Zillow Offers, the homebuying and selling platform that the Seattle-based real estate tech giant launched last year, has arrived in southern California, it was announced Monday.
The latest addition, which captures a large swath of Los Angeles and throughout Orange County, brings the platform to its 22nd market. After launching in Phoenix in April 2018, Zillow has expanded its instant-sale platform to cities including Las Vegas, Atlanta, Denver, Houston, and Minneapolis, among others.
Prior to Monday’s launch, Riverside, Sacramento and San Diego were Zillow Offers’ only markets in California.
On Monday, the company also announced plans to launch Zillow Offers in Cincinnati, Ohio; Jacksonville, Florida; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Tucson, Arizona, in early 2020.
“In the 20 months since we first introduced Zillow Offers, we’ve seen that there is a strong appetite for another option when it comes to selling a home,” Jeremy Wacksman, Zillow’s brand president, said in a prepared statement. “We’re thrilled to launch Zillow Offers today in one of the largest markets in the country, and look forward to easing the friction and helping sellers move to the next stage of their life without the hassle and uncertainty of a traditional home sale.”
Zillow Offers works by giving home sellers an all-cash, quick-close offer on a home they find online. Zillow then takes the homes and makes them ready for the market with various repairs and spruce-ups.
Such iBuyer programs, first popularized by startups such as Opendoor and Offerpad, have been particularly popular among those who want to unload a home fast and do not mind paying a fee of approximately 7 percent of the home’s sales price in exchange for a streamlined transaction.
According to Zillow, those who request a sales offer and decline will be put in touch with a local real estate agent.