Steve D. Valentine compares Zillow's business model to a cartel, where property listings and data are the controlled product. Team leaders act as middlemen taking cuts from Zillow's payouts, while agents below them work as street-level distributors, creating a layered profit structure built on trust.
Zillow's kind of like the cartel, if you think about it. What happens is, is the cartel has the drug, which is the listings and the data and the client, and they built a lot of trust inside both realms with the real estate agents and the consumers until they figured out how to make it more profitable. And then with the profitability comes the holding the drug pushers, which is the team leaders in the industry, because they get a cut of what Zillow gives and they have to do the work and they have to manage the team. Well, then you have the drug pushers down here that are the agents that work for the bottom of the barrel so that all these people are making money. Money.
It’s Not What Your House Is Worth; It’s What It Can Do for You (Pause, Identify, Respond)
