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Climbing into bed with the competition
I caught an investigative bug tonight, and I feel a strong need to post this speculation…
- Fact 1 — Rob over at Your Seattle’ Neighborhood Specialist had some great commentary on Zillow in the months leading up to their beta release
- Fact 2 — Rob has been silent since the release of Zillow
- Fact 3 — Marlow Harris also noticed this, so I’m not the only one wondering what happened to Rob
- Fact 4 — A reader pointed out to me that hourlyagents.com service is no longer available.
- Fact 5 — Rob used to heavily promote the Hourly Agents site and his blog still has a link to it
- Fact 6 — The hourly agents site now says “This Domain is For Sale — Please contact info@hourlyagents.com for details. — In the meantime, please join me at Redfin”
So when Marlow asks:
Where are you? Where are all your editorials and opinions? You were writing up a storm before, but now that Zillow has revealed itself, you’re silent.
Did you get that job there, after all? Did you sign some sort of oath of silence?
WHAT DO YOU THINK???”
I think the answer is worse than an oath of silence… I don’t think he’s working for Zillow (those people have definitely woken up to the idea of communicating!), but rather, I think he must have climbed into bed with the competition!
UPDATE 1: I just found out that Redfin started blogging one day before Zillow, but… it slipped past me as they haven’t shared any link love (yet!).
Update 2: Redfin added Rain City Guide to their sidepanel! Thanks you guys! Now all I need is for the HouseValues blog to add a link to Rain City Guide and I’ll have completed a Seattle Real Estate Technology Trifecta! 
Update 3: The Trifecta is complete!
Posted: February 10th, 2006 under Diversions, General Real Estate.
Tags: Diversions, Redfin, Zillow
About the Author: Dustin Luther
- Author's website: http://4realz.net/
- More posts by Dustin
- Email the author
Comments
2.
Comment
from Jake
Time February 10, 2006 at 10:26 am
http://www.Redfin.com Is ok but I think http://www.hungryagents.com is a much better service for home sellers.
Just my two cents
3.
Comment
from Rob McGarty
Time February 10, 2006 at 4:22 pm
Dustin –
How is that for a taste of my own medicine! Great job on the detective work! Since joining Redfin I have been too busy to keep up my blog, but as it turns out I didn’t really need to, I nailed it on the head months ago. Where is my prize? ☺
As for “Climbing into bed with the competition” wasn’t I still competition at Hourlyagents?
Once time permits I will start blogging at the Redfin site. Until then, keep up the good work; you have a great site!!!
Cheers,
Rob
4.
Comment
from Dustin
Time February 10, 2006 at 4:58 pm
Thanks Rob,
It is great to hear from you! I completely understand the lack of time for blogging, except that for me, it seems I’ve had almost the exact opposite problem lately where I seem to have no time for anything else!
Keep the innovations flowing on Redfin. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that those of us at Rain City Guide will be keeping a watchful eye on your developments!
5.
Comment
from Marlow Harris
Time February 13, 2006 at 11:53 am
FYI, Rob just made a new post on his old blog (http://ravennahouses.com/?p=67) and he’s redirecting readers to the new Redfin blog at http://www.redfin.com/blog/redfin/
6.
Comment
from curious george
Time February 13, 2006 at 6:09 pm
what is the fiduciary duty of a buyer’s broker? DOes Redfin fulfill its fiduciary duty by letting the buyer do all the legwork and then move in to pass an offer to the seller as a buyer’s broker and never setting foot in the property?
7.
Comment
from Dustin
Time February 13, 2006 at 8:42 pm
Curious,
Ardell started a wonderful post that covered this topic pretty recently:
Redfin - Something to Think About
8.
Pingback
from Seattle’s Rain City Real Estate Guide » RCG may have completed the real estate blogging trifecta, but which horse is going to win?
Time February 18, 2006 at 12:18 pm
[...] RCG may have completed the real estate blogging trifecta, but which horse is going to win? February 18, 2006 About a week ago I noted that the Zillow Blog added Rain City Guide to its sidepanel and that I hadn’t found out about both the Redfin Blog or the HouseValues blog because they hadn’t spread any link love. As Rain City Guide hasn’t done much to deserve traffic from either site, I didn’t really expect my comments to make much impact, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that both blogs added Rain City Guide to their sidepanel in less than a few days, thus completing my Seattle-real-estate-search trifecta! [...]
9.
Comment
from Vipin
Time April 11, 2006 at 10:21 pm
Interesting comments about real estate sales numbers, from back in February? A few of you know me, I was going to post to Dustin’s surprised news on the main page. But this amazing Seattle Real Estate blog got me reading more. Goes to show Dustin you and your team have done an awesome job! From this quiet real estate agent, who works part time (that’s me). I hope no one shows my numbers, Marlow–please don’t:-) I certainly don’t sell as much real estate as I use to. I tried to give up my seattle real estate site, http://www.Urbantango.com , but I guess all of this amazing stuff about Zillow, Housevalues and redFin got my attention. Dustin, I am really proud of you, I am sure we will stay connected. Best of Luck in CA!
10.
Pingback
from Seattle’s Rain City Real Estate Guide » More Bed Hopping with the Competition
Time September 7, 2006 at 11:22 pm
[...] Matt Goyer, of Urbnlivn fame, just accepted a position at Redfin. I wonder if he’ll keep up urbnlivn, or quit in favor of the Redfin blog like Rob. Just reading that article about Rob reminds me how much things have changed in the past six months… [...]
1. Comment from Marlow Harris
Time February 10, 2006 at 9:45 am
That is a hoot!
I just checked with the multiple and Yes, Rob turned in his license at Skyline Properties and is now hanging his shingle at Redfin!
Marcus Smith has dropped off the roster, Bahn Lee is still there, and they’ve added a third agent, Edward Smith.
None have any recorded sales yet in 2006.
And Redfin has not one recorded sale in the entire state of Washington yet for 2006.
I’ll be watching those statistics very carefully over the next few months to moniter their listings and sales. This should be very interesting to see and offer plenty of financial data to justify my request for $1.25 million dollars of venture capital for my own real estate business and website.