Category: Technology

“AMAZON”: Real Estate Agents for Sale

by HOMEiZ Blog Team Posted: 07/13/2017 Views: 1493

The real estate industry has a new guest who is coming to the party, its name is Amazon. Why suddenly we see more and more big online companies jumping into the real estate game? We know that Real estate is very attractive to many inventors but, dose Amazon want to become a licensed brokerage? Or it wants to put real estate agents on the shelf for sale? Or it wants to buy out Zillow, or Redfin? Lately, Amazon was in a shopping spree. What exactly Amazon is trying to achieve? The answer is, we don’t know. But what we know is, Amazon puts its foot in Real estate.

Zillow is the victim of Wall Street’s Amazon anxiety.

Zillow shares slump as Amazon webpage hints at expansion into real estate referrals. When reports of the Amazon page surfaced, Zillow’s stock price slumped from $46.15 a share to $44.54 as of 7/12/2017 Wednesday morning, showing just how closely investors are watching the Seattle retailer. A new placeholder web page on Amazon that says “Hire a Realtor” with an option to enter your zip code and “Coming Soon” below is prompting speculation that the company may be expanding into the real estate referral business, Zillow’s bread and butter.

Competing with Zillow and Redfin

 
If Amazon moves into real estate agent referrals, it will be competing with two of its neighbors: Zillow and Redfin. Can Amazon compete with these two? of course it can. Zillow who is a media company with many haters on the real estate market, can suffer badly from Amazon who has a good name and still a clean one in the Real estate industry. I am sure that Amazon caused a big headache to Zillow shareholders and to its management people. Redfin in the other hand makes its money from helping buyers to purchase homes. Its revenue is not based on advertising real estate agents.” Premier agent” like Zillow dose. But Redfin needs to watch out and not to fall asleep. A Giant like Amazon should not be taken lightly!

A Game Changer?

Many companies before Amazon tried to come up with a disruption that will change the game rules, in how we buy and sell real estate, but without success yet. Will Amazon bring the game changer? Can Amazon bring the disruption many are dreaming on? Yes, Amazon definitely can change the game rules, it has all the tools to do it, but I would not be so sure about it. To disrupt this industry is not a walk in the park. This is not the travel industry, it is not a taxi company and it does not sell electronics. It is a people`s business where people want and need to engage with people, not algorithms or some kind of robot. If Amazon will know how to preserve the human touch that this industry really needs, Amazon might have a chance to bring a better consumer experience, otherwise its wasting its time.