DISQUS

Trulia is the clear winner, given the fact that Trulia has only received $32MM in funding and Zillow nearly $90MM and your traffic graphs show them neck and neck in terms of monthly visitors. For Zillow to win, they need to generate 3x or about 7.5MM visitors per month in the Comscore report (they already report more than 8MM/month internally).

While some reports show that Zillow may have as many as 2MM more monthly visitors (Compete), what really matters is the quality of those visits. Zillow, although it has recently made an aggressive SEO effort, is mainly powered by PR and Zestimate related traffic. They pull PR stunts, like the White House Zestimate to add an extra 1MM visitors to any month that needs a little growth. Those people aren't active buyers and sellers of real estate and therefore can not be monetized effectively. How long will they be able to sell impressions that don't convert?

Conversely, Trulia's traffic is extremely targeted due to their SEO positioning. Most of their traffic comes directly from the major SE's and many of these people are engaged buyers and sellers. So if I'm valuing two private companies without financial data but I know that one has three times the "debt" (yes, Venture Capital is essentially a fancy debt instrument) and the other has dominant search engine positioning, lower overhead and a superior user experience... It becomes clear that one deserves a premium over the other, in terms of valuation. So that's how I got my winner.

Traffic numbers from both compete and comscore are lower than actuals by a multiple of 2-4x the numbers reported above. As a website operator, I have seen this time and time again, where Google Analytics or similar reports much higher traffic than what compete or comscore publish.

While this is a close and exciting race, what really matters are their financials; revenue and earnings, as well as their growth over time. Unfortunately that information is undisclosed until their status as privately held companies change and/or they have enough of an incentive to disclose them.

Either way, given the disparity in funding, I think we already have a winner. I know where I'd put my money and let's just say its a little closer to home.

Great video, just wish that Apple would roll out flash for my iphone... But yes, the real estate industry has so far to go before we have an effective, integrated search that gives the end user exactly what they need to make an informed home buying (or selling) decision.

This is a disgrace, as it the level of corruption throughout New Jersey! I think your comments on nepotism, Louie, are very relevant and disturbing. Making a mockery of government and politics seems to be the MO of many of New Jersey's "finest". Can't the democrats do any better than Lipski or did they run out of sober choices?

The guys at Estately do a great job with very little backing. When you compare that to the big guys like Zillow and Trulia, it really puts it into perspective. I am sure they want to go national but the fact that they are mapping neighborhoods nationally is not an indication because their neighborhood definitions are already on a national level while their property listings are added one MLS at a time. Unfortunately "going national" is a slow and painstaking process and don't be fooled, this is by design.

What I find interesting is the RMLS regulations which require Estately not to display property addresses. This is preposterous and definitely not in the spirit of the recent DOJ settlement with NAR. While that settlement applied only to VOW Agreements, in theory, what the DOJ finds acceptable is that online brokers (with membership) and their off line counterparts must be able to provide the same information to consumers (that the MLS normally provides its members). Essentially, this MLS regulation is designed to make Estately and similarly innovative businesses less competitive than local brick and mortar brokers, thereby limiting Estately's reach and ability to provide consumers with better agents at lower commission rates. Locking out companies like Estately is definitely not in the best interest of the consumer or the industry. And at a time when when our national real estate market is experiencing a major downturn, any efforts to stifle competition and exposure to the sector should be viewed as high treason, IMHO.

Oh so true! Great list and very well put. These great tips, if followed, can make the difference between success and failure. And all of these great ideas with out a consulting bill! Please keep them coming, how about part II?

I know he's probably heard this one a hundred, if not a thousand times before (but here goes anyway); I would like Mr. Yun's opinion on when the housing market will rebound, with specificity on a geographic basis. I am interested in his take on the local markets over then next 2-5 years in places such as Florida and California, in particular.

Yes, many retirement funds were imploded in the past week thanks to the Bear Stearns debacle. But then again, many fortunes were made since Monday morning when the shares began trading at 3.20 and peaked today over $8 per share on news of a possible topping offer, then settling down just below $6 at end of day. The problem is that the fortunes that were lost were lost by people like your neighbor and your grandma. People who had a lot of BSC shares in their pension or retirement plan that they have allocate from their income over that past 20, 30, maybe even 50 years! And fortunes were made this week by institutions like hedge funds that have been around four years now, JP Morgan, institutions who invest when blood hits the streets, and some wealthy independent investors. Many of these hedge funds are holding a lot of Bear's debt in the form of bonds and they are actively bidding up the share price because the JP buyout is a way to save their arses. If the deal goes through, the bond holders are saved by JP Morgan taking on the debt and the equity holders are burned with $2 a share. These aren't your everyday folks for the most part that are behind the recent rise the in price the past two days. And if they are successful, we'll have a redistribution of wealth where the hedge funds that are holding the BSC debt get paid in full and the moms and pops take it on the chin for more than $10 Billion.

Ok, I have to admit that the photo of the girl in the short skirt caught my attention! But what can you expect from a healthy, hetero male? The headline worked on me too. . . But my question is, what makes this headline a "Drop Cap Headline". I thought that drop cap was when you capitalize, bold, and enlarge the first letter of the first word in a paragraph so that it takes up at least two lines or more, thereby making the cap (capital letter) drop below the first line and really stand out or pop. How is this headline "Drop Cap"? I have to admit that it has been a while since I read Ogilvy's books on advertising. . .

Great article and works just fine in IE 7!