Thanks again for the comments. I am sure Zillow & Trulia are both losing money at the moment but I feel confident that they are pursuing real business plans with real financial metrics. Although Silicon Valley is full of companies that aren’t sure of their business plan, I don’t think these guys are them. I have met some of the same investors that are behind Zillow & Trulia and I promise you they aren’t stupid or naive. What they are is risk takers looking for very large returns (that exceed their risk) from an aggressive business plan executed by brilliant entrepreneurs. Don’t count them out because it isn’t obvious yet what they are pursuing. You said, “we have a few tricks up our sleeve that we are not yet divulging”. Couldn’t the same be true of Zillow & Trulia? Its certainly true for My-Currency. Having said that, I am sure life MUCH better for you than me. Can you spare a server or two?

For all the buzz that Zillow and to a lesser extent, Trulia have created, most likely neither are profitable and probably have negligible revenues.

Is the plan for both of them to garner sufficient 1999 metrics like eyeballs, listings, number of blog mentions or some other non financial metrics and then either try to go public or get sold?

I hope the VC’s that invested in these companies know the answer.

I would dare say based on publically available information, Homegain is the only profitable online real estate company.

Christian, yes I agree that sites with traffic will get listings but what if the sites have open api’s like google? Google is already getting a large percentage and is likely to get more as firms get converted to modern thinking. Listings are commodity in the making - as they should be.
Haroldt, the short answer is “yes” in the short-term and “no” in the long-term. Its like listings, you should expose them to as many people as possible to get the best outcomes. Ultimately all these platforms will be deconstructed for you to interact with seemlessly (this is a few years out) - a sort widgetization of content and platforms.

Marc, really great points! Thanks for adding to my “question”. I didn’t mean to imply that Zillow & Trulia aren’t doing good things for the industry. Both have created, for example, mechanisms for agents to build “reputation currency” with consumers - much like homegain and my-currency. I was really talking about their long-term plans. Trulia is integrating itself with the industry much more than Zillow. Zillow is, essentially getting cozy with consumers. Consumers are the asset and Zillow has gone for them directly - a high risk, high reward strategy. Trulia is using the industry as a channel to get to consumers. They may both have the same goals but Trulia’s is a safer but ultimately more encumbered strategy than Zillow’s.

You raise another good point - what are the original innovators, like HomeGain, doing in light of all these developments? I will need some time to research and address this thread ;-). Thanks again!

I think you are right. With companies like zillow encouraging FSBO listings and sites promoting alternative listings postings like Google Base and Craig’s list, the MLS is no longer the only place for listings.

This means that consumers no longer only look on the MLS so realtors are also posting listings in these places.

To me the biggest issue is not where the listings are but the role of the realtor in the real estate transaction.

Site like zillow aim to “empower the consumer” Many realtors have complained that consumers are so enamored with their “zestimates” that they refuse to believe that their homes are not worth what the zestimate claims them to be.

In many instances it creates the perception that the consumer knows more about the local market and selling homes than the professional realtor.

There is nothing wrong with a little free information to help consumers, but Zillow tries to give the impression that the information they are providing is very accurate.

HomeGain also has a free homevaluation tool (the first created back in 1999! and recently relaunched)-but we provide an estimated range and encourage the user to contact a realtor.

Karim can I add to your question: “the question I have as an entrepreneur is which strategy will win? One that eats its way through the ecosystem (Trulia) or one that completely goes around it (Zillow)? or one that works with it to improve it for the existing inhabitants (HomeGain)?

HomeGain also has an automated valuation tool–it created the first in the last millenium and recently brought it back a couple of weeks ago.

Here is a blog thread that shows why HomeGain beats Zillow

http://www.futureofrealestatemarketing.com/why-homegain-beats-zillow