Episode summary
What Kelley Blue Book Homes is building with new valuation platform
HousingWire Daily
· · 26 min · Hosts: Sarah Wheeler · Guests: John Liss
Summary
John Liss says Kelley Blue Book Homes is meant to bring a trusted valuation brand into residential real estate by pairing Kelley Blue Book’s consumer recognition with True Footage’s appraisal software and data. He argues the timing is right because the company already has valuation technology that is accurate and interpretable, and the Kelley Blue Book name gives consumers and agents a familiar benchmark for home prices.
The platform is different from a typical automated estimate, Liss says, because it asks consumers questions, validates data up front, uses appraisal methodology, and can involve a human in the loop for more complex cases. He says the company is already seeing better results than other commercial tools, and that sellers are coming to the site to verify pricing, share price cuts, and find a fair market range.
The business model is lead generation for vetted agents, with selection based on performance in a zip code rather than simple pay-to-play access. Liss also says the company is building adjacent tools for lenders and homeowners, including valuation refreshes and renovation scenarios, while preparing for UAD 3.6 adoption across the appraisal industry.
Key takeaways
- Liss says Kelley Blue Book Homes is trying to create a home-price benchmark as recognizable as Kelley Blue Book is for cars.
- He says the platform uses consumer input, appraisal methodology and additional data sources, not just an address-based estimate.
- Liss says the company is tracking median error and other accuracy metrics and believes its results are better than existing commercial tools.
- He says agent access is selective and based on zip-code performance, sale-to-list ratios, days on market and conversion quality.
- Liss expects the platform to expand into lender-facing valuation products, renovation scenarios and quarterly value refreshes.
Notable quotes
“we thought as a company like, "Wow, we have this incredible evaluation software. It's really accurate. It's really interpretable so people can actually see how we came up with evaluations”
“Kelly Blue Book was the right brand. And Kelly Blue Book is an evolving brand”
“we're not just going to return junk for the sake of returning junk. We actually want to make sure that we're doing the right work”
“we're actually making sure that if you are working that zip code, you have a demonstrated history in that zip code”
How the episode opens
Welcome everyone. My guest today is John Liss, the CEO of True Footage and Kelly Blue Book Homes to talk about the launch of their new valuation platform and what it means for consumers, real estate agents, and maybe mortgage lenders. John, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks for having me.
Great to have you on. you guys have uh you know you've been busy. So uh let's see.
We had you had a series C round and then you've entered into a a JV with Kelly Blue Book. So now you are the CEO of Kelly Blue Book Homes. Um an exciting uh let me let me read you that part real quick.
Um, first you had the uh series C round and then shortly after that announced that um, you know, you guys were doing a JV with Kelly Blue Book and now it's Kelly Blue Book Homes. You're the CEO of that. Really exciting new development in uh, home valuation.
So, I'm excited about talking to you about that.
Thank you. It's been an exciting couple months for sure.
So, let's start with like um, what does this JV mean? So when we looked at this, first of all, I thought it was really interesting to see Kelly Blue Book, a really trusted name, you know, for like car car valuations, right? Enter the home space.
And immediately you had people be like, "Oh, homes are so much more complicated than cars. How are they going to do that? Of course, that's where True Footage comes in.
So maybe walk us through why you feel like um first of all why now was a good time to to do this and and how you feel like you guys are providing something different than say like this estimate.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- home valuations
- real estate agents
- mortgage lenders
- consumer home pricing
- valuation platform launch
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Kelley Blue Book Homes
- True Footage
Watch the episode
Watch “What Kelley Blue Book Homes is building with new valuation platform” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
More from HousingWire Daily
-
The headlines impacting mortgage rates -
Has housing demand already changed with lower rates? -
How midterms and jobs week will affect rates -
Preparing for Q1 growth in reverse mortgages -
A clear pathway to sub-7% mortgage rates for Thanksgiving? -
Mortgage rates, inflation and those homeowner vacancy numbers
HousingWire Daily, this episode and its artwork belong to HousingWire. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
