As chief executive of HouseValues, Ian Morris led the successful initial public offering of the online real estate marketing and lead-generation company in late 2004. HouseValues continues to grow with new product offerings and expanded agent and broker clients, and is aggressively eyeing the online share of real estate advertising dollars.
Morris is a high-energy Harvard grad who first made his mark on the real estate world 10 years ago when he started working for Microsoft’s online real estate business.
The executive will speak at Real Estate Connect in San Francisco, July 31-Aug. 3.
Here are his answers to a set of questions posed by Inman News:
What was your first job?
Product manager for Aetna’s 401(k) plan unit.
What made you want to join HouseValues?
I saw a huge opportunity to leverage the power of the Internet to bring very tangible benefits to real estate professionals. We have come a long way in delivering on this promise, but the best is still ahead of us.
What’s been your biggest challenge in running the business?
Staying one step ahead as we continue to innovate and bring new ideas, products, services and training to help our real estate professional customers achieve even greater success.
What worries keep you awake at night?
We are expecting our third child on Aug. 8, so making my flight this afternoon is pretty high on the current list.
What lesson did you learn in the last year?
We learned that our business is even more cyclical than we expected.
What would your second career choice be?
Writer for “The Daily Show” or for “Saturday Night Live”
Who is your hero?
I always looked to both of my parents as role models for the type of person that I want to be.
Hear Morris speak at Real Estate Connect in San Francisco, July 31- Aug. 3. The conference program and registration are available online via the Connect Web site.
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