Zillow's Power Play Turns Out to be an Own Goal

A truly incomprehensible unforced error now has Zillow losing the narrative war...

Happy Tuesday, everybody. The weekend was eventful, to say the least. Without question the major news of last week was the announcement of Zillow’s ZLAS policy, which I have written about here and done podcasts about already. That was Thursday of last week, and already, salvos have been launched by both Compass and CoStar/Homes.com.

I was originally going to cover their reactions to Zillow. And I will, but there is far more important news.

Zillow’s new ZLAS policy has been completely misunderstood by just about everybody in the industry. I truly don’t think this is my fault, or your fault, or anybody’s fault for so misunderstanding it. If there is fault to be laid, it is at the feet of Zillow, who scored an own goal here.

I spoke with a senior Zillow representative late yesterday, who called to answer some of my questions from the first post, and clarify a few things about ZLAS. Well, at least one of those clarifications is an enormous unforced error. It has forced me to rethink the entire battle over CCP, over listing access, over everything.

And wouldn’t you know it? That rethinking is happening at the precise time when Compass and Homes.com have launched their counterattacks.

Strap in, get some coffee, maybe some liquor, and let’s do this. Be forewarned: this is going to get long. You will need to come read it on the website.