Does Zillow Actually Help Folks Sell Houses?
Posted in
real estate news
on August 5, 2016
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When people think about selling their home online, they often think about Zillow, an online internet MLS of sorts in which real estate agents, brokers, and even homeowners can list their homes for sale. But does Zillow actually work? Has anyone ever been successful at selling a house through Zillow?
To find out how Zillow has impacted the Real Estate industry we’ve asked a number of experts to share their experience with Zillow:
I have NEVER sold a house through Zillow, in fact, I almost LOST a sale as a direct result of misinformation about my listing on Zillow. The buyers of my listing contacted their buyer’s agent, who called me completely flustered and asking WHY the seller had not disclosed that the house had plumbing missing. Thank goodness I had been the one to sell the house to the current owner and quickly realized that Zillow had information on my listing which was from SIX years ago, when the house was a bank owned foreclosure.
The most common issue is that buyers call on a home that is NO LONGER FOR SALE, as in sold over a year ago, Zillow does not update homes sold automatically, but rather relies on agents to do so! This leads to getting lots of calls on homes that are either not on the market or are rentals. So, I am still waiting to actually SELL a house with Zillow. I’ve successfully sold homes with Trulia, Redfin, Realtor.com but not Zillow.
Maggie Mouscardy – Broker, Vitaehomes
“Zillow dumped the home buying process in [on] it’s head in a lot of 
respects, one of the most pivotal is the now [ambiguity] of comps. Comparable home sales, to give you an idea for the actual market, and what a house is worth, were hard to get in the pre-zillow days. More than likely, you were getting the comps from select sources who had select availability. Zillow on the other hand has information on the majority of the market. Home buyers–and sellers– no longer need to rely on a broker to get a feel for what else has sold in the area, for given sizes and amenities, for give amounts of money.”
Brad Hines – Real Estate Entrepreneur, Bradfordhines.com
“The effectiveness of one marketing platform is difficult to attribute. However, if an individual can isolate a subject area’s user base for direct targeting; significant ROI is possible. ZIllow is relevant in many locations to support the concept of ‘social proof’, while expanding a sales funnel. I personally, have utilized Zillow… with success.”
Michael Kelczeski – Agent, Sotheby’s International Realty
