Zillow allows home listings on site
More and more real estate websites have been popping up lately, changing the way that home buyers and sellers conduct real estate transactions.
One popular site, Zillow.com, which has become one of the top sites because it allows visitors to get the value of their house or their neighbors’, is now letting people list their homes for sale.
This new change in how the website will operate is creating a lot of buzz in the real estate world.
A December 7, 2006 article by Annette Haddad of The Los Angeles Times, “Zillow is for sales, not just snooping,” discusses the new changes to this website and the real estate industry in general.
“Real estate website Zillow.com became an instant hit by telling homeowners — and their nosy neighbors — how much their houses might be worth. Now, the Seattle-based company will help owners get the word out about how much they want in a sale.”
“Starting today, Zillow Inc. joins a growing list of websites that allows homeowners and real estate agents to post virtual ‘For Sale’ signs for free. The feature also plugs a hole on the site, which touts a database of more than 60 million U.S. residences but no information on what most viewers want to know: Is this home for sale?”
Some industry insiders think that these new ways of listing homes are going to affect the real estate world in terms of how people conduct a home sale.
Services such as Zillow, and the many others out there could make the need for a direct broker unnecessary.
“‘It's just one more chink in the armor of the established brokerage industry,’ said Steve Murray, an industry consultant based in Littleton, Colo. ‘It provides consumers with more choices.’”
“Adding a listings service was necessary for Zillow to bring in new viewers and bring back old ones, said Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence, a San Francisco-based research firm.”
The only thing about Zillow’s new service is that it relies on visitors to the website to post their own listings; they are not pulling in listings from a multiple listing service or some other venue. All of the listings will be strictly what home sellers post on there.
“‘It's all contingent on people actually showing up and doing these things,’ Sterling said.”
Since its inception in February, many have been watching Zillow closely and saying that it could be a huge factor in the re-shaping of the real estate industry, making information available that was only previously accessible through an agent or broker.
“‘The availability of this information online is starting to change expectations,’ Sterling said. ‘It doesn't mean an agent won't be involved in the transaction. But maybe there will be downward pressure on fees, or at least agents will be asked to justify their commissions.’”
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