Zillow Group , or just Zillow , is an online real estate database company founded in 2006, and created by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink, a former Microsoft executive and founder of Microsoft spin -off Expedia. Spencer Rascoff is CEO of Zillow, Inc.
Video Zillow
Business model
Zillow has stated that it is a media company that generates revenue by selling ads on his website. In April 2009, Zillow announced a partnership to lend real estate search engines to a website of more than 180 US newspapers as part of the Zillow Newspaper Consortium. Zillow shares advertising revenue from co-branded sites with newspapers and extends its reach to local markets.
In February 2011, Zillow and Yahoo! Real Estate launches an exclusive partnership that creates the largest real-estate ad network on the web, according to comScore Media Metrix.
Maps Zillow
Acquisitions
- In April 2011, Zillow purchased Postlets, a platform for the creation and distribution of online real estate listings. The terms of the transaction are not publicly disclosed.
- In November 2011, Zillow acquired Diverse Solutions for $ 7.8 million.
- In May 2012, Zillow acquired RentJuice, a software company as a service that allows landowners and property managers to market and lease rental properties through a series of online tools. RentJuice was acquired for $ 40 million.
- On October 31, 2012, Zillow purchased a shopping and real estate collaboration platform, Buyfolio.
- On November 5, 2012, Zillow acquired Lincoln, the NE Mortech-based mortgage company for $ 17 million.
- On November 26, 2012, Zillow bought HotPads for $ 16 million. HotPads, founded in 2005, lists real estate and rentals in a map-based web interface.
- On August 19, 2013, Zillow acquired StreetEasy for $ 50 million.
- On July 16, 2014, Zillow acquired Retsly, Vancouver-based startup, B.C. which helps developers access real-estate data from multiple listing services (MLS).
- On July 28, 2014, Zillow announced an agreement to buy Trulia for $ 3.5 billion.
- On February 17, 2015, Zillow announced the completion of the Trulia acquisition and the establishment of the Zillow Group brand portfolio.
- On July 22, 2015, Zillow Group announced it would acquire Dotloop for $ 108 million.
- On January 3, 2016, Zillow Group announced it would acquire Naked Apartments for $ 13 million.
- On August 2, 2016, Zillow Group acquired Bridge Interactive.
Website features
Zillow has data on 110 million homes across the United States, not just houses that are currently on sale. In addition to providing home value estimates, it offers several features including changes in the value of each home within a certain time frame (such as one, five, or 10 years), home air sights, and comparable home prices in the area. It can access appropriate public data, as well as providing basic information about a particular home, such as the size of the area and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Users can also get current home estimates if significant changes are made, such as newly renovated kitchens. Zillow provides application programming interfaces (APIs) and developer support networks.
In December 2006, Zillow unveiled three new functions: allowing users to post homes for sale and set prices for "Make Me Move" (an informal way to market pre-market), as well as real estate wikis. In 2006, Zillow teamed up with Microsoft to offer Bird's Eye View, a feature in Microsoft Virtual Earth, which shows (in certain areas) clearer air photos taken from the aircraft than conventional satellite imagery. Zillow uses this functionality for features that focus on entertainment in famous homes.
In December 2009, Zillow expanded its services to include rental markets. The addition of a lease listing allows users to create a list of rented homes and look for houses and rental homes for sale.
By the end of 2013, Zillow started empowering AOL Real Estate. In July 2014, Zillow also took over the real estate portal for MSN Real Estate. In October 2017, Zillow announced to add 3D tours to get 360-degree photos from homes they were interested in for purchase or rental.
Zillow Mortgage Marketplace
On April 3, 2008, Zillow launched a service called Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. This service allows the borrower to get a credit offer without disclosing personally identifiable information.
Zillow Mobile
The Zillow Mobile app allows users to view nearby homes based on user location.
- April 29, 2009 - iPhone app
- March 18, 2010 - Android app
- April 2, 2010 - iPad app
- March 31, 2011 - Blackberry app
- July 13, 2012 - Windows Phone Application
- November 27, 2013 - Windows 8.1 Application
- November 2015 - Apple TV app
Zillow's Suggestions
On December 16, 2008, Zillow launched Zillow Advice, allowing people to ask real estate questions online and get answers from the web site expert community.
Real estate market report
Zillow generates home value reports for the country and over 130 metropolitan statistical areas. The report identifies market trends including, but not limited to: five and 10 year annual changes, negative equity, short sales and foreclosure transactions.
Zillow also released the Home Owner's Trust Survey. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive and measured homeowners' perceptions of changing home values ​​in their own homes and local markets.
Report for Bellingham area
On August 26, 2016, The Bellingham Herald published housing prices and rental statistics obtained from Zillow showing home values ​​in Bellingham, Washington up 11.3 percent in the previous year. The article claims that the latest report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), using different criteria, estimates that the value of the home in Whatcom County (which contains Bellingham) has increased 7.3% in the second quarter of 2016. In fact, the FHFA report estimated that Bellingham's home values ​​had risen 7.28 percent in the previous year and 2.92 percent in the second quarter.
Map of Boundary Neighborhood (GIS Data)
The Zillow data team has created a database with nearly 7,544 environmental limits in the largest cities in the US and makes it available through a Creative Commons Attribute-Sharealike license.
Website activity
The company said it had more than 24 million unique visitors in September 2011, representing a year-on-year growth of 103 percent. Of those users, 90% own homes and more than three quarters looking to buy or sell within the next two years, helping others to buy or sell or look for rent. Zillow claims more than 50 million US homes have been seen. In some cities, more than 90% of all existing homes have been seen, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, and Seattle.
Zestimate
Zillow specifies estimates ("Zestimate," pronounced "ZEST-imate") for a home based on publicly available information, including public data and comparable house sales in the neighborhood. According Zillow, Zestimate is the starting point in determining the value of the house. Zestimate accuracy varies by location depending on how much information is available to the public, but Zillow allows users to check the Zestimates accuracy in their own territory against actual sales. In many U.S. states, information on real estate transfer prices is readily available and accessible to the general public and not exclusively stored in seller agent databases. Zillow also provides Zestimate Accuracy ratings for different cities on its website.
In March 2011, Zillow released Rent Zestimates, which provides rental price estimates for 90 million homes on the Zillow website and all its mobile apps.
On June 14, 2011, Zillow changed the algorithm used to calculate Zestimates. In addition to changing the current Zestimate to millions of homes across the country, Zillow changed its historical Zestimate value information since 2006.
Criticism of Zestimate accuracy
In 2007, The Wall Street Journal studied the accuracy of Zillow's estimates and found that they are "often very good, often within a few percent of the actual price paid, but when Zillow is bad, it can be terrible."
In October 2006, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission stating that Zillow "deliberately misleads consumers and real estate professionals to rely on the accuracy of its assessment services despite the full knowledge of company officials that their assessment of the Automated Valuation Model (AVM) very inaccurate and misleading. "In a letter dated 4 May 2007, the FTC chose not to investigate this complaint, which was later withdrawn by the NCRC.
Using data published on the Zillow website, the typical Zestimate error in the United States in July 2016 was $ 14,000.
Controversies and lawsuits
While the factors contributing to the forecasts are explained elsewhere, Zillow seems to overemphasize home footage footage as a key metric of property rating assessment. This method may not be unique to Zillow, but it unduly distorts expectations of value. Listing in areas where high-priced land prices often reflect Zillow's estimates that are identical to nearby homes with comparable rectangular interior recordings, but where houses may be decades older. Conditions, age of homes, special features, proximity to distractions are not adequately considered in estimates. Zillow has attempted to add balance by including an option for owners to provide their own value estimates; however, these figures are equally unreliable as opinions, not quantifiable.
In 2014, Zillow faced several lawsuits from a former employee at a Zillow operation in Irvine, California, accusing violations of the California Labor Code and the Business Code and the California Profession. On February 26, 2016, the US District Court for the Central District of California certified a class to include anyone who worked as an inside sales consultant at Zillow between November 2010 and January 2015. Among the many allegations filed by high profile lawyers Bobby Samini and Mark Geragos , Zillow is accused of failing to pay wages, failing to pay overtime, and failing to provide food and rest. Zillow replied that "the narrative driven by this law firm through their various lawsuits is completely inconsistent with those who know and work with Zillow... the behavior depicted does not accurately describe our culture or 1,200 Zillow employees."
In addition, Samini and Geragos represent former employees of Zillow in the act of sexual harassment against the company, accusing "sexual torture" and "the most horrific sexual harassment imaginable." According to the lawsuit, the Southern California office of Zillow represents "adult quarters where sexual harassment and offenses are normalized, condoned, and promoted by male managers." Based on allegations against the company, Samini called Zillow "modern day Animal Home ." On May 5, 2016, Zillow completed action for an undisclosed amount, without admitting any errors.
In 2017, Zillow sent a stop letter and stopped to author McMansion Hell, a blog containing original content that quipped pictures of luxury homes found on the site. Zillow's claim is described by lawyers as inappropriate and the company is accused of using its resources to violate free speech. Wagner is represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
See also
- Redfin
- Trulia
- ZipRealty
- Zameen.com
- PropertyShark
- Realtor.com
- Homes.com
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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