Andy Florance said rival portals were more interested in sales leads than homes and called the lawsuit against his company a “PR stunt.”
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Andy Florance, the head of Homes.com parent company CoStar and a perennial portal warrior, said Tuesday that what makes his company unique is its interest in home sales, later adding that the targeting of him The company’s high-profile lawsuit is a “PR stunt.”
These comments were made during Florance’s appearance on the main stage at Inman Connect Las Vegas. Florence’s comments this time around were less overtly combative, but he did say in response to a question from host Brad Inman that “our focus is on selling houses.”
Florence contrasts this approach with other portals, which he says focus on leads rather than homes. He compared the situation to old classified ads in newspapers, arguing that companies like Zillow made every “ad” (in this case, a home listing) the same size and then added an ad that didn’t hold the The phone number of the agent.
Homes.com, on the other hand, can put agents’ listings “front and center” and give agents tools “so they can demonstrate to sellers that they’re adding more value,” Florence explain. He added that agents using Homes.com “get 50 percent more listings,” which translates to “about $100,000 in revenue per year.”
The comments referred to CoStar’s “your listings, your leads” strategy, which aims to direct consumers to agents who own listings, rather than agents who pay lead generation fees to portals.
Brad Inman (left) and Andy Florence at Inman Connect in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Photo Credit: AJ Canaria Creative Services
Florance also weighed in on the legal dispute between her company and Realtor.com parent company Move, Inc. during the conference. At issue is an editor who worked at Realtor.com but later worked at CoStar. The editor, James Kaminsky, had publicly stated his innocence just days before.
On stage, Florence described Kaminsky as a “poor guy” who has two children with special needs who doesn’t have a non-compete and doesn’t run Homes.com.
“Frankly, I think this is just a PR stunt,” Florence said of the lawsuit. “We have paid his attorney fees and placed him on indefinite leave. We will not let him be the scapegoat for this.
At another point in the meeting, Florence also discussed CoStar’s recent marketing efforts, which involve paying for advertising during high-profile events such as the Super Bowl and the Olympics. The ads were designed to raise Homes.com’s profile, although Florence’s competitors expressed doubts about the campaign’s effectiveness. However, Florence countered on Tuesday that the ads increased consumer awareness of the brand independently and led to billions of impressions.
Florence finally gave some advice to the entrepreneurs in the audience, pointing out that the key to success is persistence.
“Those who persisted until a certain point,” he said, “just started learning how to surf.”
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