I applaud Gary Keller. He has the guts to point out what’s been obvious to Realtors for years regarding internet platforms such as Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, and other platforms that exploit the data real estate professionals work very hard to create, and are never compensated for, so these companies can exploit that very data to sell back leads to the data’s creators, the real estate professional.
Keller Williams co-founder Gary Keller visited the Inman Connect San Francisco stage to discuss with Inman’s founder and publisher Brad Inman how the real estate franchisor is pivoting to turn itself into a technology company. But the tone of the conversation was intense, conflict-ridden, sometimes awkward, sometimes funny, and that was what really stole the show.
Keller began by describing the progression of technology over time and listing a slew of real estate tech companies that he labeled “agent-enabled tech,” including Redfin, Zillow, Trulia, Open-door, and Offered. Pretty much all the people that Inman News worships,” Keller said, prompting laughter from a packed ballroom of attendees. These companies would all run their business without agents if they could, Keller said. “If [Redfin CEO] Glenn Kelman could run his business without agents, he would. If he tells you otherwise, he’s lying,” Keller said. He added that the reason he and Inman sometimes clash is that Inman treats such companies as disrupters when “ all they really want is to reduce the agent’s income by 30 percent or more to their own benefit.”
“My audience has a higher income than your community Gary because they paid a lot to be here,” Inman said, prompting uncomfortable “oohs” from the audience. “At the end of this, we’re going to be friends,” Inman added.“ Yes, I like your shoes,” replied Keller. Inman asked Keller, who had been standing for much of the discussion while writing on a whiteboard, to sit down.
“Last thing Bradley is that today you’ll get an education, and it’s good for ya,” Keller said. Amazon owns its software, Facebook owns its software, and Netflix owns its software. So why would we tell the agent not to own their software? Or don’t let your company or partner own their software? That’s a dumbass statement.” Inman again asked Keller to sit down, “as a gentleman.” Again, Keller declined.
The franchisor founder pointed out that it would take any company that doesn’t own a great deal of real estate data already, two to three years to build a real estate-specific cloud service.“The problem with that timeframe is , the growth of big data and artificial intelligence, is happening right now. If you don’t already have it, you’re in second place,” Keller said. “No. 1 you have to own your software. No. 2 you have to have an end-to-end consumer experience,” he said. Right now, “voyeurism in search is the only thing that’s actually out there for the consumer.”
Keller noted that the industry itself has changed, “Now technology is an absolute imperative for our industry. That used to be 100 percent of the conversation. We woke up five years ago and said, That’s not going to protect our people,’”
So the debate goes on. With the National Association of Realtors about to invest 45 million dollars in expansion/remodel into their headquarters in Chicago, wouldn’t it be better for their membership if that money (their dues and fees to pay to NAR) was used to create a cloud-based MLS for its membership? Why not take our data back? If Gary Keller is willing to go head to head with the “Disrupters” who’ve exploited our profession for their own gain, and oftentimes at our expense, wouldn’t it be wonderful if our leadership followed Gary Keller’s lead? (Some of the content in this post are excerpts from Inman News)
