Why are brokers putting listings on Zillow when Zestimates conflict with a REALTORS estimate of market value?
Consumers use Zillow to see houses and check Zestimates. A Zestimate is an online valuation tool that gives real estate professionals a starting place to have a serious discussion with home sellers about property values. Market variant is about 7% nationally for Zestimates when compared with actual market value, according to Zillow’s Barton. Will Zillow sell leads to agents (REALTORS provide the content and Zillow sells the leads back to them)? “No. Lead generation is a broken business model. It is an unsustainable business model. The lead gen model on the web is not something I would invest in,” said Barton. What is next for Zillow? Newspaper Consortium. Zillow recently announced a consortium with 262 newspapers, including the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Tampa Tribune. Zillow will provide technology and content to newspaper dot com web sites. Some 11 different newspapers will task their sales forces to sell advertising not only on for their newspapers b
