Is Zillow the beginning of the end of the 6 Percent Commission?
Zillow. Zillow. This could be the term that the traditional real estate agent will dread, much as Expedia is the name that helped put thousands of travel agents out of work. The worst part for your neighborhood realtor, the same guys that started Expedia are behind Zillow.
No one really knows what Zillow will do. It is being kept hush hush, but the word on the street is that it will be the search engine for real estate. It will allow many new types of services to be automated that will cut into the present real estate commission schedule.
But no one underestimates the seriousness and ingenuity of Barton’s team, who single-handedly transformed the travel industry with the introduction of Expedia in the late ’90s.
The timing seems to be right; there hasn’t been a well-capitalized online startup in real estate since HomeGain and HouseValues opened their doors in 1999. These two firms changed how the industry thinks about lead generation and Web marketing.
Now, the next generation of change seems to be upon us with the vast majority of home buyers and sellers starting their real estate searches online and the Justice Department’s investigation of the real estate industry clearing the decks for new business models.via Inman News
Is this the beginning of the transformation of the traditional real estate sales market? Or a flash in the pan. We will do our best to stay on top of Zillow and all that it means.
Great points Tom - the flavor of the day solution is only adding to the instability and volatility.
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please contact me via e-mail if interested in the home listed
above.
jonieckstrom@yahoo.com 
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Pingback by Zillow Founder Rich Barton to Speak at Connect NYC » The Real Estate Bloggers on 13 January 2006:
[...] Rich Barton is the speaker that has everyone buzzing. Rich is the founder of Zillow, a company that has the potential to change the Real Estate structure, much as he did with the travel industry when he founded Expedia. [...]
Comment by DQ on 13 April 2006:
I think zillow valuation tool is pretty accurate. Based off web data and webagents..
Comment by Gresham Real Estate on 28 December 2007:
Zillow is just a tool. I thinks its a great value research tool for sellers when their just thinking about selling. But in the end a Pro is probable going to give the best current market value.