Real estate portal Zillow has formalized plans to end free manually entered listings of homes for sale.

After announcing plans earlier this week to begin charging users for individually entered for-sale property information, the company has followed through with notices to existing users this week declaring that all current listings will expire Jan. 13, 2010, unless they are renewed as featured listings at a cost of $9.95 for a 180-day period. Those same fees will apply to new, manually entered listings.

And it’s the same amount Zillow charges landlords and property owners for listings in its newly launched rental search service.

Real estate portal Zillow has formalized plans to end free manually entered listings of homes for sale.

After announcing plans earlier this week to begin charging users for individually entered for-sale property information, the company has followed through with notices to existing users this week declaring that all current listings will expire Jan. 13, 2010, unless they are renewed as featured listings at a cost of $9.95 for a 180-day period. Those same fees will apply to new, manually entered listings.

And it’s the same amount Zillow charges landlords and property owners for listings in its newly launched rental search service.

The fees do not apply, though, to listings that come to the site via bulk feeds — which account for about 97 percent of the 4 million listings at the site, company officials have announced. Those bulk feeds come from several sources, including brokerages, multiple listing services, and syndication services by companies such as Postlets and vFlyer, as those listings update automatically.

The main reason for the change was to improve the quality of listings by giving people an incentive to submit accurate listings and keep them up to date, said Zillow Chief Operating Officer Spencer Rascoff.

In some cases, people who entered listings manually have not routinely updated those free listings to reflect price changes or status changes, for example, Rascoff said.

Featured listings are sorted to the top of search results at the site and generate six times more page views than nonfeatured listings, the company announced.

***

What’s your opinion? Leave your comments below or send a letter to the editor. To contact the writer, click the byline at the top of the story.

Show Comments Hide Comments
Sign up for Inman’s Morning Headlines
What you need to know to start your day with all the latest industry developments
By submitting your email address, you agree to receive marketing emails from Inman.
Success!
Thank you for subscribing to Morning Headlines.
Back to top
Only 3 days left to register for Inman Connect Las Vegas before prices go up! Don't miss the premier event for real estate pros.Register Now ×
Limited Time Offer: Get 1 year of Inman Select for $199SUBSCRIBE×
Log in
If you created your account with Google or Facebook
Don't have an account?
Forgot your password?
No Problem

Simply enter the email address you used to create your account and click "Reset Password". You will receive additional instructions via email.

Forgot your username? If so please contact customer support at (510) 658-9252

Password Reset Confirmation

Password Reset Instructions have been sent to

Subscribe to The Weekender
Get the week's leading headlines delivered straight to your inbox.
Top headlines from around the real estate industry. Breaking news as it happens.
15 stories covering tech, special reports, video and opinion.
Unique features from hacker profiles to portal watch and video interviews.
Unique features from hacker profiles to portal watch and video interviews.
It looks like you’re already a Select Member!
To subscribe to exclusive newsletters, visit your email preferences in the account settings.
Up-to-the-minute news and interviews in your inbox, ticket discounts for Inman events and more
1-Step CheckoutPay with a credit card
By continuing, you agree to Inman’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

You will be charged . Your subscription will automatically renew for on . For more details on our payment terms and how to cancel, click here.

Interested in a group subscription?
Finish setting up your subscription
×