Zillow Cash Offer - My Experience

Zillow Cash Offer - My Experience

Rental Property Investor · Springfield, OH · Member since 2014 · 104 posts · 63 votes

Currently I have 10 homes in various locations... Ohio, Arizona, and Virginia.  I noticed Zillow was advertising to purchase my homes in Arizona for cash.  Note I believe it's only available in some markets.  I thought it was worth a shot so I began communicating with them.  The young man was a pleasure to work with and was very honest and professional, so we moved forward.  

Before the inspection, they offered an amount which was reasonable.  It would have slightly higher than what I would receive if I worked with an agent.  Of course the process would be faster also.  Again I agreed to proceed.

During the inspection a local inspector was present, and a Zillow representative.  Both were taking pictures and documenting their findings.  Both were professional.  The only issue I had is that the inspector left the air conditioning at a low setting of 70 degrees.  In Arizona, that's a big mistake.  Later we went to a local mall and returned in the evening.  We found the house was at 70 degrees!  That's going to show up on my electric bill!  It's not really Zillow's fault as the independent inspector was to blame.  

Also during the inspection, we had several repairs which were in progress.  The outside was being painted, bathroom was being updated, etc.  Because of the repairs, they decided to perform the inspection again to verify everything completed.  

When I received the inspection report and new offer, everything changed!  First they provided an offer which was based on the first inspection, not the second inspection.  I told them the problem and the realtor who gave me the offer ignored what I said.  The Zillow representative stepped in and was professional and said they would stop and investigate the issue.  One day later they said they were firm on the price.  They dropped the offer by $30k and ironically said the air conditioner didn't work.  They wanted $4000 to replace the outside unit.  The reduced price did not match the cost of repairs.  However the inspector took pictures showing temperatures and showed that the AC worked, but later documented that it didn't work.  First we have to understand that I had the thermostat set for 88 degrees (the outside temperature was 110F).  The output from the AC will only drop a percentage of the ambient temperature.  I think they were expecting an output of 50 degrees or so.  I argued with them on the condition of the AC even though pictures showed it was clearly working, but they wouldn't budge on their ruling.

So they thought I would go for it but I didn't.  They thought I wanted to quickly unload the property but I didn't.  

Original value:  $224,000

Zillow Cash Offer: $181,000

I ended up selling with a realtor and getting $224,000, minus closing costs and realtor commission.  In the beginning I was impressed with the service and professionalism, but later everything changed.  They assumed I would accept a low offer and tried to bully me about my air conditioner.  They wanted an air conditioning certification too.  I asked them what was a certification and they couldn't answer the question.  I offered to pay for an AC inspection/certification without paying for the replacement but they only wanted the replacement.

Anyway.  I like Zillow a lot but be aware that investors will be investors.  The home-buying service was a big negative!  

In the future I hope to sell properties on Zillow as FSBO. Hopefully that will work better.

Good luck!

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Russell BrazilBusiness Member
Moderator
Real Estate Agent · Washington, D.C. · Member since 2012 · 17k+ posts · 30k+ votes
8y

That is the modus operandi of Zillow and OpenDoors. Final offer is nowhere near the original and they try to rip off the seller.

See this reply in the discussion

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  • Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2011 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    7y

    @Lindsey Vernon It sounds like Zillow learned their lesson on your neighbor's house. Good for the neighbor, not so good for you. 

  • Investor · Milwaukee - Mequon, WI · Member since 2010 · 5k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    7y

    Thanks for sharing your experiences everyone! I have read a lot about the programs and Keller Williams is watching this very carefully. I think we will also partner with OpenDoor and be able to make an iBuyer offer as an alternative to classic brokerage services. KW is very agressive and growing into a tech company, committed to out-market and out-tool their competition. There are currently several iBuyer programs in pilot market, Zillow, Knock, Opendoor, Offerpad and I believe also Redfin. From the data I have seen you can roughly expect 13-15% less then from a conventional sale through a brokerage. They are basically taking the wholesaler's approach "I buy houses fast for cash" from lower priced neighborhoods and scaling it up to median and higher price points.

    For some Sellers the predictability and convinience is more important than the money. Moving a family out of State, new job etc might create the motivation to do so. Of course the Seller has to understand that iBuyers are for-profit enterprises, they have administrative expenses and repair cost and want to make a profit at the end. Zillow for example has not managed to turn a profit yet since their launch in 2006, they are desperatly looking to add profit sources.

  • Waipahu, HI · Member since 2018 · 121 posts · 81 votes
    7y

    Interesting.  It is nice to know there is an option for some investors who might need to offload proprieties in case they get into trouble.  Thanks for the info

  • Rental Property Investor · Tysons, VA · Member since 2015 · 73 posts · 45 votes
    7y

    I heard some comments about Zillow offer. They are losing lots of money, yet people in RE circle believe eventually they will figure out the right model and make a profit on it.

    It is only available in lowe price tag area. I am at metro DC zillow will not come here, at least for now.

    eventually most market will be impacted except high end luxury homes.

  • Ian WalshBusiness Member
    Lender · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    They have some bugs to works out.

  • Real Estate Agent · Member since 2019 · 67 posts · 33 votes
    6y
    Zillow is trying to do to the real estate market what Amazon did to the retail industry. Two problems for them:
    1) This is late in the Tech Unicorn cycle so big Wall Street money starts wondering whether dishing out cash to money burning companies guarantees success.
    2) Real estate is not retail: their cash offer program means they would carry an inventory that exposes them to being wiped out if/when the market softens. That's why they low-ball sellers to have a margin of safety.

    All that makes it hard for them to pull it off.
  • Will BarnardPro Member
    Moderator
    Developer · Santa Clarita, CA · Member since 2008 · 15k+ posts · 10k+ votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Dave Hanks:

     In short, Zillow offers is probably right for certain owners, it is definitely wrong for investors.

    I would say with confidence that zillow offers is wrong for any home seller, their format is horrible and their re-trading techniques border criminal. They are a huge machine that has yet to get it right on much of what they do. To me, their only use is a good quick look at solds and actives in your area for quick searches and some data on those houses (that is not guaranteed to be accurate, especially bed bath counts).

  • Real Estate Broker · Bend OR and Billings, MT · Member since 2019 · 84 posts · 18 votes
    6y

    Thanks for sharing your experience with Zillow.  I have heard about Zillow cash offers becoming more popular.  It sure sounds like the classic bait and switch.  They want to get you committed in writing to sell and pull a way to hit you with a much lower price in hopes that you cave.

  • Real Estate Agent · Kansas City · Member since 2018 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    6y

    95% of agents hate Zillow lol. Curious how long they can maintain it, I remember hearing they have lost millions of dollars so far...

  • Member since 2019 · 2 posts · 8 votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Will Barnard:
    Originally posted by @Dave Hanks:

     In short, Zillow offers is probably right for certain owners, it is definitely wrong for investors.

    I would say with confidence that zillow offers is wrong for any home seller, their format is horrible and their re-trading techniques border criminal. They are a huge machine that has yet to get it right on much of what they do. To me, their only use is a good quick look at solds and actives in your area for quick searches and some data on those houses (that is not guaranteed to be accurate, especially bed bath counts).

    Not criminal, but definitely predatory. There’s a comment up thread about getting out of a divorce quickly and just wanting the asset liquidated. That’s the kind of target they want. Whether it’s smart business by Zillow is a different question.

  • Will BarnardPro Member
    Moderator
    Developer · Santa Clarita, CA · Member since 2008 · 15k+ posts · 10k+ votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Dave Hanks:
    Originally posted by @Will Barnard:
    Originally posted by @Dave Hanks:

     In short, Zillow offers is probably right for certain owners, it is definitely wrong for investors.

    I would say with confidence that zillow offers is wrong for any home seller, their format is horrible and their re-trading techniques border criminal. They are a huge machine that has yet to get it right on much of what they do. To me, their only use is a good quick look at solds and actives in your area for quick searches and some data on those houses (that is not guaranteed to be accurate, especially bed bath counts).

    Not criminal, but definitely predatory. There’s a comment up thread about getting out of a divorce quickly and just wanting the asset liquidated. That’s the kind of target they want. Whether it’s smart business by Zillow is a different question.

    Agreed, I did not mean for it be be taken that literally, hence “border criminal” but predatory is a much more accurate term. We are certainly on the same page here.

  • Real Estate Agent · Houston, TX · Member since 2017 · 292 posts · 233 votes
    6y

    Good thread!   Agreed with most comments on Zillow especially how poor their customer service is.   Email based and takes DAYS to get a response, if ever!

    Houston has a strong MLS, and Har.com is an excellent site. That's not always so with other cities though, and I've had trouble even finding their MLS on the internet, and begrudgingly I end up going to Zillow for searches to see what's available.

    I don't like them, but I think their brand recognition is so strong nation wide that they will be here for the long term.

  • Member since 2019 · 51 posts · 36 votes
    6y

    As a new investor, it worries me to hear about zillow moving in to this kind of space, though.  They want to put all of us smaller investors out of business, right? Like how Amazon killed a bunch of small businesses? You all clearly know more than I do about this, though - are you worried about that, long term? 

  • Rental Property Investor · Springfield, OH · Member since 2014 · 104 posts · 63 votes
    6y
     @Josh Johnston:

    I wouldn't worry about that too much.  They can't compete with private investors especially those who do their own work.  In fact they can't compete with regular buyers either who are willing to purchase at a fair price.  For them to be profitable, they need to purchase at low price or offer an expedited service.  There's just too many people who offer more or least the same thing.  They are successful through advertising on their website and working many deals at the same time.  As the saying goes... even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.  Eventually someone will sell something to them.  

  • Member since 2019 · 51 posts · 36 votes
    6y

    Thanks, Darrell! There's always something to worry about, right? Can't let it stop you from trying, I suppose. 

  • Flipper/Rehabber · NE · Member since 2019 · 28 posts · 3 votes
    6y

    Thank you Everyone for sharing your Zillow experiences. I have been reviewing the numbers and the outlook for Zillow, ibuyers, open door, redfin, and other hedge fund backed buyers is expected to climb to over $1B next year.  The small investor, it appears is going to get less and less in the market. What're your opinions?

  • Member since 2019 · 1 post · 1 vote
    6y

    My husband and I live in Texas.We are in the midst of a divorce so we reached out to Zillow for a possible buy out on our home. I was astonished and quite honestly offended with the initial offer they gave! The representative we spoke to explained everything to the tee and was very polite. The zestimate for our property was about $375K but the initial offer was $255K. I asked the representative why the offer was more than $100K less than what they had listed for the “zestimate” and he stated he did not know and would get back to me with an explanation. Needless to say he NEVER reached back out to me and the offer was REFUSED! 

  • Member since 2019 · 1 post · 1 vote
    6y

    I use Zillow for research but I can see how it would be a severe turn off if they aren't negotiating in good faith. That is just wasting your time. Thank you for the alert.

  • Real Estate Agent · Pasadena, CA · Member since 2015 · 477 posts · 263 votes
    6y

    Investors are in it to make money and zillow is just a big investor. We help investors buy homes for cash all the time and the investors are always pitch that the seller will make more money with them bc there are no realtor fees, but then offer them the price minus commissions and closing costs.... :) 

    home is worth 700k as is: so they offer $700k minus 6% bc there are no realtors involved... or minus $42k and each pays its own fees. 

    I love working with investors because the transaction could be faster, smoother, and a business decision with out a lot of emotion, but the notion that you, as a home owner can get more money tends to be wrong... 

    Zillow, FSBO, Open Door...etc will never beat great marketing, great negotiations and exposure to all the buyers and realtors in the market.

    Its always tempting to see what an offer could be, or what new trends are coming in with new companies, but at the end of the day, as of right now, selling with a good realtor that is honest, ethical, and wants to build a long lasting relationship with you is the way to go. Stop wasting your time, money and effort and work with professionals in their given industries. 

    Let me know if you want to sell your home in any US state. :) 

  • Rental Property Investor · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2015 · 68 posts · 235 votes
    6y

    Zillow offered me $170k on one of my properties. The CMA my broker did came back at $180k - $190k. Seems that they are low-balling.

  • Real Estate Broker · Santa Ana CA [South Coast Metro] · Member since 2016 · 459 posts · 202 votes
    6y

    What no one is mentioning is Zillow gets all the data and traffic. It is the #1 destination for real estate, bar none.

    As agents we collectively gave them that power, in the early days if the MLS was smart they would of been the zillow of today. but with all the infighting, gross duplication of efforts, protected profits and sheer shortsightedness on the MLS's part if they made a national MLS it would of been a different story and agents would have continued the monopoly [good or bad depending on your stance]. Its been a tough nut to crack to dislodge those pesky agents it will be almost 30 years in the making.

    https://timandjulieharris.com/2019/08/21/brad-inman-zillow-is-the-real-estate-business.html

    Zillow and others say that they want to only buy 5000 per month so do they all so 5000 x 10 players = less then 10% of all homes sold, but that is just in the next couple of years, if they can exploit and make a profit it's possible that the ibuyers will control over 50% of the market in a few short years. Buyers have responded to the iBuyer model, they hate paying commission and dealing with the hassles and fight over selling a home. They want the convenience and guarantee of a sale they have things to do with their lives and need to move on.

    The Zestimate is at odds with their home buying efforts. Its in their best interest to tweak the algorithim to their favor.

    What if an iBuyer can figure out how to buy at market. Game over and we are going to be speaking to our AI overlords.

    There is several ways they can go with this. We'll see what happens

    Zillow loses money on each "flip" but their stock goes up 46% this year.

    https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/01/08/why-zillow-group-stock-surged-46-in-2019.aspx

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



    https://wolfstreet.com/2019/05/10/house-flipper-zillow-lost-109k-35-per-flip-net-loss-triples-shares-soar/

    So, revenues of $128.5 million from selling the homes, minus $173.7 million in costs and expenses associated with these home sales, for a loss on its home flipping operations of $45.2 million.

    This loss of $45.2 million on 414 home flips means:

    • Zillow lost $109,190 per flip on average.
    • Zillow lost 37% on each flip on average.

    So this is a horrendous business

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  • Member since 2020 · 3 posts · 2 votes
    6y

    I was looking into this, thanks for all the information!

  • Rental Property Investor · Springfield, OH · Member since 2014 · 104 posts · 63 votes
    6y

    @Rob Massopust

    Sorry for the slow reply Rob.  I think you're absolutely on target on this.  

    I sold two houses in 2018 and my realtor noted that my listings generated more attention on Zillow, than on Realtor.com. This is important because realtors keep their job security by forbidding access to the MLS. If buyers and sellers used a different database, then realtors could lose a big chunk of their job security. What I'm saying is that the data giant (Zillow) is now a better place to sell your house than any other website AND you can list a house for sale as FSBO. Of course houses could also be sold on Facebook or Craigslist, but the professional format of Zillow will go a long way for sellers. As a landlord I've been using Zillow for years to list my rentals. I can certainly generate an ad myself to sell my own home. I can also use a title company to complete the paperwork. If I'm smart enough to say "no" to Zillow wholesalers, then I should be smart enough to recognize a fair price for my own house and do the paperwork myself. I believe realtors are over paid but I believe we should only use them when we have to... for example when a property is in another state (as mine was).

  • Real Estate Broker · Santa Ana CA [South Coast Metro] · Member since 2016 · 459 posts · 202 votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Darrell D.:

    @Rob Massopust

    Sorry for the slow reply Rob.  I think you're absolutely on target on this.  

    I sold two houses in 2018 and my realtor noted that my listings generated more attention on Zillow, than on Realtor.com. This is important because realtors keep their job security by forbidding access to the MLS. If buyers and sellers used a different database, then realtors could lose a big chunk of their job security. What I'm saying is that the data giant (Zillow) is now a better place to sell your house than any other website AND you can list a house for sale as FSBO. Of course houses could also be sold on Facebook or Craigslist, but the professional format of Zillow will go a long way for sellers. As a landlord I've been using Zillow for years to list my rentals. I can certainly generate an ad myself to sell my own home. I can also use a title company to complete the paperwork. If I'm smart enough to say "no" to Zillow wholesalers, then I should be smart enough to recognize a fair price for my own house and do the paperwork myself. I believe realtors are over paid but I believe we should only use them when we have to... for example when a property is in another state (as mine was).

    The funny thing on Zillow as a FSBO, you will get inundated with agents trying to get the listing. Its pretty crazy. Its better for rentals, agents dont want to mess with rentals. Zillow uses its own algorithm and it tweaks data not fairly and people rely on their zestimates too much. Its good if you can play the arbitrage angle. But if you have a listing on Zillow as an agent if you do not pay zillow to be a top agent you will not get the call, it might have activity but another paid agent will get the lead of the buyer. Zillow took all the data and repackage it and sell it back to agents.

    Same with expireds, I had a seller's listing expire a few months ago and the next morning at 7 am she had almost 200 calls, it was crazy. Agents are desperate, they could care less when it was on the market, no one wanted to show it. But what ever.

  • Real Estate Broker · Santa Ana CA [South Coast Metro] · Member since 2016 · 459 posts · 202 votes
    6y

    Here is what I would do if I was in charge of Zillow [spoiler alert - agents you will not like this].

    Zillow gets all the traffic - buyer and seller. They know how many likes and saves each property gets in a particular area.

    Collate that data into a "Buyer Set", contact buyers and ask if we found you a house you liked and could buy direct "off market" would you like to do that, get first dibs and a good deal on off market deals. Sign me up. Prequalify them [ really not just ask them do they want to buy a house but full 1003].

    Then take the ready buyers list and market to all sellers that fit that criteria - via online, email, direct mail, FaceBook, door knock etc. Then take a cut of the transaction fee. Look out.

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