Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Zillow is part of the internet revolution in home buying. First of all, it saves prospective homeowners a ton of time. You can see the listing, the neighborhood, see pix of the house and not have to rely on descriptions which may or not be accurate. In the old days you were totally depended on an agent. They told you about a property based on your wants and needs. You could drive by, but not go in, without them (which is still the case). When I bought my WNY house in 2006, I got the "pink sheets" for the latest listings did a drive by to see if it looked like a possibility and wasted a lot of time. With no pix you had to hope you liked it. I finally found a house but a lot of it was due to my diligence and staying on top of things, living in and being familiar with the area. Out of towners would not have that luxury. Fast forward 10 years and it was much easier. We were moving to a state we knew very little about (Florida) which is quite large and the options are limitless. Zillow made things a lot easier. Agents would send me listings which I could peruse and having Zillow to cross check time on market, surrounding properties, what it last sold for (flip or not) and a birds-eye view were invaluable. Is Zillow perfect? No, but its a great resource. Its great to look at what the neighboring houses went for and you can see if you are buying the worst house in a great neighborhood or visa versa. It will never replace Agents or should it. Agents are great for shepherding you through the labyrinth of home buying and getting you into the listings you found. It also makes it easier to do a FSBO. It will change the RE business like it has others.
It is not going to change the real estate business at all. Granted, FSBO's can list their homes on Zillow, but FSBOs are not normally savvy enough to deal with a buyer, and can't tell a real buyer from someone calling for a nosey neighbor.
Zillow is supported in part by real estate agents who, in order to put their listings on Zillow, have to pay a fee to post a listing on there. Why would they do that when they already belong to the largest and best system yet. www.Realtor.com where you can get more accurate real time information that is updated every 24 hrs. You can also get the accurate sold prices of other homes in the area in which you are looking.
It only makes FSBOs feel good, and sometimes they get lucky and find a buyer. Then you both need an attorney to draw up a contract that will cover all the nuances that a Realtor does for you that protects both buyer and seller.
If you believe in its "worth" which is zero, have at it.
What Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, etc did was take the power of the listing data out of the hands of agents and give it to consumers. This changed one very important cultural problem in real estate. Real estate agents could no longer hide listings from consumers that they didn't want to show or steer them towards in brokerage listings. Consumers could find homes themselves on portals and then ask to see them. It was an important shift in control, I think.
It absolutely makes it easier to go FSBO, but most sellers don't want to do that. The fact that FSBO's haven't increased significantly in hot markets says something about what consumers want.
Zillow at one point said that the modest 2 bed/2 bath condo that I bought for under $120k in 2016 was worth $450k. While that has since been changed; it still says that the rent "zestimate" would be $2600/month. If only!
zillow doesn't post any photos that weren't posted by the agent with the listing already
zillow has always posted all those "recently sold next door houses", but their info improves overtime since it's no longer JUST based on county tax rolls.
they all have basically had the same map features for years, though zillow certainly could have been the first to give "view" details.
zillow should be the platform of choice for FSBO's, but as others have noted, even zillow can't seem to crack that market.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
