Zillow has launched a new site: RealEstate.com that is specifically designed to serve first time home buyers with finding a home that they can afford. It’s very interesting and worth looking at.
Here is the Housing Wire Story.
Comments
additional comments on "Zillow Launches New Site"
Comments are closed.
The Zillow concept is exactly what I’ve been telling buyers and Realtors for the last 15 yrs. Most people can qualify for a lot more than they feel they can afford. (even in todays market) I always start my customer interview with the question… What’s your payment goal or is there a price point you’ve been looking at? Most buyers have an idea of the payment they would like or would feel most comfortable with. Now Realtors I have always used this to sell them on the idea of getting buyer “pre-approved”. If a Realtor goes out and started showing a customer $250K homes and then the customer get pre-qualified and can only buy a $200K home They are going to be disappointed or let down because the homes at $200K are not going to look like the homes at $250. Now the Realtor has created their own customer service issue by showing the customer something they cannot have. That’s a buyer they may loss as a result of not getting pre-qualified.
I think Zillow is on to something big!
While the concept may be a good one, comments from others are dead on right: teh information provided is horribly inaccurate! Check what they quote for this prperty: https://www.realestate.com/120-hanohano-pl-honolulu-hi-96825–625456
The quote a 20% down payment on a $4,800,000 property. The closing costs are unrealistic. Escrow and title fees would be more than they quote.
The kicker is what they list for monthly expenses. $78 for insurance on an almost $5,000,000 home?
Then they list utilities at $14,600 per month !!
Gotta love technology!
I’ve been buying leads from Zillow for about 2 years, 90% of the leads are crap. but the zip code I’m paying for, 1 closing will pay for 2+ years of subscriptions. I’m not sure that will work in a more expensive zip code with more Real Estate offices. I’m way ahead with the 3-4 closings a year I get with zillow compared to most advertising.
My best return for my $ has been Face Book, $0.00 for 3-4 deals a year!
The rest are calls from listing signs, person to person at Church or at a bar, etc. or referrals from previous customers. good show, now back to work for me
I went to their site to test out their estimate for closing cost and it kept giving me the same amount for closing cost on a $250K and $450K house. Saying closing cost were $5900? I had to go in and manually adjust everything to get a more accurate estimate.