Residential real estate appraising website Zillow plans to start buying home in Orlando and five other cities, joining a handful of companies offering quick and easy solutions.
The real estate website Zillow plans to start buying houses in Orlando and five other cities, joining a handful of companies offering quick and easy solutions for home sellers.
The Seattle-based online service plans to roll out its Zillow Offers program by fall, buying houses from sellers in as little as a week and then turning around and selling them for a higher price, the company said.
Orlando joins nine other cities where Zillow has already launched the service along with four other areas getting Zillow Offers this fall: Miami, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Nashville and Portland.
It joins a handful of other services such as Opendoor, Offerpad and Rex that will either buy houses directly from consumers or circumvent the traditional real estate agent model.
Online home buying services have been controversial among real estate professionals because of worries that they cut out local agents and try to take advantage of rising real estate prices.
Zillow said it does plan to work with local real estate agents on deals, or refer buyers to local agents if the Zillow’s offer isn’t accepted.
"It's clear people want a convenient, stress-free way to sell their home, and real estate professionals are eager to work with us to leverage Zillow Offers as a way to build their local businesses,” said Zillow Brand President Jeremy Wacksman. “With today's announcement, we are excited to continue to rapidly scale Zillow Offers throughout the country, and we are well on our way to delivering a simple, on-demand real estate experience to consumers in at least 14 markets this year."
The program varies from Zillow’s Instant Offers program it tested in Orlando in 2017, where it connected homebuyers with real estate investors. Zillow has discontinued that program in favor of this program, where it assumes the risk.
With Zillow Offers, the company does an analysis and makes a preliminary offer usually within 48 hours. They then send out a home inspector and decide whether an offer should be formalized.
Home sellers could then get paid within a week.
Zillow said it makes its money buying at a price slightly below market, but insists that they do not make “low-ball” offers. It will then make slight improvements such as painting or landscaping but isn’t engaging in extensive remodels.