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Hold On To Your Hats - Zillow To Display FSBO Listings!

Did anyone really think that Zillow was content to simply draw web traffic with its automated valuation tools? Especially with Cyberhomes.com and RealEstateABC.com jumping into the fray, Zillow had to choose between either going big, or going home.

Well, Zillow has chosen to go big, announcing today that it will allow agents and consumers (read FSBOs) to enter property information and post homes for sale at no cost after registering at the site.

As reported by Inman News, Zillow President Lloyd Frink indicated "one of our most popular requests" from both real estate agents and property owners has been to include for-sale property information on the site. He went on to say, "We tend to focus on what it is we think our consumers want going forward. From the very first version of the Web site, people were saying they'd love to be able to plant these virtual for-sale signs. We believe we're giving agents and brokers an opportunity to market their listings and themselves. It's just an upside for them."

Remember Zillow CEO and founder Rich Barton stating that he had no intention of disintermediating Realtors? Well, it looks lke things have changed since he made those comments in February, when Zillow initially went live.

The ramifications of this announcement are huge. Zillow is creating an alternative to Realtor.com and the MLS system. Building upon the Web 2.0 movement, Zillow will allow its users, including agents and homeowners, to generate their own content to be displayed on the site, essentially enabling consumers to list their homes for sale on a privately owned alternative to the MLS system.

Zillow has also announced another consumer direct method for homeowners to test the waters for a future home sale by posting a "Make Me Move" price for an address. Zillow will facilitate the initial contact between prospective buyers and the the homeowner without revealing the owner's personal information. Zillow is also launching a "Real Estate Wiki" which will further develop relevant user-generated content for the site.

With these new announcements, I'm betting that Zillow has the potential to leave Realtor.com in the dust. If Zillow adds enough listings to hit critical mass, it will certainly change the way business is currently done.

Can anyone imagine what the real estate industry will look like in ten years? Big changes are looming on the horizon, folks. If not Zillow, it will be someone else. Prepare yourselves.

Posted by Stefan Scholl - Northern Michigan Real Estate on 12/07/2006 01:22 AM

Comments (10)

zillow, web 20, cyberhomescom, realestateabccom, fsbo

10 Comments on Hold On To Your Hats - Zillow To Display FSBO Listings!

DEC

2006

Stefan,

Further nail in the coffin of Realtor.com et. al.

I don't interpret this as disintermediation, however, but rather as a phenomenal marketing tool. Yes, there will be some disintermediation at the margins -- a "Make Me Move" seller accepting an offer from somebody down the street -- but not wholesale disintermediation.

However...it will certainly be interpreted as an attempt to cut us out of the business, so Zillow's cash flow projections for the next year probably don't include too much advertising revenue from Realtors.

Hi Stefan, it's David G from Zillow.com

Thanks for posting about the launch -- we're excited about the new features (& they took a huge effort to build). FYI - I also blogged about this news over on my active rain blog.

I want to point out that not all consumers who will use this tool are fsbo's. Posting your house for sale on Zillow is the equivalent of telling your neighbors that you're selling -- it's just smart -- and it's been happening for years but it doesn't preclude you from needing a Realtor to represent you in your sale. As you know, selling a house is a team effort and you already find that sellers are getting involved in promoting their homes on websites like craigslist -- so, allowing owners to market their properties is unrelated to fsbo's other than that fsbo's will also find this tool useful (which is obviously in the interests of the buyers searching for all homes.) Additionally, an owner who posts their own home for sale on Zillow is given the option to provide their listing agents contact details for prospective buyers.

I'm not sure how well the "make me move" feature will work. What are the prospects supposed to do...view the pics and say, OK, I'm ready to buy?

"... the sky is falling, the sky is falling" ...just the other day I was thinking I don't believe there is an Active Rain group about Zillow... we don't even talk about Zillow on blogs anymore... now we can talk about Zillow again...

When the emails came in to my in box last night, I knew it was time to go to bed. Afterall, it will be the talk of the blogoshpere today. I needed to be rested.

Yes, the implications are NOT small...

Kevin: I agree with your comment about Realtor.com. If Zillow can combine with its slick product an ounce of customer service, as opposed to the boiler-room telemarketers I dealt with at Realtor.com, they will easily overtake Realtor.com in terms of traffic. I will leave it to Jim Lee to ruminate over how NAR has squandered this franchise. As far as disintermediation goes, I agree with many of the points you have made in your previous posts. However, I have this theory that the disintermediation will mainly occur on the listing side, resulting in a shift toward the increased use of buyer agents, as opposed to listing agents. At least that is what I am counting on, as an exclusive buyer agent.

David: I understand that you are actively soliciting listings from Realtors, and have no doubt that you will be hugely successful in attracting Realtor listings. While Realtor.com doesn't have to work to get its listings, you do. As a result, Zillow has worked very hard (believe me, I will take your word for it) to create a cutting edge Web 2.0 site which will be filled with pages and pages of user generated content. Anyone who is familiar with Active Rain can tell you that this is the future of the Web. Once Zillow has positioned itself as the real estate hub on the Web, the potential for tapping into that leverage is limitless. I am not criticizing Zillow for accepting FSBO listings. It was only a matter of time before someone established a viable, nationwide, "non-Realtor MLS" on the WEB. I foresee Zillow as the FSBOMadison.com for the nation, on steroids. In addition to FSBOs, you will also have Realtor listings. FSBOMadison has twenty percent of the residential market in Madison, WI. You can't look for homes in Madison without checking out the inventory on FSBOMadison, and many of these FSBO sellers are cooperating with Realtors. With the funding, brainpower and technology behind Zillow, I can easily see Zillow eclipsing a twenty-percent marketshare (i.e., I found my home on Zillow) in the markets in which Zillow has established a foothold. Through technological innovation, Zillow and others have the potential to render the DOJ's lawsuit against NAR moot.

Chris: As an attorney, I have represented sellers who have had knocks on their doors from prospective buyers out of the clear blue. I personally think that this feature does have potential. However, I wouldn't want my local tax assessor to know how much I thought my house was worth. :-)

NormMaureen: I would love to start a Zillow discussion group, if someone else hasn't already.

Maureen: I hope you had a good night's sleep. I am already borderline late for a meeting in Charlevoix. Bye. :-)

Am I NormMaureen? I read Maureen: "I hope you had a good night's sleep." and thought ... I got a good nights sleep and thought it was so nice of Stefan to ask....I almost left something on Joanne Brown's Zillow Blog entry about sleeping last night... early, through the night.. well I did wake up but did not get on the computer for once. So I slept innocently, totally unaware of Zillow's latest attempt to control the universe as we know it.

Hey maybe David will start a Zillow group and someone else can start an Anti Zillow Group and Jeff Belonger etc. can wring their hands over "too many groups, gotta control the groups, group chaos, Active Rain is spinning out of control ...., 10 groups"

NormMaureen,

Have you forgotten already? You have been dubbed AR's own "Norm from Cheers", henceforth to be known by me as NormMaureen until the Apocalypse.

And I did start a Zillow Discussion Group at your prompting. Please join me! I am all alone!

I thought about that... after commenting. That entry is gone as are your 25 points for commenting. Senility (mine) is sweet.

See now that is a use for a group... those that were whining about not reading anything more about Zillow a month ago, don't have to.... and we will have Stefan to thank!

DEC

2006

Zillow is finally try to add real value to the industry since they recognized the flaws in their guestimate site. Yes, a lot of fun, but when you want to get down to serious business, put the zestimate in your pocket so you don't look like a rube. Besides, when big money is at stake, few will choose "a" starting point when there is a "good" or "better" starting point (i.e an experienced professional on the ground & in the trenches). So the listing site makes sense and was probably in the original game plan (wish we had that smoking gun memo, with the secret sauce stains)

Now, once they recognize the owner, or agent, right to control the value information on the site, they will add more value. Not being real estate people,it takes them a little longer to learn the ropes.

David G, please let owners hide the zestimate. I may have a bet with Greg riding on it.

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