Iggy’s House has closed shop. Who were they? Basically a discount outfit that put homes on the MLS for free as a means of attracting clients for their Buyer’s Side Realty venture and their mortgage company. Gimmick? Yes, but it isn’t my place to critique how other broker’s do business; the market determines if a model works. The market has spoken, and their model doesn’t work, contrary to their claims. If something works, it is innovative. If it doesn’t, people are likely to dismiss it as a gimmick. These guys predicted their failure last year.
Discounters seldom succeed. Business models do not sell homes. Agents sell homes. If you attract better agents, your company will sell more homes and be more profitable. The better agents will not work with discounters because they can’t make as much money as they can at a more traditional brokerage. If a discounter can’t get these better agents, the will have a less than stellar staff. Sub par agents won’t be able to compete in the marketplace with better skilled and higher paid agents.
A final thought on Iggy’s House: it takes a certain amount of chutzpah to lose money hand and fist but still push for an IPO.
J. Philip Faranda
[...] About J. Philip Gimmick=Failure [...]