Say No to Zillow and Trulia

Posted by Rachel Kelly on Monday, September 23rd, 2019 at 1:48pm.

                 Say No to Zillow

For over 10 years, Zillow.com has reigned as the top website for home listings, rentals, mortgage rates, and other real estate data. Google "(any city name) homes for sale" and 99% of the time Zillow will take the #1 spot in the search results. Dominating the online real estate marketplace, it is no wonder homebuyers, sellers, and realtors turn to Zillow for their property research. Although the sheer amount of information found on Zillow is quite impressive, the mega site is often criticized due to its constant misrepresentation of properties such as advertising homes for sale that have already been sold or displaying inaccurate home values calculated by Zillow's popular "Zestimates" tool.

Misleading Data
Zillow and Trulia (also owned by Zillow Group) are notorious for displaying false real estate data. Recently, I was contacted by a buyer who was disappointed after learning she missed out on an incredible deal. She came across a sold listing in Orange Beach, AL showing a two-bedroom gulf front condo that had recently closed for $125,000 earlier this year. I asked where she saw this listing, and as suspected, it came directly from Zillow. I pulled up the local MLS and found this property actually sold for $391,000. This is just one example of the many emails I receive regarding erroneous information by Zillow.

Sold Listing: Four Winds Condo in Orange Beach, AL - Unit #204
Four Winds 204 - Wrong Zillow
Zillow.com - Sold for $125,000 on 3/28/2019

Correct Listing 
Baldwin County MLS - Sold for $391,000 on 3/26/2019 

Scamming
Similar to Craigslist, Zillow allows anyone to list a property for sale (or for rent) without enforcing a stringent verification process. This opens the door for scammers to hack into listings and modify any information. Earlier this year, Zillow was fined $60 million over a lawsuit for negligence over a hacked home listing in Los Angeles, CA. It is virtually impossible for Zillow to review and validate each of the millions of properties flowing in and out of its network. To help alleviate this common problem, Zillow offers a feature that enables users to flag and report a listing showing wrong information.

Local is Best
Whether you're selling or buying, you should always trust your local realtors and resources. When you register on a large-scale website like Zillow.com your contact information can be potentially shared by numerous realtors, lenders, or businesses who pay these sites for lead generation services and advertising. CondoInvestment.com uses only ONE local realtor specializing in each region along the Alabama Coast and Florida Panhandle. Locally based on the Gulf Coast, CondoInvestment is one of the area's top resources and real estate networks; and in agreement with the following Multiple Listing Services, provides the most up-to-date and accurate real estate information. 

  • Baldwin County Association of Realtors
  • Gulf Coast MLS
  • Pensacola Association of Realtors
  • Emerald Coast Association of Realtors
  • Bay County Association of Realtors

 

If you have a question or need further information regarding any of the properties from your search, please give us a call at 251-273-2776 (251-AREA PRO) or send us an email at info@condoinvestment.com

 

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