Zillow analyst says new exec has good shot at forging partnerships with MLSs
Tactic to obtain more listings straight from the source has had only 'limited success' previously
Zillow lured former realtor.com executive Errol Samuelson from Move Inc. to do pretty much the same it had hired former Arizona Regional MLS CEO Bob Bemis to perform: By forging more direct partnerships with multiple listing services, improve industry relations and beef up the quality of listings data on the website.
Zillow Analyst
That’s according to Barclays analyst Christopher Merwin, who says that while that strategy has had only “limited success” in the past, Samuelson has “an impressive background of industry credentials that should make it far easier to build bridges with the real estate agent community,” StreetInsider.com reports.
Zillow announced Wednesday which it had hired Samuelson, who became president of realtor.com in 2007 and Move’s chief strategy officer in April 2013, to fill the newly created position, “chief industry development officer.”
Real estate Marketing
“We believe the position was made by Zillow to enhance relations using the industry and enhance the data quality on its site through more direct MLS partnerships,” Merwin said in a note to clients. “By boosting the accuracy of their data, we know Zillow will ultimately have the ability to further consolidate audience market share - and ultimately real estate agent marketing budgets - as the necessity for consumers to obtain the highest-quality data on competing MLS sites diminishes in time.”
Zillow hired Bemis, who had previously been an outspoken and influential leader of among the nation’s largest MLSs, as president of partner relations in February 2012, saying his “deep industry knowledge” would help the business engage with brokerages and MLSs.
That summer, Bemis sent emails to 50 MLSs that have been providing listings data to Zillow through Move’s listing distribution platform, ListHub, asking those to consider providing direct feeds to Zillow instead, with the aim of improving the timeliness and accuracy of listings in the portal.