Zillow went live with their beta today. We have it covered here. The following was a prognostication I made a few weeks ago.
Call Zillow the web version of Real Estate 2.0 . Richard Barton, founder of Zillow, gave a talk today at the Inman Conference in New York City and did not reveal the business plan, but gave some hints.
My interpretation of his talk was that he will turn Zillow into the Web 2.0 Real Estate application of 2006. Web 2.0 is all about participation and community involvement using many different levels of tools and information.
(The following is my own interpretations. I have no inside information, but I am an observer of Web 2.0, and a fan of Richard Barton’s work with Expedia)
So here is my guess. Zillow will be a community site, with people adding information about their community, neighborhoods, and the benefits and negatives of living there. Then he will overlay the information of the available housing units and referrals to realtors and properties.
That is the easy part. The following is the hard part to guess.
The revenue side for Zillow will be a combination of general advertising and marketing fees paid by realtors and/or homeowners to give special prominence to their homes so these properties jump off the page. This may motivate many to sell For Sale By Owner (FSBO) as there is finally a tool that can get eyeballs onto the homes. Presently, the biggest weakness for For Sale By Owner is helping people find your house. This may change that.
Smart home buyers get most of their information from the web, and then work with a realtor. Zillow will be the repository of this information on a local and regional basis.
For example, I want to buy a house in metro Atlanta. I have 300,000 dollars to spend, and want a certain type of neighborhood and amenities. I also want to find a place where people are positive about where they live. Zillow would be my starting point. I could find information, homes, and demographics immediately.
Presently, there is nothing like this, Realtor.com is realtor centric. Local governments will market themselves, but trying to put it all together is a ton of work as a buyer. So you guess.
Zillow will take away a good deal of the guess work. It will also reduce the need for realtors, putting them into a mechanical role as opposed to being the information source.
This will be very interesting. I wonder if my guesses are correct?
If I am , Robert and his outstanding team at Zillow will have a revolutionary product on their hands. I wish them all the best, and if I have a word of advice, take your time to market to get it right. The real estate market will embrace the product very quickly if it is the right product. Making sure the infrastructure and processes are prepared for the potential utilization is critical. If Zillow is to be the revolutionary product in real estate, it needs to work off the bat. Otherwise the nay-sayers will have a field day, and they will be out there with their knives sharpened.
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Travel and Real Estate are two completely different industries and with exception of data requirements, I don't see any solid comparisons. Searching for a home is just a small part of an actual home buying process. Let's not forget negotiating the deal, managing the transaction and acting as an advisor through the biggest purchase that a person will make in their lifetime. Until vacations cost $975,000 with no parking, let's compare the same fruit!
Welcome Zillow…
I think you are correct, Zillow is probably positioning itself to be a web portal or search engine for real estate. When I first found out that Gordon Stephenson from RPA Agency was on board, I thought maybe it was going to funnel leads from Zilllow to RPA agents locally, and then collect commissions. But then I read that Richard Barton said that Zillow would be a "Realtor-centric" site. If that's the case, then they will have to be funded by advertising from individual agents and brokerages. With maybe "unclaimed" leads going to local agents who've signed up, something like Homegain or Service Magic. It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds, eh? (BTW, nice blog!)
If you aren't happy with the "zestimates" zillow gives check out http://www.HomePriceMaps.com
They integrate public data of Home Sale prices with google maps.
Also-if you don't see any data for your area you can email them your info and they will quickly post home data for your area and email you within a day or two. pretty convenient.
“Guess-Idiots” at Zillow use outdated public records to formulate real estate valuations. They call those wild calculations – Zestimates. I thinks it’s best to use a trained professional appraiser.
I'm not sure. Richard Burton thought he can turn the real estate industry around like he did with travel. Expedia.com was his first major success. I dont think it will work with real estate.
Depending on costs…I've heard grumblings from many Realtors still having a hard time with the concept of providing their own MLS data to companies like Zillow and then turn around and pay for it to get referrals. Tough for many to choke especially in smaller markets.
Yea Zillow’s “Zestimates” are way off. They need to get much more accurate to be worthwhile. Problem is the public does not know the difference.
Jeffrey
IonHomeInspection.com
Houston, Katy, Sugar Land
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