Another Zillow departure: broker rep Duane Fouts

A past president of the Arizona Association of Realtors brought on board by Zillow as a consultant last year to help the portal strengthen its relationship with brokers left the company this week.

Duane Fouts, who ran Phoenix-based brokerage Dan Schwartz Realty Inc. for 14 years as owner, and was also a past president of the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS), joined Zillow in April 2012 as director of partner relations.

Duane Fouts

“Well … today is my last day at Zillow,” Fouts posted on his Facebook page, according to Troy Rech, vice president of sales at Clareity Security. “I have really enjoyed my time with the company, but a new policy would have required me to relocate to Seattle … and I am just not willing to do that.”

A Zillow spokeswoman said the company has hired Colby Culbertson, a former field marketing manager for Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate offices in California’s Sacramento and Tahoe region, to take over Fouts’ duties. Culbertson has relocated to Seattle to take the job, the spokeswoman said.

News of Fouts’ departure comes on the heels of a decision by his former ARMLS colleague, Bob Bemis, to leave his position as vice president of partner relations.

Bemis, whose last day was Monday, cited frustration at not getting more MLSs to provide Zillow with direct listing feeds.

Fouts was tasked with “increasing communications and building stronger cooperative relationships with the brokerage community,” Bemis blogged when Fouts was hired.

More than 120 brokers are now sending direct listing feeds to Zillow through the Zillow Pro for Brokers program.

“Duane Fouts worked as a consultant for Zillow for over a year and we really enjoyed having him here,” the Zillow spokeswoman told Inman News. “We made the decision several months ago to bring the position on full-time, in the Seattle office, and we offered it first to Duane. However, he wanted to stay in Arizona. We are separating on great terms, and we wish Duane well.”