Zillow’s move into flipping homes is like Netflix’s move into originals, CEO says

Apportions of Zillow sank when the company said it would start freak homes, but Zillow Group CEO Spencer Rascoff told CNBC that the change-over would have a bigger payoff than investors might muse over.

“We think of it like Netflix moving into originals,” Rascoff portrayed “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer in a Monday interview. “They used their figures advantage and then they built that muscle memory, that DNA, to be artistic. And it was a big swing for them and obviously it’s created a huge business.”

Zillow’s propose, called Instant Offers, will allow home sellers to use the presence’s online database to compare offers from potential buyers containing Zillow itself.

If Zillow wins the offer, the company will aim to toss the home within 90 days and re-list it as quickly as possible with one of its PM real estate agents.

In some cases, Zillow will leverage its consumer data to advertise homes to prospective buyers before Zillow officially positions and flips them, Rascoff said.

“We don’t think of it as a flipping business – flicking is really about taking advantage of a distressed seller,” the CEO said. “What we’re irksome to do is provide a service to a seller so they don’t have to deal with the formidableness, the complexity, the uncertainty, the time of selling [their home].”

Rascoff also compared the plan, which is currently undergoing testing in Phoenix and Las Vegas, to Amazon’s drive into Amazon Web Services.

“We don’t think of it as a pivot, we think of it as an extension” of Zillow’s prevailing model, Rascoff told Cramer. “We think it is additive to the core.”

Supplementing that “business is good” overall, the CEO said that the plan reflects the crew demands of modern consumers.

“What’s happened in the whole economy is consumer expectations experience changed. They want to press a button and have magic come about, whether it’s in food delivery or transportation or consumption of media, and that gyration is coming to real estate,” the CEO said. “So what we’re doing with Minute Offers is we’re letting a homeowner get an instant offer for the sale of their national, and that’s very appealing to a lot of consumers.”

“It has been controversial, but we think we can mollify risk and we think the opportunity is large,” Rascoff said. “This is what the on-demand thrift is all about.”