Comments on: HouseValues CFO Jumps Ship http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/ local real estate news, statistics, and commentary without the sales spin. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 07:48:56 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Nell Plottshttp://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37814 Nell Plotts Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:41:43 +0000 http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37814 Disbelief said: “I’d say it’s also a good indication of the likelihood of future investigation by the IRS too ..”

Actually not. SEC for the publicly traded maybe, but not the IRS.

BTW, the other red flag is fleeing Sales Reps. Not applicable to this business model. The classic example was to watch Floating Point Reps move to Sun Microsystems.

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]]> By: BRhttp://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37809 BR Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:13:05 +0000 http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37809 <p>While the press seems to indicate that HouseValues is a victim of a falling real estate market, the reality is far from this. The decline of HouseValues started much earlier, during the boom times itself. It had very poor engineering and no cost controls right from the start. Engineering/IT seemed to drag on and on and budgets were blown. Eventually the engineering guy M*** J****** was asked to leave. However, by then much newer startups like Redfin/Trulia/Zillow had begun to differentiate themselves and HouseValues was left far behind in a race, that was theirs to lose.<br /> What a difference a guy makes!</p> <div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('37809','BR',''); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('37809','BR','<p>While the press seems to indicate that HouseValues is a victim of a falling real estate market, the reality is far from this. The decline of HouseValues started much earlier, during the boom times itself. It had very poor engineering and no cost controls right from the start. Engineering\/IT seemed to drag on and on and budgets were blown. Eventually the engineering guy M*** J****** was asked to leave. However, by then much newer startups like Redfin\/Trulia\/Zillow had begun to differentiate themselves and HouseValues was left far behind in a race, that was theirs to lose.<br \/>\r\nWhat a difference a guy makes!<\/p>\r\n',''); return false;">Quote</a></div> While the press seems to indicate that HouseValues is a victim of a falling real estate market, the reality is far from this. The decline of HouseValues started much earlier, during the boom times itself. It had very poor engineering and no cost controls right from the start. Engineering/IT seemed to drag on and on and budgets were blown. Eventually the engineering guy M*** J****** was asked to leave. However, by then much newer startups like Redfin/Trulia/Zillow had begun to differentiate themselves and HouseValues was left far behind in a race, that was theirs to lose.
What a difference a guy makes!

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]]> By: disbeliefhttp://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37745 disbelief Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:02:14 +0000 http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37745 "She told me that the most significant indicator of corporate implosion in tech is the departure of the CFO"I'd say it's also a good indication of the likelihood of future investigation by the IRS too :-)This was just a lead generating machine for RE agents and brokers, no longer viable in a stagnant / declining market. They're history for sure.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('37745','disbelief',''); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('37745','disbelief','\"She told me that the most significant indicator of corporate implosion in tech is the departure of the CFO\"\r\n\r\nI\'d say it\'s also a good indication of the likelihood of future investigation by the IRS too :-)\r\n\r\nThis was just a lead generating machine for RE agents and brokers, no longer viable in a stagnant \/ declining market. They\'re history for sure.',''); return false;">Quote</a></div> “She told me that the most significant indicator of corporate implosion in tech is the departure of the CFO”

I’d say it’s also a good indication of the likelihood of future investigation by the IRS too :-)

This was just a lead generating machine for RE agents and brokers, no longer viable in a stagnant / declining market. They’re history for sure.

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]]> By: WestSideBillyhttp://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37713 WestSideBilly Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:28:48 +0000 http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37713 Mike Hunt is my neighbor. He wants to buy a house because he needs a place for his pink ponies.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('37713','WestSideBilly',''); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('37713','WestSideBilly','Mike Hunt is my neighbor. He wants to buy a house because he needs a place for his pink ponies.',''); return false;">Quote</a></div> Mike Hunt is my neighbor. He wants to buy a house because he needs a place for his pink ponies.
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]]> By: softwarengineerhttp://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37706 softwarengineer Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:40:40 +0000 http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37706 THE BIG RATS JUMP THE SINKING SHIP FIRST<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('37706','softwarengineer',''); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('37706','softwarengineer','THE BIG RATS JUMP THE SINKING SHIP FIRST',''); return false;">Quote</a></div> THE BIG RATS JUMP THE SINKING SHIP FIRST
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]]> By: Nell Plottshttp://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37705 Nell Plotts Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:06:43 +0000 http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37705 I have a daughter who is a Controller in the Sillicon Valley. She told me that the most significant indicator of corporate implosion in tech is the departure of the CFO.Given the business plan no one will put Home Values on life support.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('37705','Nell Plotts',''); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('37705','Nell Plotts','I have a daughter who is a Controller in the Sillicon Valley. She told me that the most significant indicator of corporate implosion in tech is the departure of the CFO. \r\n\r\nGiven the business plan no one will put Home Values on life support.',''); return false;">Quote</a></div> I have a daughter who is a Controller in the Sillicon Valley. She told me that the most significant indicator of corporate implosion in tech is the departure of the CFO.

Given the business plan no one will put Home Values on life support.

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]]> By: Chrishttp://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37704 Chris Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:49:49 +0000 http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37704 This article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120111917285710781.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news "Housing Slump Starts to Hit Stronger Cities"makes some interesting references to Seattle's rising inventory and predicts continued price declines here.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('37704','Chris',''); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('37704','Chris','This article:\r\nhttp:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB120111917285710781.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news\r\n\"Housing Slump Starts to Hit Stronger Cities\" \r\n\r\nmakes some interesting references to Seattle\'s rising inventory and predicts continued price declines here.',''); return false;">Quote</a></div> This article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120111917285710781.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
“Housing Slump Starts to Hit Stronger Cities”

makes some interesting references to Seattle’s rising inventory and predicts continued price declines here.

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]]> By: Rayhttp://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37701 Ray Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:49:57 +0000 http://seattlebubble.com/blog/2008/01/24/housevalues-cfo-jumps-ship/#comment-37701 Zillow was the dagger to an already declining PPS. They still have over 3.00 in cash on the books on last release. But, now after dropping 2.5 mill on Active Rain who knows. What a model though. Getting money from Realtors who have none. Leads generated with names such as Mike Hunt angering Agents daily. locking Agents into 12 month contracts and sending them to collections. Put a fork in it already.Ray Pepper Broker www.500Realty.net<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('37701','Ray',''); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('37701','Ray','Zillow was the dagger to an already declining PPS. They still have over 3.00 in cash on the books on last release. But, now after dropping 2.5 mill on Active Rain who knows. What a model though. Getting money from Realtors who have none. Leads generated with names such as Mike Hunt angering Agents daily. locking Agents into 12 month contracts and sending them to collections. Put a fork in it already.\r\n\r\nRay Pepper\r\nBroker\r\nwww.500Realty.net',''); return false;">Quote</a></div> Zillow was the dagger to an already declining PPS. They still have over 3.00 in cash on the books on last release. But, now after dropping 2.5 mill on Active Rain who knows. What a model though. Getting money from Realtors who have none. Leads generated with names such as Mike Hunt angering Agents daily. locking Agents into 12 month contracts and sending them to collections. Put a fork in it already.

Ray Pepper
Broker
http://www.500Realty.net

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