Day 1 of "Zillow Group"

Spencer, welcome back to the Rain. We also have ventured into other social media but always come back to the Mother ship, the beginning of our blogging and social media endeavors. I hope that your return will be the same for you, and that the Zillow Group will do its part to preserve and improve this unique platorm that has given so much to the real estate community.  Zillow certainly doesn't need ActiveRain as an authority site, but it is a great place to check the pulse of the real estate community and for cutting edge information. We wish you the best in your new endeavor. Change is inevitable - we're glad the new owner is one of our own!

Spencer Rascoff  welcome back, and good luck with your ever-expanding SOI. Stay focused on providing a great consumer experience - on behalf of my sellers, I will always want to be aligned with the marketing venues that attract the most eyeballs!

Thanks for the explanation on these different brands. I did not realize some of these changes.

Awaiting the new and the changed.  Eager to see how this impacts us as realtors the most.

Welcome Spencer Rascoff I hope you value AR as much as we do. Looking forward to positive changes!

It will interesting to see how the AR and Zillow Group relationship impacts us a group and individuals.

IMO - Over the years, no matter what the industry, buyouts don't seem to help the customer. In the banking industry, buyouts caused services to be cut and fees increased.  In the airline industry, more of the same. There are less airlines and fees for everything.  Soon the airlines will have pay toilets on their jets!

The customer never wins.     

So don't wonder why some of us are skeptical. 

Please show me that my blogs are ranking again and that I am getting traffic like I did before the first buy out.  Then I will be a believer.

Welcome back Spencer Rascoff !  Thanks for initiating spirited conversation!

Michael Blue you make good points about where the benefits of our efforts go when we utilize the tools of one monopoly. Which idx are you using now, after dropping Diverse Solutions? Inman has a good article today on a new tool that tracks IDX results:

http://www.inman.com/2015/02/23/new-tool-measures-traffic-leads-generated-by-agent-and-mls-websites/?utm_source=20150224&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyheadlinesam

Zillow, the digital "dartboard" for home estimates. Unfortunately, many prospective clients (sellers) rely on Zillow's site to plan the next chapter of their lives with the inaccurate value of a property. Many times it is far from a realistic value , too high or too low.

When I'm on a listing presentation and the seller has a printout from the web of the value, I then have to spend time justifying my suggested selling price.

If the Zillow estimate was very high, the clients thinks may valuation is too low and I'm trying to lowball the house  for a quick sale. If the Zillow estimate is too low the clients thinks my valuation is too high and the home will never sell. 

I suggest clients would be better off getting a value from the "Long Island Medium".

Sorry Zillow. I'm not here to my everyone feel warm and fuzzy.

Please tell me where I'm off on this.

Spencer - As AR is under new ownership, we are all anxiously awaiting to see if any changes will occur. Hopefully AR will remain a great community where people in the real estate industry can blog, interact, and share ideas and business with each other.

I, too, reserve judgement.  Not impressed with my interaction with Zillow as it stands so lets see what you bring to the table.

Thank you for the conversation Spencer Rascoff! We like many others have been in and out with AR all the time keeping our membership. We have just recently came back in with a strong commitment to it. We do hope that you and Zillow have done the same!

Thanks for the note. It should be an interesting journey and I look forward to even more discussions with clients regarding those zestimates/guesstimates.

Hello Spencer.

Welcome back and the update is appreciated.  There will always be change, so we'll just keep a positive mindset and see where things go.

Take care and be well.

For your viewing enjoyment, written on April Fool's day 2013, only off by 22 months"

http://activerain.com/blogsview/3680333/zillow-buys-market-leader-and-activerain

 Bob Publicover, when listing a home, it is always a good idea to teach the homebuyer how we came up with the price anyway.  It is very easy to speak with potential clients regarding Zillow explaining the facts:  Zillow is just ONE tool and it is called a Zestimate not a Zappraisal...  

When we list a home, we pull comps and even compare features, etc which is part of what an appraiser does.  Zillow has algorithms etc, but in some states (like Texas), they cannot get the real sales values unless sellers / buyers agree to release the information or owners post it themselves.  Therefore, the Zestimates in our area is right at or near the county appraisal values <-- which is NOT a market value.  When we list a home, we are determining market value at a specific time.  That value changes.  In some areas it changes more than in others.  Therefore, it is pretty simple to explain the concepts to a potential seller.  Thing is, if we explain where our numbers came from to begin with and guide them to truth, then its easy to say "That why you need a Realtor"

Zillow is one tool in an arsenal to use for an agent selling homes and getting leads.  For clients (buyers mostly), it is one of the places they start their home search.  For sellers, they may look because it is cool, but that is where an agents marketing and skills comes into play.

The way a lot of agents think about Zillow is "in the box" thinking.  Stepping outside the box, I get a lot of clients.  I am not a Zillow fan-boy or anything as it is just one avenue of many.  Having the heart of a teacher is part of my business model and one that my clients like and remember.

Rudy

Bob Publicover - Jay T. from Zillow Group here. Rudy Sedano provided good advice above. In addition, I'd suggest utilizing Zillow's own accuracy data in your discussion with sellers. This article explains where to find it and how to use it. It's quite powerful for those stubborn sellers that start a conversation with, "But Zillow says..." Being able to explain what the Zestimate is, and isn't, and how it's derived is also very helpful. That's also explained in the link I posted. 

Congratulations on your position at Zillow Spencer Rascoff .  Your profile reflects a fine background.  Hopefully this comment does not generate dozens of calls from people representing the Zillow family.  AR has been a great place for me and a great educational experience, hopefully radical restrictions do not come into play.  Zillow needs to make closer friends with the 'average agents on the ground'.  Added up, they make a powerful force.