David–

You cleverly said :”EZ Ads were not seeded at launch.”

As you know, seeding need not occur at launch & I never said it happened at launch— heck, I seed my lawn whenever the grass gets thin.

But whether we call it “seeding” or not, the point David, is that free ads were given out by Zillow to influential brokers (like Geno). Are you saying only brokers in Chicago got them? Because I heard rumor it also happened in Seattle.

Set the record straight David– did Zillow, through its employees or agents, give out free EZ ads– or was Geno and the Chicago 10 the only lucky ones? (Don’t let us go to the videotape)

For the record— I see nothing illegal, immoral or fattening with seeding EZ ads.

Touche’ … I think you’re going to have to move to Chicago. Love the “active|bob” badge - very cool. And thanks; all I need is Rudy piling on here as well.

Why didn’t you whip that personal credit card out for me???? I need to start sucking up to Sara I guess.

Bob Stewart

Rudy,

Give em heck………..

You misunderstood - Sara was obviously reimbursed for this expense.

peace out

Check the date on Sara’s e-mail. It was sent in July. EZ Ads launched in May. Joe’s claim that EZ Ads were “seeded” is total B/S and so are his suggestions that that explains the program’s success.

Again, seeding EZ Ads would not have been a bad idea. I actually wish we could have. But Joe’s version of your story IS a fabrication.

As I mentioned, we don’t technically have the capability to comp. EZ Ads. In your case, Sara took the initiative upon herself and purchased your ads on her personal credit card. Was that a mistake? (This conversation makes me wonder.) 6,000 people have bought EZ Ads. You are one of 10 people that Sara bought ads for.

I hope that this issue is now clear.

So DAVE G, LOOK AT THIS> (It’s an actual e-mail from Zillow)

Geno…I am glad you came by, it is so nice to now have a face with the name.

Do you mind emailing me the email address and password you used to create a Zillow account? I will set up your ad credit of $250. Once it is up, I will shoot you an email and you can edit it however you would like. I’ll put your head shot in there for now which you can keep, or change to advertise a listing.

Thanks!

Sara

____________________________________________________

Sara Bonert

Zillow.com

Phil– totally agree. Professionals get it. It’s the consumer who may not, despite the disclosures. Your point about muddied waters is quite true– rather than being a “first step” it adds a another step to the process– explaining it away.

If you have a good idea of the home value already– you can say– oh yeah, Zillow is close or off by a mile. But if you don’t have a clue– it helps not a whit. So what’s the point?

As a listing site, I have no problem with it, except for letting anyone list someone’s house as “for Sale” without homeowner or listing agent consent, or even knowledge— a whole Q&A could go on about a home where the owner has no idea it is happening.

We oppose Zillow mainly based on their non-recognition of a homeowner’s and listing agent’s RIGHT to control the marketing of their asset (they can only prevent others from listing the home by “claiming it”– an act they should not be required to do)and RIGHT to opt out of the zestimate, especially if they list a house with a sales price— a lowball zestimate can scare away buyers.

We also have issues with the Q&A– misinformation (which David is complaining about in this post) cannot be flagged by homewoners or LA who do not know the misinformation is out there PLUS there is no consequence to flagging– if I say, mistakenly or intentionally, there are termites , you say no– the info sits there in cyberspace, uncorrected. But we can go on and on— read some of our past zillow posts if you have the time to get all this in context)