Zillow makes public 1.8 million pre-foreclosure, foreclosure homes
According to a statement from Zillow, they have added 1.8 million pre-foreclosure and foreclosure homes to the site for free. These listings are not yet for sale and the company says they cannot be found on any MLS, “nor are they freely available on other real estate sites,” claiming that “for the first time, home shoppers are able to see the entire scope of housing inventory in their area, both pre-market and for-sale, side by side.”
Additionally, with this launch, Zillow is surfacing addresses and detailed information for more than 67,000 foreclosure listings (bank-owned homes currently listed for sale) in its For-sale search category.
Many buyers or would-be buyers are finding difficulties in locating their next home, due to tight inventory levels, which have fallen by 20 percent in the past 12 months, reports Zillow. Adding this new pre-foreclosure and foreclosure data from public records will open up what Zillow calls a “large, yet invisible part of the housing inventory.”
According to the National Association of Realtors’ most recent Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, over half of all buyers have considered purchasing a foreclosure but don’t know where to get listing information, or are discouraged by the complexity of the transaction, a problem Zillow appears to be tackling head on.
“This is another tremendous step forward in consumer empowerment. Zillow is taking information that was really only available to a select group – in this case, savvy investors – and making it more easily available to interested home buyers,” said Spencer Rascoff, Zillow’s CEO. “What’s more, bringing this information to light, and taking this inventory out of the shadows, can help bring these homes to market faster than ever before.”
What pre-market inventory includes
Zillow says the pre-market inventory includes 1.5 million pre-foreclosure properties, 250,000 foreclosed properties, and over 147,000 Make Me Move® properties. Adding Make Me Move® into the pre-market inventory is an interesting approach, but these listings and all pre-market listings will include a foreclosure estimate (Zillow’s estimate of the sale price of the home if sold as a foreclosure, in addition to the percentage and dollar discount this represents off fair market value), listing details and history, and foreclosure details including the timeline of the foreclosure process, foreclosing loan amount, unpaid balance, lender, trustee and/or attorney information.
The Zillow Foreclosure Center will also launch to provide consumers with local “trained” foreclosure specialists, and consumer information from how-to guides to FAQs.
