Zillow is moving the needle on its mission to create a “delightful homebuying experience” this week thanks to the debut of a personalized hub that guides consumers through the transaction process.
The hub, announced Tuesday, centers on four major milestones: setting a budget, finding a home, making an offer and closing the deal. The portal integrated its BuyAbility affordability tool and local market insights, like median days to pending, active listings and a one-year price forecast, into the hub.
TAKE THE INMAN INTEL INDEX SURVEY
Homebuyers can give their agent and lender access to the hub, streamlining communications, documentation and other tasks with timely updates that help buyers always know what’s next. If they don’t have an agent, the hub includes access to Zillow’s Agent Finder.
Jeremy Wacksman | Zillow CEO
“Zillow has spent 20 years turning on the lights in real estate, giving buyers and sellers access to information they’d never had before,” Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman said in a written statement. “The next frontier is the journey itself: the financing, the coordination, the offer, the closing. For the first time, every home shopper on Zillow has a single place that brings it all together, so instead of wondering what comes next, they always know exactly where they are and what to do.”
The hub arrives as part of Zillow’s latest “Summer Launch,” an initiative during which the company is debuting new products. The initiative also includes offerings that Zillow began rolling out during the first half of the year, including Zillow Preview, Zillow Home Loans Verified Pre-Approval and collaborative home shopping.
Zillow Preview has garnered the most attention, serving as the portal behemoth’s answer to the increasing demand for seller marketing options. Preview allows agents and their sellers to “pre-market” listings while complying with local multiple listing service (MLS) rules, which dictate how long a listing can remain in coming-soon status before going active.
Zillow Preview listings will receive “priority placement” in homebuyers’ search results and saved-home alerts, and will feature broker branding. Listing agents will also get access to real-time listing insights, including views, saves, shares and tour requests, and have the opportunity to be the first point of contact for homebuyers who request additional information.
Pre-marketed listings will begin appearing on Zillow and Realtor.com this summer, as Zillow pushes the pedal on growing the list of brokerage partners, including Keller Williams, RE/MAX, HomeServices of America, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, United Real Estate, Engel & Völkers and Side.
During last year’s Summer Launch, Wacksman said his company was focused on helping agents “serve their clients better” and on creating a “delightful homebuying experience.”
