Those Spring Weather Patterns Have Appeared

Each December, various industry thought leaders issue their predictions with respect to what is in store for the industry over the next year. Generally speaking, only about 47 percent of these predictions end up being even close to true.

A much safer bet for the predictor is to wait until March, see what is actually in the air, and then project those forces and directions. By way of example, for 2017 there are four current initiatives that, as March approaches, appear positioned to have significant relevance and/or impact upon the American real estate industry and marketplace.

The first of these four forces would have to be the efforts of our friends from the Zillow Group. Much of Zillow's success in 2017 will have to come from momentum gained from a terrific 2016. In 2016, after slowly climbing the market ladder for some ten years, Zillow exploded into an amazing level of success. The Premiere Agent and brokerage programs gained significant altitude. The Zillow self-service program with its game changing tools was launched to an almost immediate success. We are informed that a number of new and exciting programs and products will be introduced over the next few months.

With a current market cap of $7.3 billion, it hardly matters that one of the things that Zillow is celebrating this month is having lost less money in 2016 than in any other year. Most amazing of all is the fact that Zillow's recent success doesn't just apply to Zillow Group, it applies to the entire industry. Zillow's victories are not just making Wall Street happy, they are reconfiguring an entire industry to approach the transaction in a fundamentally different fashion. That is impressive stuff.