| URL | zillow.com |
|---|---|
| Slogan | Your Edge In Real Estate |
| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | Real estate |
| Registration | Optional |
| Available language(s) | English |
| Owner | Zillow, Inc. |
| Created by | Rich Barton, Lloyd Frink |
| Launched | February 8, 2006 |
| Alexa rank | 593 (January 2012[update])[1] |
| Current status | Active |
Zillow (NASDAQ: Z) is an online real estate database that was founded in 2005 by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink, former Microsoft executives and founders of Microsoft spin-off Expedia. The website uses a proprietary algorithm called the "Zestimate" to appraise property values based on undisclosed factors. Sellers can use Zillow as a marketing tool by appraising their properties, posting property information such as improvements and access to major roads; and comparing nearby property value appraisals. Buyers can freely access and track such information online. The website currently tracks 100 million valuations throughout the United States. Zillow was ranked in the top 300 U.S. sites in terms of traffic by Alexa.[2] [3] It has encountered controversy over alleged appraisal licensing violations in some states[4][5] and the degree of inaccuracy and alleged inconsistencies of its appraisal algorithm. When the results of its appraisal algorithm are challenged and requests for corrections are made, Zillow states that it cannot change the estimate because it pulls in data from other sources and further states that the changes have to be made by the customer by going to the source(s) of the information. Zillow thus absolves itself from inaccurate estimations of a property's value.[6]In addition, Zillow's lack of reliability is primarily because it cannot take into account any form of property renovations, condition of properties, upgrades to the property in the form of landscaping, roofing, kitchen improvements, etc. Therefore, two houses standing side-by-side with similar square footage and number of bedrooms are valued at the same price on Zillow, regardless of condition.
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Zillow has stated that it is a media company that generates revenue by selling advertising on the Web site.[7] In April 2009, Zillow announced a partnership to lend its real estate search engine to the Web sites of more than 180 United States newspapers as a part of the Zillow Newspaper Consortium. Zillow shares advertising revenue from the co-branded sites with the newspapers and extends its reach into local markets.[8]
In February 2011, Zillow and Yahoo! Real Estate launched an exclusive partnership creating the largest real-estate advertising network on the web, according to comScore Media Metrix.[9]
On July 6th, 2011, Zillow announced terms for its IPO. They plan to raise $45 million by offering 3.5 million shares at a price range of $12 to $14 with a concurrent private offering of $5.5 million to existing investors.[10]
In April 2011 Zillow acquired Postlets, an online real estate listing creation and distribution platform. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.[11]
Zillow has data on 100 million homes across the United States, not just those homes currently for sale. In addition to giving value estimates of homes, it offers several features including value changes of each home in a given time frame (such as one, five, or 10 years), aerial views of homes, and prices of comparable homes in the area. Where it can access appropriate public data, it also provides basic information on a given home, such as square footage and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Users can also get current estimates of homes if there was a significant change made, such as a recently remodeled kitchen. Zillow provides an application programming interface (API) and developer support network.[12][13][14]
In December 2006, Zillow launched three new pieces of functionality: allowing users to post homes for sale and set a "Make Me Move" price (an informal way to pre-market a home), as well as a real estate wiki. In 2007, Zillow teamed with Microsoft to offer Bird's Eye View, a feature in Microsoft Virtual Earth, that shows (in certain areas) clearer aerial photographs taken from airplanes rather than conventional satellite imagery. Zillow uses this functionality for entertainment-focused features on famous homes.[15]
In December 2009, Zillow expanded its services to include the rental market.[16] The addition of rental listings enabled users to list a home for rent and search for both rental homes and homes for sale.
On April 3, 2008 Zillow launched a new service called Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. Borrowers can use Zillow Mortgage Marketplace to get custom loan quotes without revealing personally identifying information, such as Social Security numbers and phone numbers. Borrowers reveal their identities only after contacting the lender of their choice. Lenders can browse borrower requests and see competing quotes from other brokers before making a bid.[17] Zillow verifies every lender's identity, employment and broker license. Each lender has a public profile on the site with contact information, an e-mail link and ratings submitted by borrowers who contacted them.[18]
According to a summary of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace[19] written by Bernice Ross from Inman News on May 25, 2009, Zillow has improved the online loan application process by doing the following:
On April 29, 2009 Zillow released a free Zillow iPhone application. Utilizing the iPhone's GPS functionality, the app pinpoints a user's location and shows nearby homes on interactive aerial maps. The app also shows estimated home values, historical property records, for-sale listings, and photos. Zillow's app also offers data on 95 percent of the homes in the country which means iPhone users can look up the estimated value of a home or peruse interior photos of their neighbors' for sale home as they walk, drive, or boat around the neighborhood.[20] In some neighborhoods you can find homes where owners have posted Make Me Move prices. These are often sky-high numbers aimed at house coveters who can not wait for it to hit the market.[21] The application is available at the Apple App store.
On March 18, 2010 Zillow introduced a free Zillow Android App. The app uses GPS technology to find and follow users on an aerial map, and displays home values, home details, historical data, for-sale and for-rent listings, photos and recently-sold data on the homes around them. Home shoppers can filter their home searches by sale price, rental price, number of bedrooms/bathrooms and listing type. Users can also search for homes and neighborhoods utilizing the Android platform's voice search capabilities.[22] The app is available in the Android Market.
On April 2, 2010 Zillow launched the free Zillow on iPad App.[23] The app enables home shoppers and real estate professionals to search and browse cities and neighborhoods on a large touch-screen map with information on all homes, including those for sale or rent. In addition to map-based searching,users can view large images of multiple homes side-by-side; flick through preview photos of home versus another, or pick a home and browse large, nearly full screen images. Favorite homes can be synced with Zillow.com and the Zillow iPhone app for later viewing. Zillow on iPad is available at the Apple App store.
On March 31, 2011 Zillow launched a Zillow Blackberry App. The free location-based app shows users home valuations, for-sale and for-rent listings, recently sold data and allows people to filter searches and see results on a map, satellite and street view.[24] The Zillow Blackberry App can be found at Blackberry App World in the "shopping" category.
On December 16, 2008 Zillow launched Zillow Advice, allowing people to ask real estate questions online and get answers from the Web site's community of experts.[25] Zillow Advice, linked through a tab on Zillow's homepage, lets users tag questions by topic or geographic area. Users can tag questions by state, city or neighborhood; search questions and discussions by key word; and can note the "best answer" they get. Experts whose answers are frequently voted the best earn points towards a "Local Expert" badge. Professionals also can subscribe to specific locations or topics in their area of expertise, getting email or RSS feed notifications of new questions. Answers link to users' free Zillow profile page. Zillow Discussions and Home Q&A already allow broader discussion topics or home-specific questions and answers.
Maintained by the employees of Zillow, the Zillow Blog reports on everything from real estate industry market trends, home value information, mortgages, and celebrity real estate.
Zillow produces home value reports for the nation and over 130 metropolitan statistical areas. The reports identify market trends including, but not limited to: five and 10-year annualized change, negative equity,[26] short sales and foreclosure transactions. The reports are free to download at: www.zillow.com/reports/RealEstateMarketReports.htm.
Zillow also releases a Homeowner Confidence Survey.[27] The survey is conducted by Harris Interactive and measures homeowners' perceptions about home value changes of their own home and the local market.
The company said it had more than 24 million unique visitors in September 2011, representing year over year growth of 103 percent. [28][29] Of those users, 90% own a home and more than three quarters are looking to buy or sell within the next two years, helping others to buy or sell or looking to rent. Over 50 million U.S. homes have been viewed on Zillow. In some cities more than 90% of all homes that exist have been viewed on Zillow — this includes San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle. Over 10 million users have claimed and edited property information on the site.
Zillow determines an estimate for a house, which it refers to as "Zestimate", based on a range of publicly available information, including sales of comparable houses in a neighborhood.[30][31] Zestimate does not take into consideration home-specific factors like recent remodeling, although there is an option to update the information for a particular home. The accuracy of the Zestimate varies by location depending on how much information is publicly available, but Zillow allows users to check the accuracy of Zestimates in their own region against actual sales.[32] In many U.S. states, information on the transfer prices of real estate is readily available and accessible by the general public and is not exclusively held in realtors' databases.[33]
In March 2011, Zillow released Rent Zestimates, which provide estimated rent prices for 90 million homes on both the Zillow website and all of its mobile apps.[34]
On June 14, 2011 Zillow changed its algorithm used to calculate Zestimates. In addition to changing the current Zestimate for millions of homes throughout the country, Zillow changed historical Zestimate value information dating back to 2006. This resulted in drastic changes in both past and present Zestimate values for millions of homeowners.
In 2007, The Wall Street Journal studied the accuracy of Zillow's estimates and found that they are "often are very good, frequently within a few percentage points of the actual price paid. But when Zillow is bad, it can be terrible."[35]
According to Fortune, "Zillow has Zestimated the value of 57 percent of U.S. housing stock, but only 65 percent of that could be considered 'accurate'—by its definition, within 10 percent of the actual selling price. And even that accuracy isn't equally distributed."[36] Fortune cites the state of Louisiana as an example, where "the site is just about worthless".[36]
In October 2006, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission[37] stating that Zillow was "intentionally misleading consumers and real-estate professionals to rely upon the accuracy of its valuation services despite the full knowledge of the company officials that their valuation Automated Valuation Model (AVM) mechanism is highly inaccurate and misleading." In a letter dated May 4, 2007, the FTC elected not to investigate this complaint,[38] which was later withdrawn by the NCRC.
Real estate brokers state the site does not give an accurate reflection and that other factors must be taken into consideration in buying or selling a home. Real estate agents with specific market knowledge are more likely to know specific factors affecting the sale of a home such as the overall condition of the home, room flow, landscaping, views, traffic noise, and privacy. These factors have been called unzillowables, a term coined in the real estate blogosphere.
Zillow may use the last bank, assessment or sales transaction for home value. Some of this data is very 'old' (over twenty years) and so even home descriptions may be inaccurate (i.e., change in size/structure). This may mislead buyers (who may feel asking prices are way out of range when compared to the 'Zillow price') and work against sellers (because Zillow lists homes as worth far less than the current 'value'--based on Bank/tax assessments and recent sales.)
According to the company, "the Zillow name evolved from the desire to make zillions of data points for homes accessible to everyone. And, since a home is about more than just data - it is where you lay your head to rest at night, like a pillow - 'Zillow' was born."[39]