The hub guides homebuyers through the budgeting, property search, making competitive offers, and closing processes.
Zillow is taking a big step forward in its mission to create a “delightful home buying experience” this week with the debut of a personalized hub that guides consumers through the transaction process.
Announced on Tuesday, the hub centers around four key milestones: set a budget, find a home, make an offer, and close a deal. The portal has integrated BuyAbility’s affordability tools and local market insights into the hub, including median days to pending active listing and one-year price forecast.
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Homebuyers can give agents and lenders access to the hub, which streamlines communication, documentation, and other tasks with timely updates that help buyers always know what’s next. If you don’t have an agent, the hub includes access to Zillow’s Agent Finder.
Jeremy Waxman Zillow CEO
“Zillow has spent 20 years shining a light on the real estate industry, giving buyers and sellers access to information they never had before,” Zillow CEO Jeremy Waxman said in a written statement. “The next frontier is the journey itself: financing, alignment, offer, and closing. For the first time, all homebuyers on Zillow have one place to bring it all together so they always know exactly where they are and what they should do instead of wondering what’s next.”
The hub comes as part of Zillow’s latest “Summer Launch,” an initiative by Zillow to unveil new products. The initiative also includes services that Zillow began rolling out in the first half of this year, including Zillow Preview, Zillow Mortgage Verified Pre-Approval, and Collaborative Home Shopping.
Zillow Preview is getting the most attention and serves as the giant portal’s answer to the growing demand for marketing options for sellers. Preview allows agents and their sellers to “pre-market” their listings while complying with local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) rules. MLS rules dictate how long a listing can remain in Coming Soon status before becoming active.
Zillow Preview listings receive “priority listing” in homebuyer search results and Saved Home Alerts, and feature broker branding. Listing agents will also have access to real-time property information to view, save, share, tour requests, and the opportunity to be the first point of contact for homebuyers requesting additional information.
Pre-sale properties will begin appearing on Zillow and Realtor.com this summer as Zillow expands its list of brokerage partners, including Keller Williams, RE/MAX, HomeServices of America, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, United Real Estate, Engel & Völkers and Side.
At a launch event last summer, Waxman said his company is focused on helping agents “better serve their customers” and creating an “enjoyable home buying experience.”
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