Today’s RealTrending features an interview with Glenn Kelman, president and CEO of Redfin. Kelman addresses those who question his business model, talks next steps for the company and where he sees opportunity for brokerage leaders in the next year. Hint: It’s finding a way to turn all buyers into cash buyers to help them become more competitive when buying a home.
Here is a small preview of today’s interview with Redfin’s Glenn Kelman. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity:
Tracey Velt: Are there any changes in the brokerage environment that have changed the way you operate now? Maybe a change that would cause you to add new services, how you deliver your services or build customer flow for instance.
Glenn Kelman: Well, I think there are three major trends at least that have impinged on my thinking. The first is consolidation. So Rocket just decided to build its own brokerage. Better.com, another lender decided to build its own brokerage. They all see the writing on the wall that the refi boom is going to end, and that the only source of purchase applications is going to be buyers agents. You’ve seen the same thing with the iBuyers who have started getting into the brokerage business.
There’s just this massive vertical integration where everybody feels like you’ve got to have a website, got to have a bunch of real estate agents, got to have a lender, got to have a title company, have to be able to offer some kind of cash deal to people who want to sell right away. And that is just going to put a bunch of pressure on everybody running a brokerage to do a lot very fast to keep up with this competitive environment. And we’re not just trying to keep up, we’re trying to push the pace. So I think we’re at the front of the race running as hard as we can, but it’s still pretty tiring.
RealTrending features the brightest minds in real estate. Twice a month, brokerage leaders, top agents, team leaders, and industry experts share their success secrets, trends, and lessons learned navigating this ever-changing industry. Hosted by Tracey Velt and produced by Elissa Branch.
