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Zillow Overview for Agents

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Zillow

Quick Stats

  • 4 million unique users in February; one of the most-visited real estate Web sites in the country
  • 3rd-5th most visited real estate website
  • Half of all 70 million homes on Zillow have been viewed at least once (more than 80% of all homes in some areas of California, Washington and Mass)
  • 86% of Zillow's audience are homeowners and more than half of those are actively buying or selling a home
  • Half a million homes on Zillow have been claimed by their owner and had their facts updated since the feature launched last fall

Zillow Overview

Zillow has created 70+ million Web pages - one for most every home in America. These pages include Zestimates, satellite and overhead photos, valuation information, and details about the home's sale history. In addition, listing agents and homeowners can further contribute to these pages by uploading their own pictures, planting virtual ‘for sale' signs in their virtual front yards, posting their ‘Make Me Move' price, adding in home improvement information and writing what they love about their home.

Zillow is a media site.  This means revenue is generated by selling advertising around site content.  We do not charge to post listings to the site, nor do we sell leads or get involved in the transaction. 

Zillow Functionality For Real Estate Professionals

Post For Sale- Real estate professionals can post their listings online for free, and upload an unlimited number of photos of the home.  The posting can include a photo of the agent, contact information, and a link to the agent's Web site or MLS listing. 

Real Estate Wiki- This is a place to find up-to-date and relevant information on all things real estate, including home buying, selling and financing, written for and by Zillow's community of users.   Any registered Zillow user can add or edit the content in the wiki.  New pages can also be created about topics that aren't covered yet. 

Application Programming Interface (API)-  Now anyone can add Zillow data and functionality to personal and professional Web sites through Zillow's open API.  All information and code on how to do this can be found on Zillow.com (click the API Network link at the bottom of any page).

Why Real Estate Professionals Should Use Zillow

  • Free exposure on a top-trafficked Web site for the agent and their listings.
  • According to NAR, 80% of buyers are doing vast amounts of research online.  With 4 million unique users last month, and nearly one half of all homes on Zillow having been viewed, it's clear the public is using the site to research the real estate market.   
  • Right now there is a first movers advantage to real estate professionals who are posting for sale.  Just by updating a homes status to ‘for sale', traffic to that specific home increases an average of 200%. In addition, we have just released page counters on nearly every page on Zillow, which allows agents to track how often their listings are being viewed.
  • While a private home owner can post their own home for sale, there is value in an agent doing it for them and maintaining the copy, photos, and public inquiries.
  • Agents can spend time on the site to learn about the "for sale by owner" market that is available to them, whether their intentions are to prospect or expand the pool of homes a client could consider for sale.  Additionally, we've heard from agents in competitive markets like the San Francisco Bay Area who are looking into Make Me Move homes for their clients as an alternative stream of available homes.    

How To Post

  • Simply go to Zillow and click on the Post For Sale tab. 
  • It will ask if you are an Agent or an Owner.  Once you click Agent, you just walk through the steps.
  • The first time you post a home, it will ask you for a Credit Card number.  This is only to verify who you are and to prevent fraud.  Once you get through the verification process, your Credit Card information is destroyed and no charges are made.    
  • Once your identity is verified, you can begin entering information about your listings and upload as many photos as you would like.
  • You are also able to set up a profile which will enable your photo, contact information and a link to your website to be displayed on all of your listings. 
  • When a listing sells, you can remove it from the site.  Also, Zillow will periodically email you asking you the current status of your postings, to ensure that the information is still current.    

 

 

 

 

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Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers
Serving the Greater Phoenix and Scottsdale Metropolitan Area - Scottsdale, AZ
Coldwell Banker Realty
Thanks for the reminder.  One to pass on to Nicole Whitman, our Transaction Manager.  Great post!
Mar 21, 2007 03:05 AM
Dave Cheatham
INC Financial - Bartlett, IL
This is great information.  I never knew this.  It asked for cc and I stopped.  I thought for sure I would get a charge at some point.
Mar 21, 2007 04:52 AM
Sara Bonert
Zillow - Atlanta, GA
Real Estate Internet Marketing

Great. Hope to see your listings on Zillow soon!  That is a common misconception, that we are going to charge your credit card.  But it is the most effective way we could think of to prevent fraud (and it is working, we have had 10 people out of 500,000 incorrectly claim a home since launch).  Zillow does not charge to advertise your listing on the site.  We are 100% a media site, generating income from the ads you see on the site. 

Teaser, more to come-  Watch out for a new way for agents to advertise on the site this first week of April.....

Mar 21, 2007 05:11 AM
Nicole McGrath
Peoria, AZ
Your Real Estate Assistant
Thanks for the great info Sara, I'll definitely be looking into posting our listings on Zillow!
Mar 21, 2007 05:19 AM