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
Black-owned homes appreciated the most during the pandemic
Feb 27, 2023Homes owned by Black families have appreciated more than any others since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Zillow.
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Homebuilders pulled back at the start of 2023
Feb 16, 2023 -
Zillow’s new AI feature can talk to home shoppers like it’s a friend
Jan 26, 2023 -
Home price growth slowed further in October
Jan 02, 2023 -
Homebuilders are leaving the cupboard bare for tomorrow
Dec 20, 2022 -
Will lower mortgage rates be enough to prop up housing activity?
Dec 15, 2022 -
Home price appreciation continues to slow
Nov 29, 2022 -
New home sales rebound but homebuilders aren’t smiling
Sep 27, 2022 -
Zillow’s Jeff Tucker on housing inventory
May 10, 2022 -
Zillow testing major changes to Premier Agent program
Apr 22, 2022 -
Opinion: Can tech and iBuyers fix the real estate market?
Mar 28, 2022