Zillow opens homes to online discussion

Home valuation and marketing site Zillow.com is on the move again, launching new tools that allow anybody to post information, photos, questions and answers about any property, including for-sale properties. The company also announced the creation of a ZIP code-focused display advertising platform. Any Zillow user can identify the address and list price of any for-sale property. Listing agents and property owners can take control of this for-sale property information and enter more detailed property information once they register as the owner or listing representative for a particular property. "They are the only two people who can enter all of the full information," said Jorrit Van der Meulen, vice president of partner services for Zillow, which is the real estate brainchild of Expedia founder Rich Barton. The new tools combine aspects of social networking and online marketing and may push users to populate the site with more property listings. Zillow relies on its users to supply pro...