Zillow may now be gaining worldwide popularity for the absurdity of some of the listings, but it has grown into an immensely successful website since it’s conception in 2004. Started in Seattle, Washington by Rich Barton, Zillow now has 6,400 employees. In 2020, Zillow reported having 201 million monthly users, 9.6 billion visits yearly and $3.3 billion in yearly revenue. At the time, there were also 135 million homes listed in their database. Their corporate website states their mission is to give people the power to unlock life’s next chapter” and notes that they’ve also expanded their business into affiliates and subsidiaries including HotPads, Inc. Trulia, StreetEasy and more.

Zillow has dominated the housing market in the United States, and they credit becoming a household name to the success of their “Zestimate” feature. This is their “proprietary valuation algorithm” that provides each listing with an estimated property value, estimated rental value and the history of the property’s value in the past.  

There are certainly pros and cons to using an online real estate service like Zillow, so Union Street Media broke some of them down for buyers. We live in a digital age, so it makes sense for people to want to buy everything, including homes, online. The first pro listed for using Zillow is the sheer exposure. It provides buyers with seemingly endless options, meaning sellers’ homes are also seen by wide audiences. It also eliminates the need for many buyers to hire real estate agents, saving them some money. And for agents selling homes, it can take little effort to get listings seen by a broad audience. Zillow even has a “Premier Agent” feature, where agents can pay to get more traffic to their listings. 

On the other hand, Zillow is not a perfect site. The first con Union Street Media mentions of using Zillow is the inaccuracy of their famous “Zestimate” feature. Apparently, the estimates are often incorrect, misleading buyers and making agents’ jobs harder. The website also tends to promote “non listing agents alongside listings that aren’t theirs” which causes confusion for buyers seeking more information. Being a Zillow Premier Agent also comes at a high price, ranging between $300-$1000 a month depending on the location of the realtor. Agents also have to spend a pretty penny to get their own listing leads.

We were lucky enough to get to talk to Samir Mezrahi, the creator of Zillow Gone Wild, and hear from him what it's been like to see this page become so popular. "It's been so much fun," he told us. "I never imagined the reception would be this well received and across platforms. It's regularly picked up by local news when a home goes viral and it's really cool to see that people are actually buying these fun homes." We also asked Samir to talk a little about his favorite parts of running the page. "My favorite part is checking my inbox. I get like 50-100+ DMs a day of homes, and I never know what I am going to get and what I haven't seen before. One of my favorite homes was this one recently that was a Jetsons meets mid century modern vibe."

We also asked Samir if he'd be interested in any of these homes. "I'd live in almost all of these homes! They all have such unique and fun characteristics." He didn't always feel that way, though. "I have to admit, before I started the account I wasn't so into some of these styles like mid-century modern, but it radicalized me and now I love them." Lastly, he reiterated how much fun running the page is and added that he feels like "we've only begun seeing some of the coolest homes out there". We love Samir's enthusiasm and greatly appreciate his page. Don't forget to give Zillow Gone Wild a follow right here!

We reached out to realtor and "neighborhood guru" Jennifer LeBow to hear her thoughts on Zillow and whether or not buyers should steer clear of the site. "I would not necessarily avoid using it," Jennifer told us. "I would just be very clear on what to use it for. It will provide for sale by owner properties as well as MLS listed properties, which is good. However for any kind of estimate of value, it’s terrible. Additionally, a lot of its information is outdated as far as what is still available. Furthermore, one of the worst things is that Zillow is designed to make money by charging agents for showing up on a listing as though they were the listing agent. So consumers contact the agent who pops up, assuming that that agent will be knowledgeable about the neighborhood and the house. Most of the time, that is not the case and the buyer ends up with an agent who cannot properly represent them."

If you are interested in avoiding Zillow, Jennifer recommends using a buyer's agent. "There is no cost to the buyer and not only does the agent have access to more listings than just one Zillow shows, if the agent is part of a brokerage that has private exclusives or quiet listings. Even more important, then a buyer is represented by someone who is knowledgeable about the entire buying process as well as the buyer's area of interest."

We asked Jennifer if she had any advice for first time home buyers trying to navigate the competitive online market, and she said to first "make sure you have all of your finances in order and that you truly understand the costs of the purchase". "Not only the purchase price of the house, but the closing costs and any kind of appraisal gap coverage you might need to offer to be competitive," Jennifer explained. "Be sure to talk to a lender first thing. Also, expect that you will have to go over asking price, cover at least some appraisal gap and possibly wave or absorb certain amount of issues on a home inspection."

Lastly, Jennifer wanted to add that a Zillow estimate can be "completely useless". "It has some merit if it is being used to look at a house in a very large community where all of the houses are the same, built relatively recently, in the same condition, with the same acreage, in the same school district, etc. It is particularly useless in areas where the housing stock is old because it does not account for updating and condition so it can be wildly in accurate."

Zillow has also encountered some trouble in recent history. After unveiling a business venture in December 2019 titled “Zillow Offers”, which allowed homeowners to sell their properties directly to Zillow for the corporation to then flip the homes and re-sell them at a higher price, Zillow has admitted defeat. The company announced in November 2021 that the project would be ending due to a lack of profits. After relying on their own Zestimate algorithms, Zillow was disappointed to find they had paid too much for too many homes that they just couldn’t resell for significant profits. The Wall Street Journal reports that employees actually had been concerned about the business venture long before it was shut down, but worries were unaddressed or dismissed.

For first time buyers in the United States, services like Zillow Offers have been quite controversial. With more and more Americans realizing they may never be able to own a home, large corporations like Zillow aren’t making their lives any easier. While historically, prospective buyers were given days or even weeks to view homes before the house would sell, companies snatching up homes before they even hit the market leaves buyers without a chance. Sure, companies like Zillow will soon sell the homes again, but with housing prices rising much faster than incomes, finding an affordable home is becoming harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

Zillow was even recently involved in a class action lawsuit alleging that the company “misled investors about the ability and sustainability of its Zillow Offers home-buying service”. Aaron Winston Hillier, who filed the lawsuit, stated that, “As a result of defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions, and the resulting declines in the market value of the company’s securities, plaintiff and other members of the class have suffered significant damages.” He also claims Zillow knew they would need to eliminate their Offers venture far before the decision was announced. According to Top Class Actions, Hillier’s goal is to “represent a nationwide class of individuals who purchased or otherwise acquired Zillow securities between Aug. 7, 2021, and Nov. 2, 2021”.

Aside from Zillow being a household name, the Zillow Gone Wild account has gained massive popularity due to the followers’ obsession with homes. Why do we find viewing homes so interesting? I remember spending Saturday afternoons as a child attending open houses with my mother, even though we had a perfectly fine home and no intention of moving any time soon. In fact, I’ll still happily go to an open house with her when I visit. Touring other people’s homes is fun! And it’s actually pretty common for us to be captivated by real estate, so much so that author Daniel McGinn wrote House Lust: America's Obsession with Our Homes.

In the New York Times’ review of House Lust, Alexandra Jacobs mentions that Daniel McGinn was “not the first person to draw… an explicit link between sex and real estate”. In Marjorie Garber's 2001 book Sex and Real Estate: Why We Love Houses, comparisons are drawn between house hunting and dating, likening real estate agents to matchmakers. McGinn continued to expand on these metaphors in his book. “Today, in some neighborhoods, finding someone who doesn’t know the square footage of her house can be as hard as finding a Playboy centerfold who doesn’t know her bust size,” he stated. And I have to admit, he has a point. Living in a “dream house” (while the definition of that is different for everyone) is certainly many people’s fantasy.

One woman who took her obsession with having the ultimate home quite far is Jackie Siegel. Jackie and her husband David became the infamous stars of the 2012 documentary film The Queen of Versailles. The film, directed by Lauren Greenfield, follows Jackie as she embarks on her journey to build the “largest single-family detached home” in the United States modeled and named after the famous palace in France. While the 90,000 square foot home is still not complete today, it’s certainly a shining example of the obsession many have today with elaborate homes.

What makes a house really feel like home is different for every person. Some people simply need their loved ones and their pets to feel comfortable, while others require a bowling alley in their basement. I'm not here to judge, but I will take some time to enjoy viewing all of these unique homes. Be sure to upvote your favorite quirky properties, and if you're interested in seeing even more, don't forget to give Zillow Gone Wild a follow on Instagram. Then let us know in the comments, would you ever live in any of these wacky homes?