Zillow

Name: Zillow
Rating: 4.4

Is This Your Business?

4.4

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162 User Reviews

9.5

Overall Score

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Zillow was developed as an online real estate search engine that was incorporated in 2004. It was created by Rich Barton and Lloyd Bring, former Microsoft gurus who were key in the development of the Expedia website. Spencer Rascoff serves as the company CEO. The company has data on over 110 million homes in the United States, in addition to the 2 million that are currently listed on the website for sale. The site offers value estimates on homes, gives key data on how the price of a home will change over a given timespan, gives aerial views of homes and helps customers find data on similar homes that exist in the same search area. The website accesses basic public data on a home and also gives information on the square footage and number of bedrooms listed in a home. If a home has a recently added feature, such as a renovation, this information is also tracked on the website for the home. Zillow also has API integration and developers can also network Zillow's search feature into websites developed for other realtors. Zillow has a unique functionality that is not found on many realtor websites. The "Make Me Move" feature is a great way to get a pre-market price on the home out there. One of the nice features of the Zillow website is the rental search feature, which was launched in 2009. The website doesn't list as many rentals as homes, but this helps renters find an affordable website. Zillow is also used to power other key real estate search paradigms, such as AOL Real Estate and MSN Real Estate, in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Zillow also was one of the first companies in the industry to begin using apps to access its real estate search database. Here is a list of apps available and the dates that they were launched:

April 2009, iPhone app
March 2010, Android app
April 2010, iPad app
March 2011, Blackberry app
July 2012, Windows phone app
November 2013, Windows 8.1 app.

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The Good

Search functionality
Apps

The first thing that we noticed about the Zillow website was its functionality. We liked the number of listings that we saw available. The search feature is also easy to use. Site users can do multiple types of searches. It is possible to search by address, state, map, type of home, rental or home purchase, the number of bedrooms in a home, and other search criteria. It also includes a "Make Me Move" price, where customers can see new homes that are just starting to enter the market. Another thing that we liked about the website was the feature that lets users see factors that increase a home's values. Price valuation increases in a home can be projected for a 5- or 10-year timespan. Also, the site lists recent renovations to a home that may also increase its price. We also liked the number of apps available for Zillow. When we looked at apps in the industry, many of the apps were only geared for the iPhone. We saw apps available for the iPad and Google tablets as well. The Zillow app is very flexible to use on the Windows 8.1 phone, a major plus in our opinion, given the Zillow functionality of the MSN Real Estate website. We found that the Zillow "Zestimate" was also accurate. We looked at homes on the website and then checked these prices with real estate websites and other listings. The Zestimate feature allows users to see a price that is projected based on several factors, including prices of homes that are also going in the same search area. Zestimate, however, is not always accurate. One of the problems that we found with "Zestimates" was that the price accuracy varies by location and current offers if buyers are negotiating for the home.

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The Bad

Customer support
Zestimate accuracy

One of the things we noticed right away was the lack of support available for the Zillow website. They don't offer a toll-free number for customers to call in. There is also no live chat app for customers who are looking for information about a particular home. Another problem that we found with Zillow was that the Zestimate and home prices listed on the website was not always accurate. We found that a homeowner who rented had lost income on a property because the property was incorrectly listed as being "in foreclosure." The client asked to receive funds to help compensate for their losses, but Zillow responded by saying that their information is received from third-party sources. We found that the pricing critiques of the website hinged on the following factors:

Some data used to compile the Zillow price estimate can be as old as twenty years and is based on old bank data, public data, and sales transactions.
Only 65% of Zillow's listing stock can be considered "accurate," according to Fortune magazine.
Real estate agents and brokers are more likely to know the most up-to-date and factual information about a home that is listed for sale.

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The Bottom Line

Overall, we would recommend Zillow as a website for listing your home or looking for a new home. Here is what we liked about Zillow's website:

Accurate data, for the most part, that is compiled from trustworthy and up-to-date public sources.
The "Zestimate" price that is listed for homes.
The search functionality of the website.
The ability for site users to ask real estate questions in a public forum.
The map feature and aerial views offered for homes.
Price valuation information for a home that is listed in timespan intervals.
Rental listings that are almost as extensive as sales listings.

We saw a pattern of complaints such as occasional inaccurate price information for a new home. Some landlords lost money due to homes being listed as "in foreclosure" on the website when they were in fact not. Also, we had concerns with some property information on the website, especially bank data, as being as much as two decades old. Even though Zillow gets its information from third-party sources, more supervision of the data is needed to ensure its accuracy.

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User Reviews

Star Rating

4.4

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162 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

56%

4 grade

35%

3 grade

2 grade

1 grade

Sentiment Criteria

Value

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Quality

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Service

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Trustworthiness

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Michelle Burke Folcroft, PA

I was connected with Megan J while looking to buy a starter home. She was SO knowledgable and patient with my THOUSANDS of questions as I was a first time buyer. I couldn't recommend Megan and Zillow enough.

3 weeks ago

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Leonard Leo Potomac, MD

One of favorite go to site to check home sale prices and current comps in the area, i.e. Zestimates. You can search by type of property, prices and areas. Zillow gives you free information that a typical MLS service would, including school districting, taxes, previous sale price. Unfortunately, this free service cannot complete with the paid MLS service.

1 month ago

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Elisabeth Kinghorn Nakhon Sawan, 60

I love using Zillow for my real estate searches! It is super easy to use and provides a lot of really important and convenient information about each property and the location. I found my current apartment by using this website and am very happy with it!

2 weeks ago

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A E B Damascus, MD

Competitive interest rates, fast and easy closing. Very professional team of experts to assure customer satisfaction! Reliable, reachable pretty much all the time. They definitely know what they are doing!

4 weeks ago

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Robert Washington, MI

Customer support is totally non-existent. Phone calls are not accepted unless you are a realtor. When you list-be prepared for constant hounding by realtors from sunup to sunset. My home racked up 2338 views with 68 saves. I wondered why no responses-to express interest you click agent where they give my email-no phone number accepted-that`s for realtors. Anyway 4 acquaintances tried to contact my email and I received a big nothing. Ripoff-pure and simple. Wrote to them concerning this issue 5 days ago and a big zero for a response. BTW Trulia is also owned by this same group. If you value your sanity stay away.

1 month ago

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Fred Frontino Mesa, AZ

I've used Zillow for years to find several rental houses and then I found my permanent house I bought last year. I also use it for my work when I need to take a quick look at a property. I am very pleased with there service.

2 months ago

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Tiffany I Gaithersburg, MD

Zillow gives a wide range of homes on the market. Recently I inquired about a new construction home and I was able to send my message thru their site immediately. Received a message and call by the next day.

1 month ago

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Rhona Leffler Olney, MD

I like the option to look up properties on the market without being hounded by a real-estate agent. The search engine really lets you narrow down properties that fit your criteria.

1 month ago

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Beth Knight Nakhon Sawan, 60

I love using Zillow to search for new housing options. It was super easy to use to find a new apartment that I love

1 week ago

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Jessica Chen Rockville, MD

I use Zillow to look at houses and compare house prices. Recently, my parents have been thinking of moving, so I definitely use Zillow to look at houses and house price around my county. Zillow is great in providing information like the size, price, and num of bathrooms and rooms which is great for helping users who are finding houses.

3 months ago

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peter harmatuk Poolesville, MD

A very good program to identify homes for sale in an area of interest. Only problem I have found in the area of "valuation"....most of the times they are under the going market prices. A really good place to start in the "home hunting" adventure.

3 months ago

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Taylor Hall Los Angeles, CA

Zillow found my husband and I had a little house of our dreams. It is so easy to use and so clear! You can search by whatever characteristic you’d like. My favorite feature is the map search, which lets you search for homes based on their location. The pictures are always great quality and the realtors and sellers are easy to contact. Response time is wonderful!

4 months ago

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daphjohnson Saratoga Springs, UT

Zillow provides a fast and easy way to look at the housing market. Some of my favorite features about zillow are the market summaries and details. I also like being able to look up house price estimates as I am driving by. This helps me feel informed in real time. I use this app a lot because of that. I also found my first home through Zillow so I am forever grateful for the app.

4 months ago

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Morgan Knight Salt Lake City, UT

This past summer we were in the middle of the craziest housing market, thankfully we had Zillow! We were on Zillow all day everyday looking at neighborhoods and using the zestimate as a good reference pint in areas we were not super familiar with! Zillow was a key component of finding our home! I also used Zillow to rent our unit on our rental property and it is amazing! I love how they have an application all ready for you to use and how easy they make the process in communicating with potential applicants.

5 months ago

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Jodianna Maitland, FL

I love how I can easily search for homes in my area and easily meet with someone to view it.

1 week ago

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Mary Hardy Annapolis, MD

Everything has been great and extremely easy. From the online experience to the personal contacts, we were very pleased. Thank you

1 month ago

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Daniel Snow Redmond, WA

I have used Zillow frequently over the past 3 years for apartment hunting and now shopping for a home. Works well, but the backend services could be better streamlined. For instance when I select “schedule a tour” today, I get texts and calls to set up a time, despite having already selected a date and time for a tour. I shouldn’t have to do any more than choose a date and time on the page unless I want to.

4 months ago

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Becky Gilbert, AZ

Zillow is super easy to use and allows the general public to look for homes in the area they area interested in buying. It offers a way for homeowners to sell their house without a realtor. The only downside is the on slot of realtors who call you once you list your home. Pretty obnoxious.

4 months ago

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Steve Ashby Portland, OR

I use Zillow quite often as a way to see what a listed home asking price is and also to see value of homes in certain areas. It is a good way to search for homes for sale in a certain area before you go looking around. It gives a good look at costs in a certain area. I would give a rating of 5, but there are some errors that come up with homes that say they are in repo but aren't.

5 months ago

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Cindy H Gilbert, AZ

Zillow is easy to use and I like the maps and being able to see home values whether they are for sale or not. The down side of Zillow is that sometimes homes are left on the site that are no longer for sale. This is a problem when i see what i want and inquire only to find it isn't on the market anymore. Feel like it may be on purpose to increase traffic and get names to sell to relators.

5 months ago

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Mark Troxel Provo, UT

The good about Zillow, it is easy to search local areas, use filters and find listings. The bad: Zillow does a poor job at keeping its listings current. If you don't filter you will find a lot of listings are aged. Many are no longer on the market and the only reason they are there, it seems, is to drive you to meet with a realtor. We found that the listings were generally no longer on the market. Agents know that most listings on Zillow are not current. There are a lot of listing directed to you that show "pre-forclosure". These are completely useless and not accurate. The main sources on Zillow appear to be new developments that are pushing new construction. For the person looking for existing homes you are better off to find a good realtor who will only show you what you are looking for. Zillow looks well developed, is pleasing to the eye and has lots of features. It is just polluted with so much duff, that we lost interest in using it as a source and went with a realtor. There are better sites where the listings are kept more current.

5 months ago

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Terin Layton, UT

We have been using Zillow a lot recently since we are buying a home. Zillow is a great resource for a home buyer because their website has so much information! Each listing tells us everything we need to know about the home, the property, the community, etc. You can often times read what the seller loves about the home, that’s one of my favorite parts. I would highly recommend Zillow!

7 months ago

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Mary Talladega, AL

I have had the Zillow app off and on for quite awhile. I do like the ease of using the app and all the things they usually include (info about the property) there seems to be one glaring issue I do have with the few times I have actually contacted someone on Zillow. I never get a response. I don't know why I haven't had much luck getting an agent to contact me back about a property but it seems someone is listing these properties and even updates them, I just on at least 2 different occasions not have an agent reach out to me. Even if I was interested or even to answer a question about the property. Maybe I am expecting too much?

7 months ago

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Danielle DeMarco Kent, OH

Good information on the specifics of the homes, but it’s not updated frequently enough to indicate if the property is still on the market.

2 months ago

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Frances Harmatuk Baltimore, MD

I love seeing what the value of my house is every week. Will definitely use this service when I go to put my house on the market.

1 month ago

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Brooklyn Bishop Smithfield, UT

Zillow is a great way to look for houses in the area you want. You can type in the area and it will show all the houses available in that area. It gives prices and has very high quality pictures of the houses.

7 months ago

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Lex Midway, UT

I like Zillow cause I like to look at houses that i wish i could by and yearn for the life of others :) They also make it easy to choose everything you want in a house and narrow it down

4 months ago

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Tia Maria Atlanta, GA

I love that houses listed on the market are quickly uploaded to Zillow. The site is easy to use. I like the Zestimates. It's a great starting point usually. I love that it's free!

4 months ago

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Greg Francis Saratoga Springs, UT

Love Zillow for its informative insights to the housing market for the area I am in. I can quickly look at the market, whether i want to review rentals in an area, or the home prices. The calculators give quick access to what I can afford for todays rates!

4 months ago

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Wendy Hunter Riverton, UT

I'm really interested in real estate, and I like to check Zillow daily to see what homes in my area are for sale. I love all the information I can get on the homes such as schools in the area and previous sales of the home.

4 months ago

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murfday College Station, TX

I like getting the “zestimate” of our house each month. I like to look up houses I see for sale while driving around. I like that I don’t have to contact the selling agent when I am just curious.

4 months ago

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Rani Halliday Spring Branch, TX

We used Zillow in our last 3 moves (in 3 years) for 2 rental homes and 1 purchase. I loved that I could search by school (which were MOSTLY accurate searches). For the most part, it stayed very current for homes on the market. I would recommend.

4 months ago

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Mmwlp1315 Pleasant Grove, UT

I love Zillow for looking at homes on the market. It’s so easy and quick to look up houses anywhere in the country. Even when I wasn’t house hunting I still browse Zillow just for fun.

4 months ago

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Karli American Fork, UT

Zillow is easy to use, and I love that I can use it on my browser. It’s a quick way to see what’s on the market and browse different options. The site is well organized and makes for a great customer experience.

5 months ago

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Kellie Payne Pickerington, OH

Great for research on other homes in your area to know potential selling value for your home, for looking for good and available areas to move to, and for general research and sometimes window shopping looking at million dollar homes I won’t be able to afford for a while

5 months ago

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Mason Allen Provo, UT

Zillow is my go to for houses everywhere. I hop on whenever I am looking for new properties or trying to understand the value of an area. It helps when looking for places to move and it is very transparent.

5 months ago

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Desiree Pleasant Grove, UT

Our family found a house because of Zillow. Zillow is a great resource if you are looking for any houses for sale or for rent based on which location you pick. I love how we can find our agents on there. It's super neat and useful when you are house hunting!

7 months ago

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Sarah Fayetteville, AR

Zillow made searching for an apartment so easy. I really enjoyed how I could easily contact the agents within the app, making searching for my next home that much simpler! Plus, the app is updated in real time with new listings, so I was always up to date.

7 months ago

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Grant Conrady Fayetteville, AR

I found my current apartment on Zillow! I really loved how easy it was to search for specific characteristics that I was looking for in an apartment. Their website is very polished and easy to navigate. I highly recommend using Zillow to help you find your next apartment or home!

7 months ago

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Tyler Strieby Lehi, UT

Zillow gave a great overview of tons of listings within the area in which we were looking. I loved using all their filters when conducting a search so I didn't have to look through listings that didn't fit what we were looking for. Their map feature is very helpful too! Allowing us to visualize where the home was located. I found, however, that many of the listings were out of date. Some of the properties had already sold. I wish it was more current.

8 months ago

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Roxana Perez ,

I have used different websites to find houses for rent looking for more options, and Zillow has always been that site where I can find those options that others do not have.

8 months ago

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Leonard Thompson Show Low, AZ

This website needs A LOT of work. Every time I try to find a rental, or am looking for land to look at, it’s all just scattered. When I put in a specific town it doesn’t narrow it down to that town. I feel like the design is also messy which makes me want to exit out as soon as possible. It’s a bummer because it’s a great ideas. It just needs some tweaking.

4 months ago

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Freddy V Layton, UT

I was trying to find the value of my home on Zillow and I clicked on my address and my home was right there! Zillow is very professional and it’s a great website to find homes!

4 months ago

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Emily S. Mesa, AZ

I appreciate being able to not only look up properties that I'm interested in, but also that I can quickly check on the current market value of my home.

4 months ago

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Mary Alice M. Orem, UT

When we were looking for our house I appreciated that Zillow was very user friendly and easy to navigate. Sometimes I noticed it didn't have listings that other websites had. Overall a good experience using Zillow.

5 months ago

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Karson Greenburg Salt Lake City, UT

The app and website are easy to use and obviously display all the necessary information about each property. Zillow has been where I go to look at properties for a long time, its reliable and easy to use.

5 months ago

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Michael C. Fayetteville, AR

I love how easy the process was to finding a place, that was right for me, on the website. This platform showed me a huge variety of affordable places that fits my preferred style.

7 months ago

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Sydney Reed Leawood, KS

I was referred to use Zillow while searching for my first home rental property. I was impressed with the ease of use of the website. I was able to filter my search results to view appropriate listings before making inquiries. I will definitely use Zillow in the future.

7 months ago

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Ryan Larsen Logan, UT

I love using Zillow to research home values and homes for sale around us. Zillow is the first site we use when looking at homes. Great site and dependable information on the site.

7 months ago

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Danica David Los Angeles, CA

I used Zillow for my Business 1021 class to look at homes for sale in my area. I really like the layout of the Zillow website. They provide a lot of pictures of homes from everywhere and also show the price and other great information.

7 months ago