A New Kind of Ad on Zillow.com
By: Mark Eamer, Director, Online Marketing | June 23, 2008
Over the next few weeks, you may start to see some for-sale listings that look a little different than what usually turns up in our typical search results. They’re called “featured listings,” and it’s an advertising program we’re beginning with a number of our newspaper partners and the real estate professionals who buy classified listings through these local papers. How it works — a real estate agent, brokerage or home seller who buys a classified ad via their local paper will soon have the option to also buy a “featured listing” on Zillow in the same phone call. These listings are called out on Zillow.com as “featured” alongside all the 2.5 million+ free listings currently on the site. For agents and sellers, it’s a way to further market the home for sale.
For real estate agents and home sellers, the “featured listing” product increases their listing’s exposure beyond the local paper and on to the more than 5 million people who visit Zillow each month. We’ll be rolling this out via the sales staff of more than 130 newspapers in the coming months, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Richmond Times-Dispatch, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Houston Chronicle and Tampa Tribune. This is just the first step; we plan to roll out the ability to buy featured listings directly from Zillow to all our advertisers later this year.
Meanwhile, listing a home on Zillow remains free for anyone — agent, brokerage or home seller — either manually or via the Zillow Listings Feed program. Free Zillow listings include an unlimited number of photos, detailed contact information, updated home facts, detailed home features and links to an agent’s Web site, listing site and Zillow profile.
Our goal here is to give consumers a superior search experience for for-sale listings, while at the same time offering agents and sellers more opportunities to gain exposure for their listings. As you start to notice this new feature pop up around the site— please do let us know what you think.
- Stumble it!
- Categories: Advertising, Real Estate, Zillow
Comments
10 Comments so far
Enjoy this post? Subscribe to the Zillow Blog feed or get updates via e-mail
Alex on June 23, 2008 10:03 am
So how long before you put all MLS’s completely out of business? I’m not saying it’d be a bad thing, just wonder if that is the next step?
Zillow and the Consortium in Agreement to Sell Featured Listings | What Little I Know... on June 24, 2008 7:15 am
[…] for real estate agents to place an ad in their local newspaper and at the same time, place a ‘Featured Listing’ ad on […]
jf.sellsius on June 24, 2008 9:06 am
How many featured listings will appear on a search? Is there a maximum number?
DCL on July 9, 2008 6:00 pm
Long & Foster Real Estate, where I work, also uses featured listings to promote specific properties. It’s a great way to keep listings fresh and to make full use of the limited time a person spends looking at a given web page. That kind of bonus attention given to a property can make a huge difference…
Frank on July 21, 2008 1:18 pm
As a realtor do you constantly have to deal with inaccurate information Zillow posts on their website? Does Zillow actually have anyone in the field that knows specific market areas and monitors sales? The information gathered from public records can rarely be used to determine values. So Zillow now wants to look to us to get that information they desperately need. The terms and conditions of a sale play a huge part in the ultimate value of a property. Bottom line is they need talk to those in the trenches….. CONSULT A REALTOR IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT A PROPERTY IS WORTH! Do people rely on WEB MD to diagnose an illness? No, when they really want to know they go to a doctor!
The primary objective of Zillow running “Featured Listings” is to promote Zillow not the property.
heather on July 21, 2008 1:20 pm
I don’t think it’s that they are trying to put the MLS’s out of business I think it’s that they are trying to figure out a way to make more money off the internet, which as we all know is a FREE INFORMATION EXCHANGE. People will always be looking to make a buck off someone else….this is America after all, the home of the free and the land of capitalism.
It takes good agents who know their markets to sell their properties to the people who are able to buy them. Buyers use the internet and will find it for free. Smart buyers appreciate good properties at good prices regardless of if it’s “featured” or not.
I think if we, as agents, regularly buy open homes ads in our local newspapers and we regularly post onto Zillow as agents who are properly marketing our properties we should automatically get the “featured”. For god sake I think it’s us agents who are posting who are the ones helping make Zillow.com such a success! The big boys want to charge us agents and homeowners even more to advertise our properties. FREE ADS ARE CALLED COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARDS! Zillow began as a free service but come on people once it gets big like this of course they need to make some money.
That said, I love Zillow and enjoy being a part of the community. I’ll keep posting so Keep rock and rollin!
vicfisher on July 21, 2008 3:30 pm
You have a good point as far as the MLS is concerned. As more and more information gets out there it’s great for the consumer. It’s a no brainer for Zillow to do this and further “monitize” the website. And yes buyer’s and seller’s still need Realtors because what Zillow can’t do is see inside the house and gauge the amenities a property has. Nor can it negotiate, oversea the transaction details, etc. The way I see it is that Zillow is another tool for Realtors and the public alike. If anything I think it’s part of the newspaper industry fighting to stay relevant as more and more of the classified revenue goes online and agents shift their marketing dollars online. Victor, MarinHomesale.com
Chuck on September 3, 2008 11:41 am
It may be all fine and dandy that Zillow is creating this new kind of advertising, but I would hold judgement. The values they present on properties is not always accurate.
Let me explain. They take an overall view of houses sold in the area and determine that your property is worth similar to that as well. In my case, my property is in a new subdivision of 8 years and my house was built 6 years ago. Houses in my subdivision is worth over $300,000 up to $500,000. Surrounding the area, are houses that are over 15 years old with values in the $100,000 to $200,000 range. Zillow, without doing a detailed assessment of the area and only going by sale prices, determine that my house is worth about the same as 15 plus year old homes. That hurts when you are placing a price on your house, and Zillow shows a lower price. The comparison should be apples to apples.
Judith Nehorai on September 9, 2008 8:15 am
I don’t really understand how Zillow had garnered such a following other than it is a place for homeowners and buyers to gauge a home’s vlaue. But remember: garbage in - garbage out. An estimate involves more than just public records. I see big price misinformation all the time. Also, Zillow’s platform is unstable at best and whenever I need to make a price change I cross my fingers it all works OK. If clients didn’t know about Zillow I wouldn’t spend my time uploading property there and I will never pay to list any homes. Remember when people thought assessed tax value was actual property value? This is not too much different!
Vicfisher on September 9, 2008 1:08 pm
Your point is taken Chuck and yes that would be off putting to me if it was my house but it further demonstates the need for a good Realtor. Someone who can sttand up to the buyer’s agent and tell them why your house is worth more than what Zillow says.
Victor, MarinHomeSale.com