New Today: Welcome to the Neighborhood!
By: Andy Wand Product Team Lead | July 10, 2007
After an unintended false start, we’re happy to announce it’s here! We just released a bunch of new features with the goal of making Zillow useful to you — more personalized, more local and more relevant.
We’ve made additions in a number of different areas, but I want to talk about three of the most noticeable changes you’ll see when you visit us: Neighborhood Pages, Zillow Discussions and the new, personalized home page:
- We’ve created more than 6,500 new Neighborhood Pages in 134 cities across the country (with more to come). We’ve seeded these pages with some pretty amazing demographic data—including telling characteristics about the residents of these neighborhoods. However, the bulk of the content on the Neighborhood Pages we have left up to you, the Zillow community. Use the neighborhood discussion forums to meet your neighbors, talk about local news, publicize events like garage sales and get the inside scoop by asking questions of residents who know the area best. You can also share your photos of the neighborhood and check out the real estate in your area – from homes for sale to local Make Me Move prices to the most talked-about homes. To find a Neighborhood Page, you can access via any one of the 70+ million Home Detail pages and look for the link right beneath the address.
- Zillow Discussions, another new feature, takes the idea of neighborhood discussions and Home Q&A to a broader level. Here you can ask questions and share answers about anything related to real estate or owning a home. Want advice on financing your first home purchase? Leave a question in the “Buying a Home” section. Want to connect with other agents or mortgage professionals? Try the “Real Estate Professionals” category. Have another idea of a category? Please give us feedback and tell us what you want to see.
- And of course what you may have noticed first — the Home Page has been updated to make it more about you. We added a “My Snapshot” module that, when you’re logged in as a registered user, provides some key information about your activity on the site - questions asked and answered, homes posted for sale, etc. We’ve also added two areas where you can personalize the local Zillow content you see to your own interests—such as your neighborhood’s recently-sold homes, most talked-about local homes or what’s for sale.
Whew! That’s a lot of features to talk about in one blog post. But as proud as we are of these additions to the site, we know that this is just the start. These features will only get better with your participation: who ever heard of discussions without people? And who wants to live in a neighborhood where neighbors never talk to each other? To use a home-building metaphor, we’ve done the framing, the rough plumbing, and the basic wiring, but you — the Zillow community — will add the finishing touches that make each home unique and, we hope, eventually make it your own.
Please let us know what you think!
- Stumble it!
- Categories: Real Estate, Real Estate Analytics, Real Estate Industry, Zillow
Comments
28 Comments so far
Enjoy this post? Subscribe to the Zillow Blog feed or get updates via e-mail
Zillow Adds Neighborhood Pages, Discussions, Polls, and Wiki Enhancements | Personal Insights on Web 2.0, Blogging, and Business on July 10, 2007 9:58 pm
[...] Update @ 9:57: Check the Zillow Blog for an overview w/ links! [...]
franko on July 10, 2007 10:25 pm
very cool
Zillow.com’s latest release me-too’s Trulia.com’s recent me-too release: Can either make the leap from ghost-town to community? | BloodhoundBlog: Real estate marketing and technology blog | Realtors and real estate, mortgages, lending, i on July 10, 2007 10:26 pm
[...] More: John Cook’s Venture Blog, Drew Meyers, Zillow Blog. [...]
Joe Zekas on July 10, 2007 11:19 pm
Nice work! I’ve sampled a few of the new features and they’re easy to use and well presented.
If people begin to participate, this will add enormously to Zillow’s value.
Drew Meyers on July 10, 2007 11:27 pm
Thanks for the kind words Joe - much appreciated!
A big kudos has to go to our development team for making it all happen.
Zillow releases a slew of new features » Realivent Real Estate Technology Blog on July 11, 2007 2:12 am
[...] Zillow has again released more updates and features to its website. This time they mean serious business. And of course the news is already starting to Zizzle around the blogoshere with comments abounding everywhere. [...]
ARDELL DellaLoggia on July 11, 2007 7:06 am
I think I’d like to partiipate as a resident on my neighborhood level. I love my neighborhood and see many interesting events just walking around.
Will be fun to test it out.
Zillow Goes Hyperlocal With Neighborhood Pages — The Real Estate Bloggers on July 11, 2007 7:44 am
[...] The Zillow Blog Tags: Zillow, Neighbor+Pages [...]
Zillow New Neighbors is the Rage of the Day — The Real Estate Blog Watch on July 11, 2007 7:49 am
[...] The Zillow Blog [...]
Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin » Zillow: Can We Talk? Real Estate Gets Social on July 11, 2007 12:41 pm
[...] Zillow has always wanted to be “your edge in real estate.” Now it aims to be your real estate fueled social network as well. [...]
Erik Hersman on July 11, 2007 1:38 pm
Very well executed - it looks good. Are we seeing a direct competitor to Trulia Voices with this functionality then?
Rafe on July 11, 2007 2:17 pm
Very nice, but what’s your Facebook strategy?
Today - Lunch 2.0 @ Zillow! « Messaging….. Technology…… Life….. on July 11, 2007 2:37 pm
[...] find me at http://joshmaher.wordpress.com/2007/06/07/seattle-lunch-20-zillow/ today!! Includes some Zillow announcements?!! Yeah!! This is kind of cool! I guess Zillow is trying to not let Wetpaint be the only seattle [...]
Scott on July 11, 2007 4:06 pm
Your Seattle section is missing.
Leschi
Maple Leaf
View Ridge
macewan on July 11, 2007 4:23 pm
Interesting move - I’ll Digg the post to help get the word out.
A New and Improved Real Estate Guide - Zillow Blog - Real Estate News and Analysis on July 11, 2007 5:15 pm
[...] macewan: Interesting move - I’ll Digg the post to help get the word o… [...]
Dan Blank: Publishing, Innovation & the Web » Blog Archive » Zillow Launches Hyperlocal & Citizen Journalism Functionality on July 11, 2007 6:50 pm
[...] Zillow just announced some interesting new functionality to their site, centered around Neighborhood pages. [...]
Zillow Community « Joe Duck on July 11, 2007 7:02 pm
[...] new community pages, noting the failure of BackFence. I’m also skeptical of Zillow’s prospects for online community building but I think for different reasons, and both of us are premature to [...]
Zillow launches neighborhood pages at Ghost of Midnight on July 11, 2007 8:53 pm
[...] a big real estate site, today launched its new Neighborhood Pages… We’ve created more than 6,500 new Neighborhood Pages in 134 cities across the country [...]
Zillow Adds Social Features to Keep Ahead of Realtors | Marketing Pilgrim on July 12, 2007 6:34 am
[...] Here’s what’s been added: [...]
Wow! What a Lunch 2.0!! « Messaging….. Technology…… Life….. on July 12, 2007 8:18 am
[...] I met a ton of new poeple, put faces to other names, and got a couple of free hats!! Seattle Lunch 2.0 @ Zillow was a great event for the second ever in Seattle. It was also timely with the new neighborhoods launch!! [...]
Top Viewed For Sale Postings on Zillow - Zillow Blog - Real Estate News and Analysis on July 12, 2007 1:13 pm
[...] macewan: Interesting move - I’ll Digg the post to help get the word o… [...]
The power of the humble hyperlink » mathewingram.com/media on July 12, 2007 2:32 pm
[...] to the Zillow blog, the site has launched more than 6,500 community pages in 134 cities, with more to come. Although the pages have been “seeded” with info, the site says that “the bulk of [...]
A lot can happen in three days at Zillow - Zillow Blog - Real Estate News and Analysis on July 12, 2007 4:41 pm
[...] New Today: Welcome to the Neighborhood! [...]
» Zillow Launches Customized Homepage, Discussions, and 6500 More Neighborhood Pages || Pulse 2.0: Web 2.0 Reviews & Profiles || » Blog Archive on July 12, 2007 7:04 pm
[...] on real estate and provides information regarding homes for sale announced today on their blog[2] that they have launched several new features. The three new features includes a customized [...]
2007… and a half - Zillow Blog - Real Estate News and Analysis on July 17, 2007 5:22 pm
[...] New Today: Welcome to the Neighborhood! [...]
Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog » Blog Archive » zillow launches community pages on July 19, 2007 1:40 pm
[...] popular U.S. web 2.0 real estate search site, Zillow, has just launched a new feature called “Neighborhood Pages.” On these pages, people who live in the selected neighborhoods can upload photos, events, and other [...]
e on February 15, 2008 12:01 pm
Why do you keep lumping the SouthWest of Florida such as Siesta Key and Sarasota with Tampa…completely different markets and most of the properties are owned by well to do New Yorkers and go for $600K+ check out Bird Key or Casey key or any of the keys in that area for that matter and you can’t get anything for less than millions???