Great scoop from Brad Inman interviewing CoStar CEO, Andy Florance
CoStar CEO to Zillow: Here we come
“He talked about Zillow founder Rich Barton’s roots disintermediating travel agents (during his time at Expedia). The inference, for the real estate industry, is not new.
“I thought up the Zillow business model years before Zillow did, but thought about it for a couple of days and realized it was unethical.”
How humble of you Andy.
CoStar saying Zillow is “unethical” is like Charles Manson pointing to Jeffery Dahmer and saying, “Well at least I’m not going to eat them!”
I think that’s what’s known as an analogy backfire.
Well, I have to say some of us can be fiery in our commentary. God knows, that applies to me.
I read the Inman post. While Florence may have some fiery rhetoric, he has passion, and that’s what we need for Homesnap going forward. Florence is right about not needing to replace Zillow. We just need to methodically advance towards the goal diverting eyeballs from Zillow. Competition, pretty simple.
When I heard about the acquisition, I had my doubts. I feel better about it now. Homesnap doesn’t a pussycat running this show, it needs a tiger. Fine by me.
It looks like a play to circumvent MLS. His comment to Brad is comical.