Have bookmarked this and will be back to read it really well and do it. Thanks.

I'll not participate to assist a company which makes it a point to offer the public information (inaccurate much of the time) which misleads and creates in the public a feeling that they don't need a Realtor for real estate related activities.

As soon as any real estate website (unfriendly to Realtors) has enough market share... they will then be able to display listings and hook buyers and sellers up directly... that means they won't need you.

Thanks Sara for the info!

Sara,  Your banner ( Buying   Selling  and the stuff in between )  gives me a very bad feeling.  Is this the pre-notice that Zillow will at some point eliminate the need for the realtor communioty ?

Hey Bill-  Fair question, but no, no, no, not at all!  Zillow is a pure media play.  This is just my personal blog (I am Realtor and was involved with real estate before coming to work here).  If you were to go through all the articles on my blog, you'll see that only a portion are Zillow-related, the rest are simply about real estate. 

I just thought this new functionality was really cool.  And actually demonstrates that Zillow definitely wants to bring the real estate professional into the fold as much as possible (and for free). 

Good luck Sara!

Rudy

Social Media Guru at Trulia

I'm in.  From my sidebar:

Cool!  So now any time anyone clicks on the installed badge you created (or this could be a link in a blog story, or whatever) the appropiate page on Zillow will launch, along with Mike's branding appearing at the top bar throughout the user's entire session, no matter where they go on the site.  Thanks for sharing Mike!

Interesting info. Thanks

Thanks for the information.  When my headache clears I might be able to figure it out.

Thank you Sara, don't know why some people get upset, If people are going to go there anyway, they might as well see me. Besides, I have my listings on Zillow already.

I think I may implement this as well.  Thanks Sara!

To everyone that says Zillow is going to ruin the business ... think about how many times throughout the last hundred years we've thought that about something.  We're still here!

As the old saying goes, "if you can't beat them, join them."  Zillow does not need you to co-brand with them in order to keep attracting visitors.  They are offering this as a free service.  How many companies provide you with free services?  Even NAR, which we fund with our dues, charges us for every extra feature on our flagship site.

I've never understood why people get so worked up over free things.  Active Rain is a good example.  Every time someone at Active Rain corporate coughs, everyone freaks out.  Be thankful they haven't licensed themselves in each state and figured out a way to charge a referral fee on every piece of business that originates from Active Rain.  Also, be thankful Zillow hasn't done the same -- in a time when it seems like every other site has.

As David says above, if they are going to be there anyway, they might as well see him.  Like it or not, consumers like Zillow.  If consumers see an agent embracing Zillow, they are more likely to embrace that agent.

Then agents argue that they cannot get the consumer to understand that the Zestimate is an estimate.  If you cannot get the consumer to understand that, is it really a consumer you want to work with in the first place?  It really is quite a simple objection to overcome and if you cannot overcome such a minor one, I am fearful of your ability to overcome larger ones.

Also, can we please stop knocking Sara?  She is just doing her job!  We do not need to make it any more difficult for her.

This is all from the guy who doesn't even use Zillow.  Only because I have enough things going on -- I do not need to add another to the mix.  I am very familiar with Zillow though and can see the benefit for consumers -- or they wouldn't be using it.

Remember, what the consumers like is what matters and clearly consumers like Zillow.

Sara, I hope you have a thick skin.  Some people on this site can be brutal.  It makes me wonder if they are blaming Zillow for their lack of business, rather than looking within.

Some of my statements above are broader and apply to the comments I have seen about Zillow in general on Active Rain.  I just chose this post to voice my frustration.

Hmmm.  It's past my bedtime.  I'll have to check it out tomorrow.

Sara, this is an interesting tool. I will look farther in to it tomorrow. Thanks for the information.

I personally like the Cyberhomes.com Smart Frame solution better.  Their cobrand tool found at http://www.cyberhomespro.comis easy to incorporate on your site without their advertising and branding.  Cyberhomes supports the real estate professionals by NOT posting For Sale By Owner properties on the site.  A far deeper and richer experience for the consumer to use.  Go to http://www.cyberhomespro.com and click on Smart Frame solution and enter your market area to get your free content that you can brand to yourself and place on your own web site easily.

All of these sites are powerful tools that can assist consumers with the research but ultimately they will need the services of a real estate professional to accurately determine value based upon all the intangible or qualitative issues only agents know about the local market.

Make it a profitable day!

Scott Hoen

This sounds pretty easy, I'll give it a try next time I reference Zillow.

I will check this out whnI hve more time to sift thru the madness.

I appreciate both sides of the debate and will investigate further to see if this opportunity fits my business model.

After reviewing the site, I created an account. I thought I would give this a try.  But when I tried to upload my photo the browser crashed. (Repeatedly.)  So I thought, well maybe Firefox isn't supported.  So I signed in with IE.  The browser crashed when I hit upload photo.  I'll check back later to see if it the site is working.

Hey, I have an All-Star Badge already and I put the link on my website. My picture and info is at the top of each Z page no matter where they are searching, just as Sara stated in her post. I like that!

I uploaded 8 new listings yesterday and it was very easy for me. All the info was already there since my Broker, Real Living, already has a feed to Zillow. I just added more pics and I was done.

Like Jesse above, I do not know why some get paranoid with new technology. (Stealing our listings, etc) I say play by the rules and take advantage of every situation. I do not like the FSBO's either but they are everywhere else aren't they? I want my listings where they will do the most good. So I use Zillow. As far as the Zestimates, all my listings were in the price range I have them listed which sure helps me with consumers searching.

I also use Trulia and have received leads from there with their "Trulia Voices" opportunity to answer consumers questions. Good answer and they email me for more info. Nice.

Ya gotta use what's out there, IMHO! Thank you Sara......

Hi David C!

Glad to hear Trulia Voices has worked for you. It's all about being there for the consumer, no matter where you participate. Provide home buyers and sellers with valuable information and they may like what you have to say. See you on Voices!

Rudy

Social Media Guru at Trulia

Hi Sara. Thanks for sharing the new cool tool! Keep them coming.

Hey Sara~  Thanks for sharing the info with all of us.  I will check it out later this week when I have time...

This sounds very interesting.  I have bookmarked it so that I can look into it more carefully

Oh, and it turns out that I do use Zillow...indirectly.  All of my vFlyer's are syndicated to Zillow.

Hi Sarah - Thanks for the futher explanantion on the co-branding tools. I read about it a week or so ago I believe at one of the articles you mention.

Hey if this can help me sell one of my clients home and goodness knows they need all the exposure I can afford (free is nice), I am checking it out.

Sara, When I grow up I want to be able to blog like you with all of the content and links. Could you send me Zillow for dummies guide? I have been using zillow but probably not to it's fullest.

There has been rumors floating around that Zillow may be the next internet Real Estate company. Could you provide any insight? Will they be hiring? Questions, questions.

Sara - I actually got an email two days ago from Zillow about this widget and linking opportunities.  I still am not sure wheter it is a good thing to do or not.

Douglas- I just realized I didn't respond to your questions, sorry!  I recently wrote a blog piece called 10 Things Agents Can Do On Zillow, that should help you get started.

Zillow will absolutely not be a Internet real estate company.  We are a media company and make our money selling advertising on the site.  The site is a platform for agents to use to reach buyers and sellers.  We have no desire, or business model plans, to get involved in the transaction.

Here is a link to our current job openings- http://zillow.hrmdirect.com/employment/openings.php?sort=td   Right now we are mostly looking for engineers and sales people. 

Sara, thanks for the tip,  We don't know what the future will hold, but it will be with Zillow or others like it that is for sure.