Online real estate startups got to mix with the offline counterparts that they're trying to destory -- I mean, help -- at the Inman Real Estate Connect conference this week in New York City. On the scene was Benchmark-backed Zillow, Accel-backed Trulia, eBay-backed Craig's List, Kleiner Perkins-backed Platial and others.
Despite the presence of those well supported startups, Redfin, a discount real estate brokerage startup backed by Madrona Venture Group, stole the headlines when its CEO clashed on stage with the CEO of Move Inc., which operates the incumbent Realtor.com web site. A grainy recording of the debate is accessible for viewing below.
What's fascinating about the interchange is that while you hear a lot about new business models and technologies wiping away the old way of doing things, you rarely see the push back from the old guard. That's what's really going on in that video.
To be fair, Move is no dinosaur. It's backed with $100 million in capital from Elevation Partners and recently launched a search engine, Move.com, to keep pace with rivals. But, the bottom line is that it operates the industry trade association's online portal and is looking out for their interests. Redfin and other online real estate upstarts are shaking things up with their fresh approach to an industry set in its ways industry. And it looks like they're succeeding. If the newbies weren't irking the real estate incumbents, the old guard wouldn't be so red-faced.
What are people's thoughts on the new B2B real estate models that seem to support both real estate professionals and savvy real estate investors? (e.g. loopnet, OLR.com, PropertyShark.com)
What are people's thoughts on the new B2B real estate models that seem to support both real estate professionals and savvy real estate investors? (e.g. loopnet, OLR.com, PropertyShark.com)