business, which it's not bad, considering where I started, average sales price was 100 grand. You made three grand as a commission. Three percent. Right. And now the Zillow flex, as far as the process goes with the teams, is the agent at the end, the buyer's agent that has driven around, done all the things. I don't care if it's two months, six months or whatnot, they're gonna make maybe 30%, which might be $3,500 on the average transaction, maybe $4,500. Then all their expenses, they're probably making less than minimum wage. You'd probably be better off going in slinging coffees at blackrock. It's a different way to learn and it's acceptable. But you have to understand what it does is it also becomes a reliant lead source. And no matter which way it turns, you have to follow because you've built your business to rely on it. The cost, expenses, all the other things that go with it. So if you're a solo agent or you're a team agent, make sure that as you're building your business that if that's a lead source and it's great and it's a part of your business, it's a leg. And your business should never fully rely on it. Somebody should own it and work it and do all the pieces and that's great. But some of these pieces that I know that do rely on it very heavily and could make a very, very substantial impact in their business. Just don't do those things. You're better off with individual relationships and working through that process to where my business will always rely on my connections. My business will always rely on my ability to connect with you off this camera, on this camera and be able to have a conversation to solve a problem. It will never rely on Zillow connecting me with you in that standpoint. And you should never have your business rely on that platform to create your business. It should be a place to generate connections and if you're paying for referral fees for those, generate those connections. That's amazing. It's a one time connection fee. So that's the, that's the best part of having the Zillow leads is a one time connection. And if you can prove your point and create a relationship, then it's a long term and it's worth just is not great for the rest of us that don't have the option. And by the way, this isn't a victim thing. I'm not crying, I don't care. I don't need it. I don't like the fact that if I'm selling houses and I'm a licensed agent and it's my own house or my client's house, I don't get to talk direct to the consumer anymore without getting through a bunch of hits and bullshit. And you've taken that opportunity away from me in my life, and I'm going to choose to go in the other direction. And this is the big explanation, guys. Zillow relies on our data, our listing syndication, in order to build referral fees and feed its services. And it would be unfortunate if we all didn't syndicate our listings to Zillow because it would see a significant decrease. Now, the problem with that is, which I don't want to happen, is it's also a significant problem for the teams that have built, which are good friends of mine, and I would never want to damage their pieces, their businesses. That is not my intent here. My intent here is to say, there's a lot of different ways to look at this, and I'm open for all the discussions. It's the way I felt about it, and it's the way that I want to make sure that if you're part of a flex team, or you've built a flex team, or you've built something that relies on something very heavily that can crush your business, be aware of it. Make sure that you're working on other things and it doesn't become the one thing. And I can honestly say that because several of my friends and myself who had foreclosure accounts, bank accounts, we were so heavily vested in that that we didn't continue all the other processes of the business. I did that. I was just leaned on that. And then when it started to die down, you started to make less money and you're like, oh, shit, I don't have a business anymore. I had. I was a task manager for the bank, and some of us was a perception that we were really good agents. And then we realized we just were good task managers for the bank and we had to go back and reinvent ourselves. And that was my process afterwards. I just chose not to do it through Zillow, and I chose to go a little bit more on the investment and problem solving side while still maintaining the traditional mindset. And you all have the choice, too. And as I close this up, this thought is, you got to take your head out of the sand for a few minutes, take a pause and identify what is going on in this market. And it's not fear. Don't fear it. It's Actually looking at it dead in the eyes and going, okay, what do I need to be prepared for? How do I need to shift my business? Where are some other ancillary incomes that I can start to build some verticals? People talk about multiple streams of income, but they forget to talk about multiple streams of income inside the real estate business. Like, do you have a consistent referral fee income in your business? That's like the easiest thing to do. And I could give you 9,000 other ideas. My goal as we build the garage community is that I want agents to understand what is possible without the reliance of nothing but themselves. A pen and paper, a computer, and a phone, and you can create the business that you want and need. And it doesn't require all these other ancillary things that are big ticket items. They don't necessarily create great connections. They're leads, they're great. But your greatest lead source is going to come from your community and the people that you serve, rather than the people you sell. Hey, I'm Steve Valentine and thanks for joining. This thought, it's just something that has been on my mind for a while and I wanted to do it respectfully from an industry. Respectful. If any of you are wanting to have a conversation on a podcast or something, something about this, I'd love to chat it up. Just with the differences in how business can be done and what maybe other agents should be looking for. And it's a great way just to consider what's truly possible out there. Whether you're focused on Zillow or you're not focused on Zillow, what could you be focused on? What do you need to build and making sure that you're reliant on yourself and your relationships.