REA model not for realtor.com: Rupert Murdoch tells Inman

The media tycoon Rupert Murdoch spoke overnight at Inman's Real Estate Connect New York conference seeking to allay US real estate agents' concerns. 

Murdoch said realtor.com’s close relationship with real estate agents and the National Association of Realtors was one of the primary reasons News Corp bought Move instead of Zillow or Trulia.

The quality of realtor.com’s audience and the accuracy of its listings were also unique draws, he said.

Murdoch sought to assure real estate agents that Move will keep their interests at heart in its push to regain ground on Zillow and Trulia.

“There’s no digital substitute for the human touch,” he said, citing real estate agent’s local expertise, vendor networks and bargaining skills as crucial benefits to homebuyers and sellers.

Murdoch said realtor.com had absolutely no intention of replacing real estate agents.

Inmann reported he said Move is not going to adopt the business model of REA, an Australian listing portal majority owned by News Corp., which charges real estate agents to list properties.

“We understand this is a different business model, absolutely,” Murdoch said of the cooperative brokerage model in place in the U.S.

To grow realtor.com, Murdoch said Move will first focus on building a better product that is “absolutely friendlier to agents”.

Then the plan is to “get out and market it hard”, he said.

Rival Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff has previously told Mad Money’s Jim Cramer that following the News Corp acquisition, realtor.com is now “rupert.com”.

“I think what it means is realtor.com is no longer the realtor’s website,” Rascoff said at the time.