WebProNews

Tag: Zillow

  • Employees Would Forgo $30,000 Raise to Work From Home

    Employees Would Forgo $30,000 Raise to Work From Home

    A new survey has qualified just how much employees want to continue working from home (WFM), to the tune of $30,000.

    As restrictions lift and companies begin opening their doors, many employees are faced with the prospect of going back into the office for the first time in more than a year. While many companies are working on permanent remote or hybrid options, some are insisting on a complete return to in-office normality.

    According to a new survey by Blind, an anonymous network of professionals, a Goldman Sachs professional posed the question: “Would you rather make $30k more switching to a new job that requires you to work in the office, or would you rather keep your current salary but WFH anywhere after covid?”

    An average of 64% of professionals indicated they would prefer WFM, although the number for some specific companies was much higher. For example, 100% of Zillow, 70% of T-Mobile, 89% of Twitter, 71% of Walmart, 69% of Apple, 76% of Salesforce and 73% of Oracle employees would all choose WFM. In fact, Cisco, JPMorgan Chase and Qualcomm were the only companies that fell below the 50% mark.

    The survey is just the latest, and most striking, indication of just how popular WFH really is.

  • Zillow CEO: Hybrid Work Model Could Lead to Two-Class System

    Zillow CEO: Hybrid Work Model Could Lead to Two-Class System

    Zillow CEO Rich Barton has warned that a hybrid work model could lead to a two-class system of employees.

    The pandemic has forced companies to reimagine the workforce, adapting to unprecedented conditions. As a result, more employees are working from home than ever before. Companies, especially in the tech industry, are increasingly adopting various forms of remote, flex, or hybrid work options permanently.

    Barton, however, sees a risk of a dual-class system developing. This is especially a concern with hybrid work, where some employees are in the office and some remote, or where some workers only come in a day or two a week..

    “We must ensure a level playing field for all team members, regardless of their physical location,” Barton said in an earnings call. “There cannot be a two-class system — those in the room being first-class and those on the phone being second-class.”

    Other tech executives have similarly warned of the dangers of a hybrid workforce, with some companies going all-in on full remote as the solution.

    Zillow CEO Rich Barton comments during Q4 Earnings Call:

    Of course, there are challenges to not being in the office together, but that is temporal. In a post-COVID world, our workplace design goal is to maximize flexibility for our high demand talent. We will have awesome offices for those who want or need to come in. At the same time, we must ensure a level playing field for all team members, regardless of their physical location. There cannot be a two-class system, those in the room being first-class and those on the phone being second class. We are entering the most interesting and innovative period for workplace design in our lifetimes, and our people and facilities teams at Zillow are out in front.

  • Pandemic Leads to Major Growth For Zillow

    Pandemic Leads to Major Growth For Zillow

    The coronavirus pandemic has led to a stellar quarter for Zillow, as potential homebuyers looked online.

    The pandemic has forced many individuals to take a second look at their housing situation. With people spending unprecedented amounts of time at home during lockdown and quarantine orders, many are looking to upgrade their homes with more room and features conducive to telecommuting. Others are looking to take advantage of work from home trends, and move out of expensive neighborhoods or cities to more scenic and affordable locales.

    These factors led to a stellar quarter for the company, reporting that revenue grew 28% year over year to $768 million. This was up from industry estimates of $618 million.

    “Zillow’s second quarter results are even better than we had hoped, and firm up our belief that powerful tailwinds in both real estate and technology are rapidly converging, with Zillow at the nexus,” said Zillow Group co-founder and CEO Rich Barton. “I believe we are at the dawn of a Great Reshuffling, as COVID and work-from-home policies are inspiring people to rethink their homes and consider moving. In addition, real estate, like other industries, is experiencing an acceleration in technology adoption, as people move their shopping habits from offline to online. We’re lucky to be in a position to serve our customers no matter how they want to move, whether through a seamless Zillow Offers transaction or in partnership with our best-in-class Premier Agents.

    “Even more important than the business results is the way our team has responded over the past several months, as we all grapple with fear, loss, protest, and anger through a health crisis and social reckoning. We’ve managed through all of this with a strong commitment that we can and will do more to support our communities and address systemic barriers in real estate.”

    Barton’s comments that he believes this is the beginning of a “Great Reshuffling” are significant and should give many industry leaders pause.

  • Zillow Buys Trulia in $3.5 Billion Stock Deal

    Zillow, the massive online real estate site, has agreed to acquire Trulia, the less-massive but still very large real estate site, for $3.5 billion. The deal is a stock-for-stock transaction.

    Trulia isn’t going away or anything – as the company will continue to operate both the Zillow and Trulia brands.

    “Consumers love using Zillow and Trulia to find vital information about homes and connect with the best local real estate professionals,” says Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff. “Both companies have been enormously successful in creating compelling consumer brands and deep industry partnerships, but it’s still early days in the world of real estate advertising on mobile and Web. This is a tremendous opportunity to combine our resources and achieve even more impressive innovation that will benefit consumers and the real estate industry.”

    The company created by this acquisition will hold sway over a very large chunk of the online real estate listings market. Last month, Zillow and Trulia amassed 83 and 54 million unique users, respectively. Both Zillow and Trulia say that the deal will lead to faster innovation, better access to real estate market data, and “enhanced value and ROI for advertisers.”

    “Both Zillow and Trulia are primarily media companies, generating the majority of revenue through advertising sales to real estate professionals. Despite continued growth as public companies, significant opportunities of scale remain as the majority of advertising dollars in the real estate sector have yet to migrate online or to mobile,” said the companies in a press release.

    “Trulia and Zillow have a shared mission and vision of empowering consumers while helping real estate agents, brokerages and franchisors benefit from technological innovation. By working together, we will be able to create even more value for home buyers, sellers, and renters, as well as create a robust marketing platform that will help our industry partners connect with potential clients and grow their businesses even more efficiently. Our two companies share complementary employee cultures with innovative, consumer-first philosophies and a deep commitment to create the best products and services for our industry partners,” says Trulia CEO Pete Flint, who will stay on to run Trulia and report to Rascoff.

    Image via Zillow, Facebook

  • Google Now Gets Better At Movies And Real Estate

    Google announced on Wednesday that it has added some new features to Google Now with a new update.

    For Movie cards, Google Now will now include ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, and let you purchase tickets through Fandango (a feature that was recently added to Apple’s Siri). Google Now will also remind users when they need to leave for the theater, and pull up the tickets once they arrive.

    Google Now Movies

    Google has also partnered with Zillow to provide nearby real estate listings. It will also pull up more info about a particular listing while you’re visiting the property.

    Google Now Real Estate info

    The update also brings a new widget, so users can see their cards on the home or lock screen without having to open the app.

    This is the fourth Google Now update since it launched.

  • Real Estate Site Zillow Runs Its First-Ever TV Ad

    Online real estate marketplace Zillow officially launched in 2006, and in the past six years has grown to include data on over 100 million houses across the U.S. In 2011, the company went public with a $20 per share IPO, and they currently have apps for iOS, Android, and Blackberry.

    But one thing Zillow has never done is air a television ad. Today, that changes.

    Today at Zillow we are very excited to launch our first-ever TV commercial, titled ‘Find Your Way Home,’” saus Zillow in a blog post. “It’s airing nationwide this fall on channels such as HGTV, CNN, ABC Family and Travel Channel.”

    “You’re not just looking for a house. You’re looking for a place for your life to happen,” says the ad. Check it out below:

    Earlier this year, Zillow and Yahoo renewed an advertising partnership that was first inked out in 2011. In July, Zillow and Yahoo expanded that partnership to integrate into Yahoo Homes rental listings.

    Just last week, we learned that Zillow is suing rival Trulia for patent infringement. They claim that Trulia’s “Trulia Estimates” product is a copycat of their older “Zestimates” feature.

  • Yahoo Homes Partners with Zillow for Content Listing

    Zillow and Yahoo have had a partnership for awhile. Zillow has been handling their Homes for sale listings, but now the companies are expanding that relationship to include rental properties as well.

    This latest deal makes Zillow the exclusive provider of Yahoo Homes rental and for sale properties. It’s a powerful relationship giving way to 25 million visitors who can view nearly 400,000 listings.

    Not only will Yahoo Homes visitors be able to view Zillow’s content, but they will also gain access to valuable tools like Rent Zestimate, which were previously only available for Zillow users.

    Brandon Huff, Vice President of Yahoo Commerce comments on their new partnership with Zillow:

    “Zillow is an important provider for Yahoo! Homes, and we are excited to expand our footprint to include rental offerings,”

    “Providing our consumers with unique content and diverse real estate and rental listings is a top priority for Yahoo! Homes.”

    Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff comments on the new deal with Yahoo Homes:

    “Zillow is now able to give landlords, property managers and rental brokers significantly more exposure for their listings by extending their reach to one of the largest audiences of renters online,”

    “This is yet another example of how we are continually offering new ways to help real estate professionals grow their business.”

    Partnerships between Zillow and Yahoo date back as far as 2006. Last year they launched the Yahoo-Zillow Real Estate Network together and began selling local advertising across both platforms. Also noteworthy, Zillow just acquired RentJuice, which provides powerful property management tools for landlords, and property managers.

    Now, when you list on Zillow, you also get exposure on Yahoo Homes. Zillow alone reaches well over 33 million unique visitors on mobile and web. Combine that with Yahoo Home’s 25 million, and you have the most powerful real estate network available.

  • The Facebook IPO and the Silicon Valley Real Estate Market [INFOGRAPHIC]

    While we’re all well aware that Facebook’s IPO has gone less-than-swimmingly for most everyone involved, there could be one metric where the Facebook’s foray into the public has had a upward trending effect.

    Online real-estate company Zillow looked at the data and found that the Silicon Valley housing market is hot – really hot. They looked at the median home values in Menlo Park as well as other areas surrounding it like Palo Alto, Los Altos Hills, and Woodside. They discovered that Silicon Valley home values are not only up to 15x the median home value around the country, but there has been significant movement that ocrrresponds with the Facebook IPO

    Not only that, but in the roughly three-month window between Facebook filing for the IPO and the actual IPO, million-dollar house listings in Menlo Park began to take a larger chunk out of the entire pool – 87% more.

    To put the Silicon Valley housing uptake in perspective, Zillow points out that you could buy roughly 24 homes in Detroit with $1 million. In Menlo Park, $1 million will buy you one 1500 square foot home.

    Check out the full infographic below:

  • Zillow’s Acquisition of RentJuice is Now Complete

    Back in early May, Zillow announced plans to acquire software solutions provider, RentJuice into its real estate business. The plan was to have the deal complete by early July, but today Zillow announced that the acquisition is complete.

    The deal was negotiated by a third party and cost Zilllow about $40 million in cash. RentJuice brings with it custom designed software solution designed specifically for landlords, rental brokers, and property managers. Last Fall, Zillow also acquired Diverse Solutions, a company dedicated to developing real estate websites and improving marketing efforts.

    Spencer Rascoff (pictured above), Zillow CEO comments on the RentJuice acquisition:

    “We see a huge market opportunity in rentals. More than seventy percent of movers each year are renters and rental units turn over six times as frequently as homes for sale, yet the professional market is highly fragmented,”

    “RentJuice’s marketing and productivity tools are an incredible resource for rental professionals and this acquisition is a valuable accelerant in building Zillow’s own rental marketplace. We are incredibly excited to officially welcome the entire RentJuice team to Zillow.”

    RentJuice founder and CEO David Vivero will now serve as vice president of rentals at Zillow. He will be reporting directly to Spencer Rascoff, and is excited to be part of the Zillow real estate team.

    David Vivero comments on his addition to the Zillow team:

    “Zillow is the unrivaled category leader and we’re excited to become part of the team that’s recognized as pioneering technology and innovation across the entire real estate industry,”

    Zillow’s newest marketplace is called Rentals and it carries 93 million renters at over 43 million rental locations. Zillow receives over 30 million unique visitors to their various sites every month.

  • Zillow to Acquire RentJuice Rental Services

    Zilllow announced today that they have entered into an agreement to acquire RentJuice Corporation. RentJuice offers software solutions to landlords, property managers, and rental brokers. The deal gives Zillow users better, more professional tools for engaging the renters market. Zillow is already a leader in the rental search market and receives about 5 million hits each month.

    Spencer Rascoff, Zillow CEO comments on the addition of RentJuice:

    “Zillow has spent the last six years building robust marketplaces for real estate and mortgages, and we are in the midst of growing our rental marketplace, which has tremendous potential,”

    “The acquisition of RentJuice, with its talented team and innovative solutions for rental professionals, propels Zillow’s rental marketplace ahead by years. We are very excited to welcome the RentJuice team into Zillow.”

    The deal will cost Zillow about $40 million in cash and of course, is should be closing before the end of the second quarter of 2012. RentJuice has been around since 2009 and currently has about 30 employees.

    RentJuice CEO David Vivero comments on joining Zillow:

    “At RentJuice, we are passionate about improving the way the rental market does business, and making the lives of rental professionals easier,”

    “Becoming a part of Zillow will allow us to invest more and innovate faster on behalf of the leasing professionals we support.”

    The deal sounds like it will be beneficial to both companies. As I said before the deal should be closed by the beginning of July this year.

  • Zillow and Yahoo! Form Advertising Partnership

    Looking for the largest real estate network on the web? Yahoo and Zillow have just announced an advertising partnership that makes them larger than their top two competitors combined. Their services brings together real estate agents and prospective home buyers and allows agents and brokers to advertise on the site.

    This is a big deal because fit allows the broadest possible market coverage for those in the business. The larger the reach, the more potential for sales and growth in the industry. If you’re in the real estate business, you should be looking into advertising on this platform.

    Remember, more people search Yahoo!-Zillow Real Estate Network than there largest two competitors combined. This partnership will allow you more exposure than was ever possible before.

  • Postlets Acquired by Zillow

    Online Real Estate giant Zillow announced that it has acquired Postlets for an undisclosed sum.

    “Real estate professionals love Postlets because you create a property listing just once, and Postlets automatically distributes it across the Web,” said Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff on the Zillow Blog. “Plus, when you create an account on Postlets, you get a personalized landing page so you can showcase all of your ‘Postlets’ in one place. You can then customize your personal gallery with a company logo and an ‘about me’ page where you can describe your services and upload a personal photo to help you gain even more exposure. And it’s free.”

    According to Zillow, Postlets already has over 500,000 registered users with 350,000 sales/rental listings.

    “Our goal over the past several years has been to develop simple yet innovative products that redefine real estate marketing and search,” the Postlets team said on its blog. “This deal represents a fantastic opportunity to work with some of the most amazing people in the industry and build all of the things we said we would — and much, much more. We’re extremely excited that Zillow shares our vision and is committed to invest in Postlets to deliver tools that will further help you build your business.”

    “Ask anyone in the industry, and they’ll tell you that Postlets is a great tool for agents, property managers and landlords looking to promote their listings and manage their online presence, for free,” said Rascoff. “As part of this acquisition, Postlets will continue to send listings to its current distribution partners.”

    Zillow’s own traffic has been on the steady increase over the past year, having nearly doubled according to Compete’s numbers.

    Compete Data on Zillow

    Postlets says it will reveal more details about what the acquisition means for the company and users in the coming weeks, but promises that it will continue to operate the same.

  • Zillow Introduces BlackBerry App

    Real estate website Zillow said today it has launched a free app for Reasearch in Motion’s BlackBerry smartphones.

    Zillow said the addition of the BlackBerry app, along with its existing apps for Android, iPhone, and iPad, means more than 90 percent of smartphone users can now access real estate information on more than 100 million properties.


    The location-based Zillow BlackBerry App uses GPS technology to find and follow users on an aerial map, and displays Zestimate home valuations, homes for sale, homes for rent, Rent Zestimates, Make Me Move listings and recently sold data on the homes around them. Additional features on the Zillow BlackBerry App include:

    *Multiple search filters that include price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and other home-related information.

    *Homes viewable on a map with high-resolution satellite and street view.

    *Home search by location or by typing in a city, ZIP code or address.

    *Full-screen color photos of homes.

    “With this launch, real estate agents will also have access to the app used by so many of their clients,” said Spencer Rascoff, chief executive officer of Zillow.

    “Fifty-nine percent of agents tells us they use their smartphone to preview for-sale and for-rent properties with clients on the go.  Among real estate agents, the BlackBerry (36%) and iPhone (22%) are the top two smartphone brands.”

  • Yahoo And Zillow Partner On Real Estate

    Yahoo And Zillow Partner On Real Estate

    Yahoo said today that all of its real estate listings will now be powered by Zillow.

    Zillow will also sell local advertising on both sites, and the 4 million listings on Zillow will appear on Yahoo Real Estate.

    Yahoo-Zillow Real estate agents will be able to advertise locally on Yahoo Real Estate, and home buyers will have more access to listings on the site along with more photos.

    "This partnership brings together the scale of Yahoo’s audience with the depth of Zillow’s real estate listings," Greg Hintz, head of Yahoo Listings, said.

    "No other real estate websites are better suited to bring such a vast offering to agents, brokers and advertisers.

    The Yahoo and Zillow relationship began in 2006 when Yahoo Real Estate incorporated Zillow’s Zestimate home valuations.
     

  • Zillow Adds Real Estate Agent Ratings

    Zillow Adds Real Estate Agent Ratings

    Real estate website Zillow has introduced a new feature that allows home buyers and sellers to search for local real estate agents based on ratings and reviews.

    When people use the Zillow Directory to search for a real estate agent in their area, results are sorted by local agents with the highest overall ratings and the largest number of reviews.

    Overall ratings are based on recommendations on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being “very likely” and 1 “very unlikely.” Users can compare agents’ overall ratings, as well as ratings across a number of categories including: process expertise, local knowledge, responsiveness and negotiation skills.

    Spencer-Rascoff "Zillow was created to help people make smarter real estate decisions, and choosing an agent is one of the most important decisions a buyer or seller can make," said Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff.

    "Agent Reviews are another huge step towards transparency for buyers and sellers. For good agents, it’s a terrific way to stand out from the crowd – the next best thing to a referral. "

  • The Town That Google Forgot, Facebook’s Mobile Strategy

    The Town That Google Forgot, Facebook’s Mobile Strategy

    Matt McGee at Search Engine Land has an interesting story about the town that disappeared entirely from Google Maps. Sunrise, Florida mysteriously vanished, but was resurrected. Google gave the site the following statement:

    Google is committed to providing our users with the richest, most up-to-date maps possible. We’ve built our map from a combination of authoritative sources, ranging from the U.S. Census Bureau to commercial data providers, and have used satellite, aerial and Street View imagery to help complete the map. Overall, this provides a very comprehensive map of the U.S., but we recognize that there may be occasional inaccuracies that could arise from any of those sources. We encourage users to let us know when something is incorrect by using our “Report a Problem” button, found at the bottom right corner of the map.

    Michael Arrington at TechCrunch has an interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s mobile plans. 

    Developers can now access locations of 250 million phones across U.S. carriers, according to Location Labs, as cited in an article by ReadWriteWeb. This is through an API from the company. 

    MobileCrunch talks about a new app coming out called ChatSquare, which lets you chat with other people in the same FourSquare location. This could potentially make Foursquare more useful to more people. 

    Silicon Alley Insider points out that Zynga is advertising for a "Software Engineer – Android" on its jobs site. This likely means Android games are on the way. 

    Neowin.net reports that Chris Wilson, who was known as the "IE Platform Architect" has left Microsoft for Google. This is particularly interesting, given that Microsoft has just launched its most interesting version of its browser in years, and Chrome is becoming more and more of a contender in the space. Neowin.net says he won’t be working on Chrome for at least another year though, due to a contract with Microsoft. 

    Speaking of  Chrome, Google announced today that the Google Chrome Frame has graduated from beta, and is now being promoted in the stable channel. 

    The Wall Street Journal says RIM could unveil its answer to the iPad as early as next week. 

    MerchantCircle has acquired TimeBridge "to Offer Superior Online Scheduling Capabilities to Over 1.3 Million Local Business Owners."

    AOL has partnered with Marlo Thomas to launch a new site. "Marlo Thomas has helped define an empowered world for women, created ground breaking content for children, and produced best-selling books that improve and inspire people’s lives. AOL is delighted to partner with Marlo to bring her content and creativity to the 250 million global consumers of AOL*," said Tim Armstrong, Chairman and CEO of AOL. "Marlo continues to have a big impact on families and health through her work at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and we expect her to have just as significant an impact on our audience."

    VChatter, which describes itself as "a family-friendly social video chat service with over 2.5M active monthly users" is expanding its service with the launch of a destination site and personal URLs that it says "add a video layer on social sites with a badge that connects directly to a live video chatroom."

    The service, which ties a user’s identity to Facebook ID, is able to ban repeat offenders and uses a mix of tools and processes to remove inappropriate content and maintain a safe and clean environment, which would give it a leg up on ChatRoulette. The company’s CEO and co-founder, Will Bunker, founded the dating site that was acquired by Ticketmaster and later became Match.com.

    Twitter has made some API announcements regarding the new version of Twitter. You can see the specifics here. 

    Mint.com and Zillow.com announced a partnership to help customers determine their homes’ value as part of their overall financial portfolio.

     

  • Zillow Partners With Aparments.com On Rental Listings

    Real estate website Zillow.com said today it has partnered with Apartments.com to bring the rental website’s database of 90,000 apartment listings to Zillow.

    Apartments.com rental listings include home details, photos, floor plans, and property manager contact information.

    Chloe-Harford Listings from Apartments.com will be viewable to Zillow’s 12 million monthly visitors, including two million who are currently renters.  The partnership brings the total number of rental listings for single-family homes and apartments on Zillow to 150,000.

    "Zillow offers an unmatched user experience for home shoppers who are renting, deciding whether to rent or buy, or shopping for a home to buy,” said Chloe Harford, Zillow’s vice president of mortgages and new ventures.

    “This partnership deepens Zillow’s footprint in the rental search industry, and gives Zillow users access to a new category of managed apartment rental listings.”

    In addition to being displayed on Zillow, Apartments.com rental listings will also appear on the Zillow Mobile application, which has been downloaded more than two million times and is the most popular real estate application on the iPhone, Android, iPad, and Windows Mobile platforms.

     

  • Yahoo And Zillow Partner On Real Estate Ad Deal

    Yahoo and Zillow.com have partnered to create a real estate advertising network, bringing together the second and third most trafficked property websites.

    The move expands on existing partnership between Yahoo and Zillow that began in 2006, when Yahoo integrated Zillow’s home valuations on its own real estate site. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    Spencer-Rascoff-Zillow "This new partnership between Zillow and Yahoo! Real Estate creates the opportunity for agents and brokers to reach one of the largest audiences of homebuyers online when they list a home or purchase an ad," said Spencer Rascoff, Zillow COO.

    "Today, Zillow offers a range of services for every stage of homeownership and we’re excited to build upon our long-standing relationship with Yahoo! Real Estate and extend our leadership in the online real estate space."

    The partnership is set to go into effect later this year, but Zillow and Yahoo Real Estate are already working on sales efforts for the advertising network. Under the agreement Zillow will power all for sale listings on Yahoo Real Estate.

    The deal is part of Yahoo’s strategy to focus on its core businesses such as email, news, sports, entertainment and finance.

    In May, Yahoo partnered with Match.com, owned by Internet company IAC/InterActive Corp, which replaces Yahoo Personals.
     

  • Zillow Brings Mobile App To Android

    Zillow Brings Mobile App To Android

    Real estate website Zillow.com told WebProNews today it has launched a free Zillow Android application.

    The Zillow Android app uses GPS technology to find and follow users on an aerial map, and displays "Zestimate" values, homes for sale, homes for rent and recently-sold data on the homes around them.

    Users can also search for homes, even they are not in the vicinity, by tapping the Android platform’s voice search capabilities. By saying an address, neighborhood, ZIP code or city the app will automatically take the user there on the map.

    Key features of the Zillow Android app include:

    *Home details and historical data on 95 million homes in the U.S.

    *Curbside images of homes using Google StreetView

    *Multiple photos, home details, and contact information on homes for sale and rent

    *Users can filter their home searches by sale price, rental price, number of bedrooms, bathrooms and listing types

    "Since the launch of our highly successful  successful Zillow iPhone App, which has been downloaded nearly one million times since April 2009, home shoppers have been asking us to build an app for the Android," said Spencer Rascoff, Zillow chief operating officer. 

    "It’s clear that people want access to all of Zillow’s data and information like Zestimates, listing information, and prior sale price while they are out looking at homes or exploring neighborhoods. We saw this as a great opportunity to be on a platform with enormous potential for real estate and home shopping."
     

  • Zillow Adds Facebook And Twitter To iPhone App

    Real estate website Zillow.com told WebProNews today it has updated its free iPhone App with new features to allow users to share property details via Facebook and Twitter.

    Zillow also said it has added listings for homes for rent to its iPhone App. House hunters can set search filters by home price or monthly payment, and at the same time find both for sale and for rent homes within their price range.

    Users can now share Zillow’s property details, including values and photos on more than 93 million homes via Facebook and Twitter, whether or not the homes are for sale, in addition to being able to email properties of interest to a friend or real estate agent.

    "The response to the Zillow iPhone App has been incredible, with more than two million homes viewed on the app every month. People are clearly using the app to satisfy their desire for real estate information exactly when and where they need it most – on location while searching for homes and neighborhoods," said Spencer Rascoff, Zillow chief operating officer.

    "Now we’re improving their mobile experience by providing even more shopping tools and home listings, and giving users ways to share what they find instantly with family, friends, real estate agents and social networks."

    The Zillow iPhone App has been downloaded more than 945,000 times since its launch in April 2008, making it the most popular real estate app in the Apple iTunes Store.