Ep 5: Heading into Spring Market and the Inside Scoop on Zillow

You know how Zillow is the go-to search engine for all things real estate? Well, do you ever wonder how this digital powerhouse is impacting the real estate market? The value of your home? Even the long-term career outlook and job security for real estate agents? I mean, if everyone everywhere is looking at Zillow, then what does that mean for literally any and every other real estate app, real estate website, real estate company and real estate agent? Is Zillow’s iBuyer model rendering the real estate agent irrelevant? In this current technological age, it’s a question worth paying attention to… After all, attention is the name of the game when it comes to modern digital marketing, and we all know… whatever the eye follows is where you’ll find people watching… and wherever the people are is where all the data lives. So by definition and extension, is Zillow actually LESS about featuring homes and MORE about data mining?We are going to discuss all this and more today and I have a caller who wants to know if they should sell their home based on what Zillow says its worth.THAT, my friends, is what we are covering today, so stay right here for Real Talk with Big Red.Well, good day, good day, good day and happy Spring Market 2021 to all of you fans and followers, buyers and sellers, ladies and gentlemen. I can just feel the shift in the weather and the general vibe in the air, so I’m delighted to be here with you to record our FIFTH episode of Real Talk with Big Red. I can hardly believe it’s already been five months since we first launched this podcast. We’ve enjoyed so many great conversations and tackled a lot of questions surrounding real estate and the real estate market… and to think we are just getting started. We have a full year on deck already slated with incredibly knowledgeable and successful guests and thought-provoking topics for all of 2021 and today is certainly no different.Today we are discussing… [dun, dun, dun] Zillow. What does everyone think about Zillow? I know my sister in law texts me her Zesstimate practically weekly. She thinks it’s the end all, be all of home valuation.My buyers are always texting me listings that come from Zillow, even after they are set up for automatic property alerts through my listing website. It’s as if Zillow has completely won the attention game.So for all you buyers and sellers out there, this begs the question…. If you have Zillow, do you even need a real estate agent? And for all of us agents out there, we can’t help but wonder... can we even compete with Zillow? Is this one of those age-old scenarios where we have to accept if we can’t beat ‘em, we have to join ‘em?1.) What is Zillow?Zillow is the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge around the place they call home, and connecting them with the best local professionals who can help.Zillow is a business who sees itself as transforming the real estate transaction into a place where buyers and sellers can move from one home to the next as easily as possible. Their business model started at the top of the funnel as a lead generation model and over time, end to end transaction platform that is seamless, bundled and creates happiness and ease around the home buying and selling experience.2.)  How does Zillow make money?Today from selling products to real estate agents, specifically leads and now it sells transaction management services and showing services. Zillow is celebrating 15 years in the real estate space. They have their own broker license and the use of that license has changed, necessitating additional licenses over time such as ibuyer and referrals and IDX feeds, which pulls listings from the various multiple listing services across the country. The information it offers on its site for consumers now mirrors the information that agents have at their fingertips. Any general brokerage is on the same playing field in terms of access to listing data. Zillow has innovated in its drive to aggregate. From it’s purchase of Trulia, Market Leader, Showing TIme, DotLoop…. Zillow’s innovation is its vision, its drive to control not only the lead, but also the transaction, and end to end seamless transaction and, ultimately, the gateway to the contract.Showing Time is the app that we real estate agents use to set up appointments to get your home shown… and ultimately sold. What does that mean for you the consumer? It gives Zillow another opportunity to consume data and control data. Think about it. You list your home and it has 20 showings on the first day. Zillow knows this. All the agent feedback is recorded within the Showing Time app so if the people feel it’s overpriced, outdated, all that data now belongs to Zillow. Acquisition likely includes past data, information on all listings, 50 showings, feedback, not only the opportunity to see where houses are in demand, what the ...