If you're trying to be number one in the market, slamming on the brakes is one of the worst things you can do, you want to make some adjustments before you get to that point -- slow down, switch gears. This is not the preferred outcome for Zillow.

Mike DelPrete

It's a good tool for what it is.

IBuying is appealing to a surprisingly large amount of people, the pitch is speed, certainty and convenience. You don't have to worry about the uncertainty of the market and how long it will take to sell, getting the house ready to show, which agent to choose.

I've seen the other iBuyers make adjustments in this market, they have changed their fees, or are changing what they are offering for homes, kind of reacting to the market. But I saw Zillow just barreling down.

There is only so much that technology can do, at the end of the day you need people to process a lot of transactions.

Rich Barton has a strong track record in the' disruptive' space, before Rich Barton came back as Zillow CEO, Zillow was in a bit of a rut with investors. It makes sense to have a changing of the guard if the business is going to pivot.

If Zillow is able to count each of those people as a customer, they'll win, and for those people, some of them want an instant sale, some are kicking the tires, some want to sell the traditional way. It's like going to their kitchen table and saying,' What do you want ? To list your house, do an instant offer, get a broker ? It's empowering consumers.

Zillow's customer acquisition cost is zero, it's the most popular real estate portal in the country with hundreds of millions of consumers going there. It's easy to put up an advertisement to ask about iBuying, while other competitors need to spend tens of millions of dollars to generate those leads. It's a sustainable competitive advantage.