News Corp to Acquire Move for $950 Million

[Joshua Dorkin]

After the Trulia / Zillow merger announcement of a few months back, this one is easily the second most significant in real estate this year.

In push to diversify, News Corp. buying Move for $950 million

What implications do you think this will have for the online real estate space?

[Stephen McKee]

I see this as a cash out for Move. The major real estate sites are moving more towards marketing to home owners than Realtors. I think Zillow's "make me move" is a perfect example of this. It's soft touch marketing at it's finest. It's getting the next generation comfortable with selling their home online and Auction.com is at the forefront of this. The majority of these sites get their listing info from RETS feeds distributed by every real estate associations. I don't think NAR/CAR realized they back-doored themselves when they started providing data to third party sites. They had a perfect monopoly but the individual organizations were blinded by temporary profits so they sold their data. Now Realtors are no longer gate keepers. Their value is shifting to where it started, local, legal, and financial advisement. Most people I talk to about this look at me sideways but it's because they don't know how real estate is sold around the globe.

Hop over to Europe and ask about the MLS. It's doesn't exist. Every broker owns their own listings and sells their own listings. The way things are going here, no one will own any listings. Mark my words. One day Move and Zillow/Trulia will flip a switch. They will launch a site dedicated towards marketing to home owners and listing their homes. The RETS feeds will slowly get cut off in defense. The associations will make themselves obsolete. Realtors will stop paying dues. Brokers will have to completely restructure. In 10 years real estate will looks completely different than it does today.

So what does the future of real estate look like in my opinion? 

Owners: will pay to list their home on Zillow/Trulia or whatever site holds the majority market share. They will pay for enhanced listings, videos, additional photos, placement, etc. I'm sure we'll see an option to have professional videos and photos taken too.

Brokers/Realtors: will have to be much better at their job. No need for increased licensing measures. Peer review sites will help or destroy realtor reputation. They will have to work in teams to ensure the client gets the best possible service. These companies will likely be a la carte. Buyers will need a neighborhood specialist, inspector, document preparer/legal services, negotiator, and a financial professional.  Sellers only need legal services and negotiation. The busy buyers/sellers will be able to choose services based on their needs. We are going back to an unbundled business model in every sector and I think we are all much happier with services that already function this way. 

So, what do I think of News Corp acquiring Move? It's par for the course. The real question is, who's next and who will own the monopoly when it's over?