How do you really feel about Zillow and Trulia?
Rental Property Investor · Bettendorf, IA · Member since 2017 · 187 posts · 256 votes
How do you really feel about Zillow and Trulia?
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Real Estate Agent · Washington, D.C. · Member since 2012 · 17k+ posts · 30k+ votes
8yI have clients that ask me at least twice a week to go see a property they saw on Zillow that is already sold (sometimes up to a year ago) or under contract already.
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- 8yJo-Ann LapinPro MemberLoan Officer · Tustin, CA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 713 votes
Wonderful for general research and pictures. They don't tell the full story . Sq footage most of time off. But over all a good tool.
- Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes8y
Originally posted by @Russell Brazil:
Originally posted by @Joe Splitrock:
@Chris Jensen the reason realtors don't like these websites is because it threatens the MLS monopoly. I wish the realtor industry would embrace these websites and actually share data with them The reason they don't show sale pending and other details is because the MLS won't give them the data. It costs money to put a property on the MLS and it keeps the listings in control of realtors. Door lock boxes are also under their control, so you need a realtor. I have defended realtors and their value countless times on BP, but I think their slow embrace of Zillow and Trulia is a mistake.
@Russell Brazil made a good point. People send him listings from Zillow all the time. That is because people find Zillow easier to use. If the MLS shared their data stream, then Zillow would be properly updated.
The problem is if a realtor sees their only value as having access to the MLS, their job will be replaced.
Zillow owns Trulia and Hotpads. I know people dislike their Zestimates, but they are pretty good for an algorithm. Not totally accurate, but getting better in my opinion. Zillow does an excellent job at aggregating data. Tax records, sales records, maps, street view, rental values, listings, for sale by owner, for rent and much more. Increasingly I am seeing potential tenants come through Zillow versus Craigslist. Zillow has continued to improve and honestly my local MLS is no better than it was 5 years ago.
It is time to embrace the technology and work with it.
Actually many agents do embrace Zillow. Zillow is only able to exist because of agents/realtors. The information they provide on their website is mainly provided to them by free via an MLS feed from the local boards that they have a contract with. Also the main source of revenue for Zillow is from selling leads and zip codes to individual agents. For those receiving the leads...they dont even care if the lead is inquiring about a property that is already sold, because the value to the agent is in the lead, not in them being interested in a particular property.
I think agents that do not like Zillow, do not like it because their accuracy is questionable. This I think mainly is a software problem that is hard for Zillow to overcome. Zillow needs to interface with hundreds of MLS systems, all using their own proprietary software. That is a huge hurdle for any company to have to overcome, and that is why with any national portal, the accuracy of their system is going to have issues.
At some point though, the flaws in their business model will catch up to them. Currently the industry standard for online leads ends up with a 70% loss. So receiving the information thet get from realtors for free, then selling them leads back based on their own data, to only have that end up leading to a 70% loss for their investment, is at some point something will have to change. Some boards have already started restricting access of their MLS feeds to Zillow in the past couple years. I would not be surprised at some point to see others do the same, or charge Zillow for the right to access their data.
Many people think of the MLS as being a monopoly...and it really isnt true. Anyone can try to create a public database if they want. But the MLS systems that exist cost millions of dollars to create and maintain, and take the time of thousands of people who volunteer to enter that information into that database. We pay for it, and volunteer our time in insuring it's accuracy as it is a proprietary business tool for our business.
I would argue the accuracy issue is not Zillow alone. The MLS is holding back information. Even in my MLS portal with my realtor, there is lots of information I cannot see. Specifically on multi-family, I can't see the income and expenses. Other property details are hidden too. I have to request it from him on every property I am analyzing. I find myself using Zillow more often, mostly because the MLS is a horrible user interface.
I kind of feel like realtors get defensive about Zillow, which is ignoring the reality of a changing world. The MLS is a protectionist system in my view.
Like I mentioned in my original post, I have defended realtors many times. I just feel on this one issue, there is work to be done. No disrespect to you Russell. I think you are probably more progressive than some realtors when it comes to technology.
- Real Estate Broker · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2017 · 719 posts · 658 votes8y
I’m a little obssessd with Zillow and other real estate apps
I look a couple times a day
They are just regular houses listed on MLS that appear on Zillow. No special tactic just relentless searching lol
@Michael Plante I'm quite obsessed with MLS, Zillow (Rent), Craigslist. I'm practically live there ;)
However, all the deals I found, was at Sheriff sale, MLS or tax application for MLS.
Zillow is still not reliable source of info....but again, for people without access to MLS, it might be an option.
- Rental Property Investor · Fremont, NE · Member since 2016 · 23 posts · 5 votes8yBoth are awesome. Who cares if agents don't like them. It's just like everything in life. There is good and bad to them. I think there is a lot more good than bad. I've found several FSBO properties off Zillow that I would not have found otherwise.
- Real Estate Professional · McCalla, AL · Member since 2008 · 67 posts · 23 votes8y
Investor here. I use Zillow often. I like the feature that shows you sales history, but of course know to check the county records too. I really wish one of these sites gave you the Health department report for the Well and Septic information. I also like that I can link the Zillow estimates to my Mint.com report. Is it accurate? No of course not, but it is within an acceptable ballpark idea. So I can see my net worth easily knowing it isn't 100% accurate.
- Real Estate Agent · Boston, MA · Member since 2017 · 12 posts · 15 votes8yI have been on the paying side of Zillow and paid almost $1100/month to get my promised leads. As some have already mentioned earlier in this thread- if they have a listing and a user wants more info and the user doesn't click on the listing agent's profile, that lead would have been sent to me (a "premier agent"). I then follow up with the lead to usually find a buyer on the other line very confused because they already have an agent and thought I was the listing agent. I had a 6 month contract that I couldn't get out of and it yielded no results. For the money spent, that didn't leave a good taste in my mouth. As a user though, I sometimes even go on Zillow, Trulia, realtor.com and Redfin just to see what my clients are actually seeing. Aesthetically, these websites are much more appealing to potential buyers and they do have insightful stats on crime and schools in the areas. I don't always agree with the Zestimates and do always ask my clients to check with me before jumping to conclusions. I'm not against the sites! I think they do a good job of catering to the buyer. I just don't think they provide very much value to the agents unfortunately (especially if you pay).
- Contractor · San Jose, CA · Member since 2015 · 3 posts · 1 vote8y
I think Zillow is a fun place to browse for dream properties or to get a feeling for what it's like to live in another place. The MLS websites are usually not easy to use.
@Ailen Li I think you nailed it when you say that the websites are so much more appealing to potential buyers. It's true, this is why so many of my friends and clients use Zillow .
Sometimes Good enough is all you need. This is why it's so popular with browsers and potential buyers.
- Rental Property Investor · Bettendorf, IA · Member since 2017 · 187 posts · 256 votes8y
Wow, there has been an amazing amount of detail, experience, perspective and insight shared on this post. I learned a TON not just about how Zillow and Trulia (and other sites) work, but more importantly how they are viewed from both a Realtor's and an investor's perspective. I'm going to have to attempt my first blog entry and summarize everything from this post into a crisp reference guide. And yes, @Tony Wooldridge I'll have to calculate a final score in the battle of the "do trust" vs. "don't trust" camps!
- Real Estate Agent · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 238 posts · 101 votes8y
@Chris Jensen Before I got my license I used to use Redfin to do my initial research. Now I work for them. So yes, I'm biased when I tell you that I recommend using that site over either Zillow or Trulia lol Redfin is an actual brokerage so we're constantly pulling data from the MLS. Whereas, Zillow and Trulia will always have a delay. I don't trust the property value estimates on any website (including Redfin). Trust but verify when it comes to that; better to run your own CMA. I still use Trulia regularly because they have a crime-heat-map feature which I love. Zillow is pretty much useless to me. Ideally, the best source of info is always going to be the MLS. That's my 2-cents :)
- Pensacola, FL · Member since 2017 · 163 posts · 312 votes8y
@Chris Jensen, you won't be able to tally me in on either side of the debate, but I will piggyback off of a point @Russell Brazil made in passing, but is really the underlying key to the debate: the software issue. Frankly, the infinite number of systems and, likewise proprietary software being used throughout the country simply do not speak the same language. There are major technical enablers being developed in the IT and tech industries that can help improve these issues, i.e. advances in cloud processing and language standards (xAPI, being the primary enabler). But until the interoperability quandary is solved within the different architectures that have to integrate, there is just no way for the Zestimate to be accurate. With the current processes, the data is not statistically significant.
Its an interesting discussion, though, as Zillow might be in a position to be the "Amazon" of real estate industry if it had access to the data it needed to generate accurate algorithms.
- Carrollton, TX · Member since 2017 · 4 posts · 3 votes8y
@Michael Plante when you look on zillow or other sites, do you then just do your research and then forward to your RE agent for making offers and initiating the process?
This thread has lot of good information in terms of what is and isn't useful off of these sites. If you all hadn't mentioned that in Texas the zestimate value is not accurate, I would have been wasting lot of time on properties just because of that value.
I think even if Zillow's and other similar listings get very accurate, I'd still have an RE agent involved in the process to make sure I wasn't forgetting something.
- Deland, FL · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes8y
Originally posted by @Max P.:
@Michael Plante when you look on zillow or other sites, do you then just do your research and then forward to your RE agent for making offers and initiating the process?
This thread has lot of good information in terms of what is and isn't useful off of these sites. If you all hadn't mentioned that in Texas the zestimate value is not accurate, I would have been wasting lot of time on properties just because of that value.
I think even if Zillow's and other similar listings get very accurate, I'd still have an RE agent involved in the process to make sure I wasn't forgetting something.
I see it on Zillow
I drive by the place
If I like it I call the listing agent
See the inside
If I still like it put in an offer
Actuall just did this a few hours ago
Hoping to have the offer accepted tomorrow. Or at least a counter offer
- Carrollton, TX · Member since 2017 · 4 posts · 3 votes8y
@Michael Plante thanks. I'm gonna see if I can find some properties of interest and pursue further.
I found zillow doesn't give me any entries for 2/3/4plexes. Maybe I'm not looking the right way. I did find quite a few on loopnet.
- Investor · Germantown , TN · Member since 2017 · 12 posts · 4 votes8yLove Zillow a great way to network with finding leads and buyers.
- Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes8y
There are good and bad about the sites. What I do not like is the Zestimates. I think if they're going to put such a thing online, they should have a way to factor in age of house, size of home, number of bedrooms, size of lot, and quality of finishes, or at least have some type of disclosure stating that their zestimates do not factor in all necessary criteria to be accurate comparison.
As for the age of the "sold" listings, etc., it's important for people to learn how to use the filters, and look at the dates of listings, solds, etc.
- Norristown, PA · Member since 2015 · 8 posts · 2 votes8y
I like to use Zillow to find out the price history, taxes, schools, etc. For the purposes of buying investment properties, what is your best practice? What site or sites would you use for leads to analyze?
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