From left: Susan Daimler, Matt Daimler, and Zillow Group CEO Spencer Rascoff (Credit: Twitter)
StreetEasy general manager Susan Daimler has been tapped for a national role running Zillow Group’s Premier Agent program — the lucrative advertising feature that last year roiled New York brokers, resulting in a probe by state regulators.
The Seattle-based listings giant said Monday that Daimler had been named to a “key strategic role” as senior vice president of Premier Agent, a newly-created role that reflects the program’s vital role at Zillow.
Last year, Premier Agent generated $761.1 million of Zillow Group’s $1.1 billion in revenue. That’s a 26 percent year-over-year, and nearly 70 percent of the company’s total revenue.
Daimler has led StreetEasy since 2013, when Zillow purchased the New York City-based site for $50 million.
She will be succeeded as head of Zillow’s New York operation by her husband, Matt Daimler, who had been heading up the company’s strategic initiatives in New York. He was also general manager of Out East, Zillow’s Hamptons-focused portal. Zillow also operates Naked Apartments, which it purchased for $13 million in 2016.
Prior to joining Zillow, Susan and Matt Daimler founded Buyfolio, a co-shopping platform. They also founded SeatGuru, which they sold to TripAdvisor in 2007.
In a statement, Greg Schwartz, Zillow’s president of media and marketplaces, said StreetEasy experienced “tremendous success” under Susan’s leadership.
Although New York brokers lambasted Premier Agent when it launched in 2017, under Daimler’s leadership many of the city’s biggest firms came around.
In a major turnaround, the Corcoran Group, Douglas Elliman, Nest Seekers International and BOND New York opted into StreetEasy’s “Premier Broker” program, through which firms can purchase buyer leads.
Within a year of Premier Agent’s New York City debut, prices had skyrocketed thanks to auction-based pricing that saw the price-per-lead spike in some of Manhattan’s priciest ZIP codes.
Prodded by the Real Estate Board of New York, which is opposed to Premier Agent, state regulators are looking into how listings are marketed online. The Department of State is said to be considering new guidelines that would require changes to Premier Agent as well as other forms of online advertising.
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