Shoring up the FSBO market
For a long time, Zillow has offered For Sale By Owner (FSBO) listings on their real estate search site through various feeds, but today announce they will be adding 45,000 listings to the existing FSBO database. They say they have “the most comprehensive and searchable selection of real estate listings together on one map: for-sale-by-agent, for-sale-by-owner, for-rent, foreclosures, new construction and vacant land.”
Zillow seeks to attract FSBO sellers, by offering free tools to list their homes, including digital flyer and syndication tools from Postlets.com which Zillow acquired in April of 2011, making it free for all users in July.
Goal: all types of listings under one roof
“If you’re serious about home shopping and are simply viewing listings from traditional real estate websites, you’re not seeing the whole picture. Zillow is the only place where buyers can view all types of real estate listings together on one map. Our integrated approach to marketing all types of real estate listings, alongside Zestimate® home values and Rent Zestimates, creates the most comprehensive and data-rich shopping experience for web and mobile,” said Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff.
According to Zillow, FSBO listings come to them not only from individual home sellers and through listings feeds from ForSaleByOwner.com™, HomesByOwner.com®, owners.com® and through Postlets.
Zillow is adding features and is expanding its offering, but continues to struggle with perception issues from a rocky past of flawed home valuation estimates (Zestimates) and surviving a major 2010 lawsuit. Regardless of brand struggles, their stock prices have held steady above the opening price of $20 per share, closing today at $25.50 and they continue expanding their product offering.
