'Unfiltered': Real estate must stop moving ‘at the speed of paper’
Watch the conversation as the CEO of Matterport shares his pitch to skeptical agents and his push to create the “forward-looking ecosystem” homebuyers expect.
Editor's note: The Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered podcast explores the people and forces that shape the real estate industry. Check out our top takeaways and this episode from NextHome CEO James Dwiggins and Keith Robinson, NextHome's chief strategic officer.
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On this episode of Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered, Matterport CEO RJ Pittman talks about innovation, getting bought by CoStar and how the real estate industry needs to shift from moving "at the speed of paper" to the speed of digital.
"The speed of paper is sort of folksy. Shake hands … I've got a buyer, you've got a listing, right? And there's parts of that that are really beautiful and elegant, and I hope the industry doesn't lose that," Pittman said. "We just need forward-looking agents and a forward-looking ecosystem. The buyers are starting to expect this now."
Especially Gen Z and millennials, whose $10 trillion generational spending power exceeds that of baby boomers, he said. "They were all born digital" — and expect digital real estate transactions.
On his pitch to skeptical agents: Pittman, a veteran of Google, Apple and eBay, said he's talked to agents who say, "If I put a digital twin or a virtual tour on my listing, then nobody's going to come to my open house … I lose my chance to network."
His response? Opening the digital door can attract a much bigger audience. "You might get 3,000 people to come visit that property virtually … more than you would have ever seen coming through the front door of the actual house." More people, more opportunity — and less work. "The Matterport tour is more than a virtual tour. It's all of this data and property insights that let prospective buyers ask a million questions while the agent's off, you know, building relationships or catching up on their sleep."
What the industry really needs to overcome, Pittman said, is the mentality of "what's the least amount of effort I can do to get the house sold for the best price?"
On the impact of commissions lawsuits: "I feel like the seller agents and the buyer agents are still too intertwined — especially in local markets where you're trying to get a house sold. And it seems to me like the overarching goal still has been to sell the house at whatever effort it takes, independent of price, right? I don't yet see efficient markets. ... I think some of the rulings that have come down make a lot of sense to try to disconnect a little bit of this."
On CoStar, which announced a $1.6 billion deal to buy Matterport in April 2024: Pittman said he loves that CoStar CEO Andy Florance "is so pro-innovation," and that they are united in their desire to create an ecosystem of "digital twins" of properties and spatial data that can move the industry forward.
"We need it," Pittman said. "We were just talking about, like, why isn't this happening faster? How is it there's not a tour on every listing — and not just for home sales, but for Airbnbs, hotels, commercial office space?"
The acquisition is expected to be finalized in early 2025.