You know by now that I have opinions. Well these are mine, and you’ve heard me talk about this before. Well yesterday’s news made me very happy. Just know that these are MY OPINIONS, put forth to hopefully get you interested in digging into this situation, because it could cost you thousands you didn’t even know you were losing. Buckle up.

Remember that post I did, talking about the looming juggernaut that could harm our market significantly? The harm I anticipated was just me, analyzing the situation like I always do. I was sick in the pit of my stomach, thinking about what this was going to do to our market here. Apparently I wasn’t the ONLY one feeling sick. Hence the lawsuit filed yesterday by Zillow. I know, many of you have dollar signs in the crosshairs as I speak; but this is not how I view the market.

I view the market as a population of folks who need to either sell or buy real estate, and most of the time, it is their largest investment. I am always honored to be chosen to help, regardless of the price point. I am a data person, and I actually serve my clients, free of greed. THEREFORE, I love to help them make the best transaction they can. This means I want the real estate market to be open, accessible to all, and positioned to allow good competition. From this comes this saying: The house is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. But the idea is that there are a LOT of somebodies out there, not just a group inside a fence that not everyone can access. I want YOU to have whole access. Because competition helps you!

1. I drive a small crossover SUV that is 13 years old, in the shop way too often. I do NOT drive a 100K automobile that I expect YOU to pay for. I live in a small townhouse that’s 23 years old. In other words, I’m not ever asking you to support ‘my lifestyle’. Yes, real estate is how I make a living (pay my bills), but that’s life, NOT lifestyle. If I come to do a listing appointment, look out the window. Look at my little car. You’ll know I’m not greedy. Don’t fall for the “I’m worth it” mantra. I’m worth it too; but I also make my own way, not riding on your back. Don’t mistake that for me being mediocre. I’m not. I’m a Senior specialist, a strategic pricing specialist, a negotiating specialist, I worked for a builder so I know what to look for to find red flags, and I was a scientist in my other life, so I’m very detail oriented. I’m also a compassionate servant, so I take care of my clients. That’s very different from greed, very. So yeah, NOT mediocre. And today, I can work with my clients in the way that helps them best. That’s your first data point.
2. Our market is healthy, though slower for ‘resales’ because builders are throwing money at buyers to get them to buy their product. Tens of THOUSANDS. And they have their own mortgage company and title company…money they get back when you choose them. I get it! It’s hard to turn down that kind of incentive money when it definitely reduces the downstroke pain, and you get a new house. I get it. But it makes it harder for people trying to sell their existing home. Just know that existing home sellers have always competed with builders, so that’s nothing new; it’s just that builders have more money than God now and they can tilt the entire market towards themselves. Still, in a fair market there are thousands of people who prefer an older home! You should be able to see ALL of them, not just the ones the juggernaut wants you to see.
3. In a hot market, buyers often bring ABOVE list price in order to win the home. I’ve been through the insane market times when the only way that made sense was if you planned to own that home for a very long time. That still applies. You always want equity growth to be a steep upward curve if you are going to offer above list price. I can explain all of that to you. In my market, at this minute, you should plan to offer at or above list; that’s just how it is right now, this minute, in this market. How do I know that? Well for NOW I have access to all of the data…until the juggernaut shuts it down.
4. If you want to buy OR sell, the open, unfettered market is your friend. It’s honest, it’s visible, it gives you all of the data you need to make a good choice. Sellers pretty much know they can often garner multiple offers in a free market, and buyers can search thousands and THOUSANDS of available homes to find the one that works for them and that they feel good about trying to buy. No roadblocks, no boundaries, nothing hidden. That’s about to change if this lawsuit fails. And the one who gets hurt is you, consumer. The 800 pound gorilla is going to laugh all the way to the bank.
5. If you are directed to call a ‘LISTING AGENT’ when you search for a home, know that you are TALKNG TO THE AGENT WHO WORKS FOR THE SELLLLLER, not you. That means everything you tell her or him, that person is obligated to blab it to the seller. CALL A BUYER AGENT for goodness sake. That’s me, a lot of the time. A buyer agent works for YOU, unless you decide to allow for dual agency, which I NEVER advise. Firm, yes; agent NO.

Now back to the ‘juggernaut’ currently under a class action lawsuit. This paradigm is designed to block out a huge block of potential buyers, if you are selling, OR a huge block of listings, if you are a buyer. In other words, my latest data calculation and info I have researched, shows that if you don’t follow the juggernaut rules, you miss out on maybe 30% (right now) of the available homes or buyers out there, whether listing or buying. As the juggernaut moves forward, the percentage of ‘freely available’ homes you can see online will shrink. If you are not with the juggernaut, your home doesn’t show up on the AVMs…that’s the search places you go to, to find homes, or to compare prices of other ones on the market. It’s a takeover in the name of greed…in my old car old house opinion. In NC we have a thriving real estate market, with unfettered boundaries (for the most part) for you to go online and look and search to your heart’s content and to feel pretty sure you’re getting reasonably good data. Nearly all of my buyers pick the homes they want to see online, all by themselves. And by the time we go to view it and evaluate it, they have a pretty good idea of the whole picture. If this juggernaut takes root, those days are over. Anyone not joining in what I perceive to be harmful to buyers and sellers, will eventually be out. Out means you get what they say you get. Remember when you used to be able to pick your colors when you bought a new home? Now what happens? You get what the builder says you get. That’s how it works folks. It becomes less and less about you and more and more about what is easier and more PROFITABLE for the juggernaut. Here’s what was posted about the lawsuit, you can look it up and see how you view things:

“Zillow today took a big step in standing up for a free and honest housing market. MRED and Compass conspired to cut off Zillow’s access to Chicago-area listing date, not because we violated any legitimate rule, but because we’re committed to giving every buyer in the market the widest possible audience, and every agent in the market a fair shot at competing. When we didn’t back down on our commitment, they announced a national alliance designed to extend the pressure everywhere.”

And it continues on. This article came from LinkedIn.

Imagine you want to buy a car and the dealer says, here’s the price. And you wonder…because today’s buyers are pretty doggone smart…how do you come up with that price. And the dealer says, “I’m not gonna tell ya.” And you think, “I’m gonna check out other dealerships”, and you get there, and there’s that SAME GUY. You need data, not someone telling you that you get what I SAY you get. Like that. You need everything you can get to help you make good choices and you DESERVE it. That’s what we have right now. But not for long.

Please pay attention to what’s going on with this lawsuit filed by ZILLOW. We all know Zillow. I use Zillow nearly every day and I love it. But going forward, it’ll be a cobbled tool. You need to know that and hope Zillow wins. If a Compass agent comes to a listing appointment talking about exclusive (that word) listings, know that your listing will be inside a fence that MANY buyers will not be able to see. That cuts down free market competition, and that could mean tens of thousands of dollars lost to you. And the real estate transaction is supposed to be about YOU.

I will not be joining the juggernaut. I despise greed for greed’s sake, I don’t like hostile takeovers, and I don’t like the message that if I’m not one of them YET, I will be. Not MIGHT BE, but WILL BE. Oh boy that doesn’t work with me. That’s not how I roll. I could not live with myself if I couldn’t serve my clients to the very best of my ability. It is an honor to help someone choose a home, or sell one so they can continue on their journey. People matter to me; I LOVE helping them along their journey. It’s NOT about the money for me, and I hope Zillow wins.