Be Cautious about Zillow.
- Thread starter Jules
- Start date
dilettante
Well-known Member
- Location
- Michigan
But if people are looking at homes to buy wouldn't taking down that information discourage buyers?
Happyflowerlady
Vagabond Flowerchild
- Location
- Northern Alabama
This has been an issue for quite a while now, and it seems like they come up with new scams all the time. Rental scams have gone on for a while, too.
The scammer posts a picture of your house that is for sale or rent, but is empty, and has people drive by and look, and if they are interested, they send a rental deposit, with the promise that a key will be left for them.
Amazingly, some people will send money with paypal or some other way (I am not sure totally how this works), and the scammer can collect deposits from as many people as possible.
The scammer posts a picture of your house that is for sale or rent, but is empty, and has people drive by and look, and if they are interested, they send a rental deposit, with the promise that a key will be left for them.
Amazingly, some people will send money with paypal or some other way (I am not sure totally how this works), and the scammer can collect deposits from as many people as possible.
After the sale, or perhaps the accepted offer, the info should be removed, IMO.
Paco Dennis
SF VIP
- Location
- Mid-Missouri
What are they selling their home with valuables in it, and living somewhere else? Nuts!!!!!
or A $$$ scam. "Money : The ROOT of all EVIL!"
or A $$$ scam. "Money : The ROOT of all EVIL!"
fuzzybuddy
SF VIP
- Location
- The Sticks, Northeast PA.
I don't think "Zillow" (BTW- never heard of it) is that much more of a risk in showing a home for sale. A realtor showing your home to potential buyers exposes the home to getting ripped off just the same as pics on Zillow.
Totally agree.
VintageBetter
Senior Member
Zillow is a con-game, IMO. They are trying to monopolize the RE market in some areas. Zillow Business Model
Zillow wants to turn the RE market into the stock market and they want to control the market. That was the point of their buying and flipping endeavors. But that has also been their goal since the company's inception.
What happened at Zillow? How a prized real estate site lost at iBuying
Zillow’s Flipping Halt Marks Major Collapse in Housing Push
Why Zillow Couldn’t Make Algorithmic House Pricing Work
When Zillow first started to become popular with "dumb money" people like myself, around 2006/07, partly because they invested in TV ads. But the word around the Internet was that Zillow prices were vastly over-inflated compared to prices from a real Market Analysis of your home.
But here is what that does to home sellers who always want to get the highest price for their property as possible. They go to Zillow and it says their home is worth $140,000. They go to a much more accurate site like Realtor.com and that site tells them their home is only worth $100,000. Then their RE agent does an actual market analysis of homes in their neighborhood of similar size and design and that RE agent says, "Your home is actually worth $100,000. I think we should list it at that."
Then the homeowner, with visions of $$ dancing in their heads says, "But on Zillow it says $140,000. I think you're wrong, RE agent. I want to list it at $135,000."
In a market with many homes for sale, that $135,000 one will just sit there for a long time and maybe, after a few months, it will sell for $100,000 to $110,000.
But in a market with a shortage of homes, like cities in California, desperate people will bid full price and higher for that home and why? Because Zillow has manipulated the psychology of the market, and because some states have a severe housing shortage, especially a severe shortage of lower priced homes.
Sellers will say, "That's great! Good for me! Me, me me!" But the RE market, or any market for that matter, is supposed to be fair to both buyers and sellers.
And THAT is why I am not a fan of Zillow and never will be. Because a home is not a stock share, but Zillow treats homes like they are nothing but stock shares, and many hundreds of thousands wanna-be buyers lose out in part, because Zillow's fake data about the RE market has flooded market thinking and market behavior.
I just looked up an address and Zillow says it's worth $22,000 more than it says on Realtor.com. So Zillow is still doing this price and market psychology manipulation horse manure.
I will never like this company, just never, unless they go bankrupt and fold up. Then I could like them.
Zillow wants to turn the RE market into the stock market and they want to control the market. That was the point of their buying and flipping endeavors. But that has also been their goal since the company's inception.
What happened at Zillow? How a prized real estate site lost at iBuying
Zillow’s Flipping Halt Marks Major Collapse in Housing Push
Why Zillow Couldn’t Make Algorithmic House Pricing Work
When Zillow first started to become popular with "dumb money" people like myself, around 2006/07, partly because they invested in TV ads. But the word around the Internet was that Zillow prices were vastly over-inflated compared to prices from a real Market Analysis of your home.
But here is what that does to home sellers who always want to get the highest price for their property as possible. They go to Zillow and it says their home is worth $140,000. They go to a much more accurate site like Realtor.com and that site tells them their home is only worth $100,000. Then their RE agent does an actual market analysis of homes in their neighborhood of similar size and design and that RE agent says, "Your home is actually worth $100,000. I think we should list it at that."
Then the homeowner, with visions of $$ dancing in their heads says, "But on Zillow it says $140,000. I think you're wrong, RE agent. I want to list it at $135,000."
In a market with many homes for sale, that $135,000 one will just sit there for a long time and maybe, after a few months, it will sell for $100,000 to $110,000.
But in a market with a shortage of homes, like cities in California, desperate people will bid full price and higher for that home and why? Because Zillow has manipulated the psychology of the market, and because some states have a severe housing shortage, especially a severe shortage of lower priced homes.
Sellers will say, "That's great! Good for me! Me, me me!" But the RE market, or any market for that matter, is supposed to be fair to both buyers and sellers.
And THAT is why I am not a fan of Zillow and never will be. Because a home is not a stock share, but Zillow treats homes like they are nothing but stock shares, and many hundreds of thousands wanna-be buyers lose out in part, because Zillow's fake data about the RE market has flooded market thinking and market behavior.
I just looked up an address and Zillow says it's worth $22,000 more than it says on Realtor.com. So Zillow is still doing this price and market psychology manipulation horse manure.
I will never like this company, just never, unless they go bankrupt and fold up. Then I could like them.