US Portal Zillow last week announced it will begin testing the Zillow Instant Offers™ marketplace – a way for homeowners to sell their homes quickly by providing them with offers from investors plus a comparative market analysis (CMA) from a local real estate agent.
Speaking about the new service being piloted in Orlando and Las Vegas, Zillow Group chief marketing officer said, “Sellers are looking for more solutions when selling their home. For some, selling in a short timeframe with certainty around the closing date is attractive, or even necessary,” said Jeremy Wacksman, Zillow Group chief marketing officer. “Across many industries, we’re seeing a rise of technology assisted transactions, and many consumers desire this type of innovation in real estate.”
In addition to investors being required to use an agent, should a homeowner select an investor’s offer, Zillow will also offer to connect them with a local agent to represent them throughout the transaction.
“We want to provide options for convenience while providing home sellers with useful information to help them make an informed financial decision. That’s why we provide them with any offers submitted by investors, as well as an estimate from a real estate agent who can help them better understand what that home may sell for on the open market.”
To participate in Zillow Instant Offers, verified homeowners interested in receiving investor offers confirm information about the home (number of bedrooms, square footage, etc.), highlight any updates and provide several photos of the home. From there, select investors who buy homes in the area can present their offers alongside the CMA from a local real estate agent. Any investor offers and the CMA will include an overview of fees associated with each option, to enable sellers to make an informed apples-to-apples comparison.
All the offers are no-obligation, meaning homeowners can accept one offer or decline all of them.
During this test, Zillow is working with a handful of agents and select investors in each test market, who are active in the area. Participating agents will be requested to record the sale with their local Multiple Listing Service.
