#ICYMI: April 2019 Real Estate News

By Jessie Trapp, Marketing Coordinator & Tiana Baur, Marketing Manager

Did someone say busy season?! This time each year, it feels like everyone’s at the starting line, impatiently waiting for the start gun to go off. Phones will be ringing off the hook and listings upon listings are about to hit the market. Let’s all enjoy the last moment of peace and tranquility, finish our last-minute checklists, and of course, catch up in the latest goings on in our favorite industry!

In case you missed it, here are the top five April 2019 real estate news stories to know:

1. “Breaking: Zillow sues Compass over poached employees, intellectual property”

Zillow is suing Compass (multiple lawsuits) over them allegedly poaching employees to steal intellectual property. According to Inman, the suits “argue that Compass lured away three Zillow employees who had signed contracts with non-disclosure and non-compete clauses. Compass specifically wanted such employees in order to get access to Zillow’s trade secrets, the suits state, and it has made a habit of ‘unlawful poaching’ of employees.”

You can read the full saga here. TBD on how all this will end up.

2. “’Off the rails’ real estate promo video ‘missed the mark,’ goes viral”

Things got a little too spicy (and extremely controversial) for a recent real estate video gone viral. A Sydney-based brokerage thought it would be a good idea in this day and age to produce a luxury real estate promo video featuring models dancing on tables, scandalously going through the listed property (yes, even the bedroom). In a not so shocking plot twist, it was not a good idea. Some viewers even noticed that the women making out with the man in the house was not the same women in the wedding photos.

Pro tip: next time you want to spice things up in your listing videos, stick to the curtains.

3. “Lone Wolf is buying zipLogix”

Lone Wolf isn’t so lonely anymore with a recent addition to their wolfpack, whose name is zipLogix. This news shouldn’t come as a major shock since the consolidation of real estate tech will only grow as investment, especially private equity, continues to pour into the mix.

4. “Keller Williams iBuyer program Keller Offers to debut in May”

According to Inman News, Keller Williams is “launching its own all-cash, online homebuying program next month in Texas, and plans to expand that program to as many as eight metro areas by the end of the year.” In other words, the iBuyer craze is growing more and more intense, now with Keller Williams, Zillow, and Opendoor all competing.

5. “Long & Foster opens new moving company”

It’s a professional residential moving company, it’s called Tailored Move, and it’s the newest baby of Long & Foster Companies. RISMedia states that, “Tailored Move offers local, long-distance, and international moving services with competitive rates and a service-based approach. Clients are provided with a guaranteed flat-rate quote, rather than hourly estimates on moving services, so they know what they can expect to pay before their move occurs. In addition, Tailored Move gives each client $20,000 full-value replacement coverage of their belongings, at no additional cost.”

PLUS, Tailored Move will offer cleaning, staging, decluttering, packing, storage and unpacking services. This news deserves a thousand thumbs up.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for another #ICYMI next month!

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