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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 seems that way to me, at least in my buying/selling experience. We hardly used our agent--actually we did not at all--for the home search. She was solely to traffic us through the process of buying the house. It stumped me too to read on these forums to make sure you have a good agent when selling your home! When I read that I was like, my agent didn't do a single thing for me when in the way of finding the home I wanted to buy; if someone's like me and they find my house and want to buy it, what's the difference if the agent's a good one or a mediocre one? As long as they know the basics of the home-buying process.
It turned out we really didn't need a great real estate agent to sell my home. I took the first one that I talked to. He seemed okay, but I didn't think he was anything outstanding. Ended up selling the home in about a month (well, like 6 weeks to closing. ~ a month from listing to getting a seriously interested buyer. That buyer was the first one to be seriously interested incidentally. She probably was like me and found the house on Zillow and just used the agent as a middle-man).
It seems that way to me, at least in my buying/selling experience. We hardly used our agent--actually we did not at all--for the home search. She was solely to traffic us through the process of buying the house. It stumped me too to read on these forums to make sure you have a good agent when selling your home! When I read that I was like, my agent didn't do a single thing for me when in the way of finding the home I wanted to buy; if someone's like me and they find my house and want to buy it, what's the difference if the agent's a good one or a mediocre one? As long as they know the basics of the home-buying process.
It turned out we really didn't need a great real estate agent to sell my home. I took the first one that I talked to. He seemed okay, but I didn't think he was anything outstanding. Ended up selling the home in about a month (well, like 6 weeks to closing. ~ a month from listing to getting a seriously interested buyer. That buyer was the first one to be seriously interested incidentally. She probably was like me and found the house on Zillow and just used the agent as a middle-man).
Well the reason that it matters as a seller is good agents know homes. I just sold a house for $459,000 in 5 days that the two other agents they interviewed said wasn't realistic. I told the sellers I was sure I could get $450 minimum and I got a bit more. So they made $35 grand more by listing with me over the other two.
That's why it matters. So could you have gotten more with a better real estate agent or is just the mere act of selling it what you were wanting?
I don't think it is Zillow so much. It is really more just the existence of the internet. I bought houses in the "old" days pre-Internet when you had to rely on your agent finding listings for you and then sending them to me. Even in the 1990s, once email was around it was still a pain since listing were sent to me by my agent via email but there weren't pics or other information.
I remember when I first saw MLS listings online (it was for the local MLS where I lived then) and I just loved it. In those days, though, it was annoying since the address of the house wasn't given. But, over time that changed.
We just moved about 250 miles from where we lived before. Before we moved I was perusing the market mostly through realtor.com. (Where I was living there was a good local search site that I used. The new area really didn't have anything as good so I used realtor.com). It did make things easier. I occasionally did go to zillow as zillow was sometimes better at showing prior listings and price changes. Later, when we moved and were in a rental trying to find a house we did get a local buyer's agent who did send me listings through a portal. It was somewhat helpful as those listings did show room dimensions while the realtor.com listings do not.
But, yes, it is way easier to search now. When I first met with the agent I had already identified several houses that I wanted to see and had rejected others based upon pictures.
I browse Zillow almost daily. Not looking to buy or sell right now. But I like to view other parts of the country home buying worth versus here in NJ for when our final move down to Delaware comes
I browse Zillow almost daily. Not looking to buy or sell right now. But I like to view other parts of the country home buying worth versus here in NJ for when our final move down to Delaware comes
ME TOO!
After my husband's death, studying the housing market via Zillow brought me the first glimmers of fresh joy, after so much sadness. I could really study the houses (interior pictures) and get a feel for what I wanted in my next home.
It helped me create a vision and a plan for the new chapter in my life.
I hope that Zillow does continue to revolutionize the housing industry. The current system (Realtors and laborious, time-consuming transactions) is a very tired model with many flaws.
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.
I agree with this 100%.
I bought my house in late-2009 from 4 hours drive away. I used Zillow to track listings. When I saw something I liked, I called a close friend who used to be a realtor in town before she moved 2000 miles away to recommend a competent realtor to use as my buyer's agent. I'm from that town. I didn't need a realtor to do anything but unlock the door and relay the offer to the seller. I got my value from having the realtor run things down for me that are challenging to do from 4 hours drive away.
I'm not a realtor. I'd never do FSBO for the same reason I don't sell things on CraigsList. I don't want every yahoo on the planet calling me.
That's why it matters. So could you have gotten more with a better real estate agent or is just the mere act of selling it what you were wanting?
I just wanted it sold. We were in the process of buying a house before we sold so I just wanted it off my hands. I see your point now that if you're looking for the best deal you may want to get a good agent. The home I sold was just a mobile home, so I wasn't looking for much! (Ended up getting more than I paid for it so I thought I got a great deal for the type of home it is!).
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