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The future of real estate must focus on what consumers want and need.
Real Estate Rights for Consumers
Consumers deserve transparent, fair and equal opportunities in residential real estate and we are committed to reducing obstacles and improving the homebuying, homeselling, and renting experience. This starts by advocating for marketplace principles to govern the operations and interactions within the real estate industry, making it more equitable and modern to help more and more people get home.
Access to Information
We believe consumers and real estate agents have the right to easy and free access to all available real estate information.
Independent Representation
We believe buyers and sellers deserve to work with an agent who is committed to their best interests and only represents them.
Fair & Transparent Compensation
We believe buyers and sellers deserve transparency regarding agent fees and their right to negotiate them.
Zillow has been working to transform the real estate experience since 2006.
Advocating for consumers is core to who we are and why we exist. We were the first to put an estimated value over every roof in America, bringing home values out of the dark with the Zestimate®. We offer innovative products and support public policies to make homeownership more accessible. We champion changes to increase ease, affordability, and security within real estate:
There is more to do – and we need your help.
We want to elevate industry standards by further opening up access to information, shedding light on industry practices that hurt the consumer experience, and advocating for consumer-first policies and regulations. Here are a few ways we’re working to help more people get home easily, securely, and affordably.
Fighting for an Easier, Single Search Experience
Antiquated industry rules do not allow listings published by a real estate agent to be viewed alongside other listing types, preventing consumers from seeing all available home listings, including new construction homes, auction listings, and properties listed for sale by owner, in an easy single search experience.
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Giving Buyers Access to All Available Home Listings
Zillow believes the practice of “office exclusive” and “private listings” disadvantages both buyers and sellers. Consumers and real estate agents should be able to see all available home listings.
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Ending Predatory Listing Practices
It’s time to stop long-term right-to-list agreements aimed at vulnerable consumers.
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Giving Sellers the Power of Choice
Consumers have the right to choose how to sell their home — whether through a trusted professional or as “for sale by owner.”
Read more
Ensuring Real Estate Commissions Are Transparent
Buyers and sellers deserve and need dedicated, individual agent representation–and those agents should be fairly compensated for their expertise and the value they provide.
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Educating Consumers on the Potential Pitfalls of Dual Agency
Dual agency is when a single real estate agent represents both the buyer and seller in the same transaction. It’s most beneficial for sellers and buyers when separate agents represent them each in the same transaction because it prevents conflicts of interest that can arise when a single agent negotiates for both the buyer and the seller.
Read moreHow Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) Can Help Consumers
Having a free and fair marketplace is critical to the real estate ecosystem in our country. Multiple listing services (MLSs) can facilitate this openness and transparency, by providing buyers and their agents equitable access to all listings and allowing sellers and their agents to understand the market and reach the broadest audience of buyers. The U.S. residential real estate market is one of the most transparent in the world, in large part because MLSs provide data to all their participants. We want to support the MLS system by driving improvements that modernize antiquated industry rules and benefit consumers and the agents MLSs serve.
For example, Zillow supports:
Removal of the ‘no-commingling’ rule, which prevents home shoppers from viewing all available listings in one seamless search experience online. The current rule, which comes from the National Association of Realtors and is adopted by most MLSs, requires that any listing not entered into the MLS first (I.e.: new construction, auction, for sale by owner (FSBO) and rental listings) be separated from all other MLS listings in a market, making it cumbersome for consumers and putting these listings at a disadvantage.
The prohibition of exclusive private listing networks and office exclusive listings, which are anti-consumer because they hide access to a subset of the listings in a given market from broad consumer audiences.
The real estate industry is a critical, dynamic part of the U.S. economy, which is why it’s so important that it keep evolving. We believe MLSs can provide value because they help make the market work and we want to partner with them to ensure consumer needs remain the top priority.
Zillow's path forward
Together with consumers, agents, brokers, and housing providers, we’re promoting reforms to simplify and streamline the process to help get more people home.
Finding a new home can be complex. Since our founding in 2006, we’ve empowered consumers to better understand and navigate the purchase process.
2006
Zillow launches as a consumer-facing website aimed at transforming the real estate industry. Its Zestimate® tool incorporates public and private data to provide a simple home value estimate. For the first time, consumers can see the value of their home in a quick, convenient online experience.
2008
Zillow turns on the lights in financing by launching Mortgage Marketplace, which allows borrowers to shop anonymously for customized mortgage quotes and compare product offerings.
2012
Consumers can now search on the go with the introduction of the Zillow app.
2013
President Obama takes part in Zillow’s Social Media Town Hall on Housing which offers a friendly forum to speak to an audience interested in housing markets and policy.
2015
In an effort to turn on the lights for industry partners, Zillow announces it will begin offering access to free public record data with broad usage rights to Multiple Listing Services (MLS) across the country. Providing this kind of information, for free and with very few usage restrictions, will continue to drive technology and innovation forward within the real estate industry.
2017
Zillow begins to include applicable local legal protections to all home listings on the platform. Now, consumers are empowered to know what local legal protections exist. This feature is later augmented to also show where Source of Income protections exist across the U.S.
2019
Zillow introduces 3D Home™, an AI-powered mobile platform allowing anyone to capture 360-degree panoramic photos and create a 3D tour for free.
2020
The Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI) launches, bringing the power of the Zestimate to renters. ZORI measures changes in asking rents over time, controlling for changes in the quality of the available rental stock in ways that other measures of rental prices cannot.
2021
Zillow debuts the universal rental application, allowing users to apply to unlimited participating properties for 30 days for a flat one-time fee.
2021
Zillow launches its Down Payment Assistance Tool on For-Sale listings, allowing consumers to learn about programs to help them afford the house of their dreams.
2023
Zillow launches the Cost of Renting Summary, which helps renters better understand expected monthly costs, including rent, parking fees, pet fees, and one-time expenses like security deposits, application fees, and administration fees when provided by the rental manager. Aggregating this information in an easy-to-understand format makes it easier for renters to assess and compare the affordability of specific rental units they are interested in.
2024
A new feature debuted designed to help renters boost their credit score. Now, users who pay their monthly rent through the platform can opt-in to allow Zillow to report their positive rental payments to credit bureaus at no charge to landlords or renters. Zillow is the first online search platform to offer this feature at no charge to landlords or renters.
Join us as we turn on the lights and push for modernization in the industry.
At Zillow, we believe that home should be more than just a dream. Our purpose is to make home a reality for more and more people. Therefore, we are committed to improving the experience, whether you are buying, selling, renting or financing.
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