A photo of Errol Samuelson.
Errol Samuelson

Bloodsport. House of Cards.

Those are a few of the ways that Inman News publisher Brad Inman describes what’s occurring in the ever-changing real estate business as he sits down to speak with Zillow’s new exec, Errol Samuelson.

Samuelson made news when he jumped from Move Inc. to Zillow — in part because Move filed a lawsuit a few days after his appointment at Zillow, alleging breach of contract, among other things.

It probably didn’t help matters that Zillow picked up Samuelson’s replacement, Curt Beardsley, on the same day the lawsuit was filed.

As can be imagined, Samuelson deflects direct questions about the lawsuit, saying he’ll let the attorneys take care of that. But Samuleson also offers an interesting perspective on why he joined Zillow, painting a picture of the innovative and fast-paced culture at the company, including its deep push into mobile.

Here’s what Samuelson had to say when Inman asked him about leaving Move Inc., the parent company of Realtor.com.

“We accomplished a lot of great things, and I feel good about that. I still have a lot of friends at the company that I care about. And, for me, this was really more about the opportunity at Zillow. As you mentioned, this is a company that is a company that is doing incredibly well, almost 70 million consumers per month coming to the site. For me, it was a chance to do something really meaningful on that big canvas with those kind of consumers at a company that wants to innovate, and is innovating. But doing it in a way, and sort of bringing a perspective of how you do this in a way that is supportive of the industry, working with the MLSes, the franchisors, the brokers. And, to me, that is a really interesting opportunity because we are in the midst of a lot of change, technological change, social change. So, I think a lot of big things are going to happen. And it is going to happen where the market is headed, and that is Zillow. And, so for me, that is really exciting.”

In minute seven, Inman asks about Rascoff’s competitive drive, built in the spirit of companies like Amazon.com and Microsoft. And then in minute 10, Inman draws comparisons between Amazon and Zillow, asking whether Zillow will disrupt traditional real estate agents and brokers, just as Amazon has disrupted traditional publishers.

You can watch the full video here.

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