Zillow
Founded in 2005, Zillow is the most visited real estate website in the United States. It provides an online real estate marketplace for finding and sharing information about homes, real estate, and mortgages. Together with its affiliates and subsidiaries, it provides users with an on-demand experience for selling, buying, renting or financing a home.
Zillow’s most widely known tool, the Zestimate, was born out of the release of Google Maps’ satellite view that provides a detailed view of neighborhoods throughout the country. The idea was to attach a price to each house in that type of satellite view – and has since grown, for better or worse, into a very popular mechanism used by consumers to value homes.
In 2019, with the return of Rich Barton as CEO, Zillow entered the mortgage space after purchasing Mortgage Lenders of America, launching its own lending operation called Zillow Home Loans. According to Zillow, the strategic move streamlined and shortened the homebuying process for consumers who purchased homes through Zillow Offers
Zillow recently made news with its exit from the iBuying market, opting to cease operations on its Zillow Offers program – which involved the company in buying homes, making minor renovations and then quickly re-selling the homes for a profit. Zillow Offers had been responsible most of the company’s revenue and, after being eliminated, led to the loss of nearly 2,000 jobs and losses of more than $500 million on the value of the remaining homes on its books. This is a major contrast to original forecasts for the Zillow Offers program, which executives initially predicted would generate $20 billion in revenue annually.
Latest Posts
Zillow launches buyer agreement for home tours
Apr 30, 2024Zillow’s touring agreement is a nonexclusive, seven-day contract for buyers to use on home tours with agents
-
Survey shows that discrimination in housing persists: Zillow
Apr 25, 2024 -
Side’s Hilary Saunders discusses the evolution of brokerage models
Apr 24, 2024 -
Andy Florance discusses Matterport acquisition, lead diversion portal models
Apr 22, 2024 -
Coastal California metros were the priciest in March: Zillow
Apr 15, 2024 -
Midwest housing markets good for first-time homebuyers: Zillow
Apr 05, 2024 -
Zillow or CoStar? NAR settlement terms could determine a winner
Apr 03, 2024 -
New listings surge as the spring buying season approaches
Mar 15, 2024 -
Sellers may earn more by listing later in the year: Zillow
Mar 07, 2024 -
Howard Hanna partners with Zillow on AI tool for agents
Feb 28, 2024 -
Gap between Black and white renters who were mortgage ready narrowed during the pandemic
Feb 23, 2024 -
Nick Bailey out, Amy Lessinger in at RE/MAX
Feb 22, 2024