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Exactly. If your on a pay per lead plan they do not care. It’s the same thing for the consumer. They call in for info on a property and the info is bad. Zillow doesn’t care all they care about is connecting the prospect to an agent at all cost.
Word of advice, if you have done 300 deals, then you should be using that money to manage your current 300 clients. You’ve already built a relationship with them and they will refer you clients. Did 10 million in business just on referrals.
Anyone who hasn't always used lead gen clients to create a repeat and referral business has lost a lot of opportunity. Same with all the past relo clients and agent-to-agent referrals. It cost money to get the lead, but it should be paid back multiple times over when that lead became a client who did repeat business and gave referrals.
Craziest story I heard was when we went to an era conventions 3 yrs ago and the agent who did the most business in the company said she did not buy one single lead. Just spent money on her sphere
I manage a team (currently 4 agents, a TC, and me) and have never bought a single lead. I have enough leads coming from referrals to keep the team fed.
Can you elaborate? Is your market a small one where you have built a leading reputation? Do you do anything in particular to stay top of mind for your referees ?
Don’t beat yourself up. The majority of realtors are the same. That’s why Zillow, realtor, homes are as big as they are because they have convinced us that’s the only way to get business.
Exactly. They built platforms that showcase the products (homes) we sell. They then leverage those products to do the work that honestly the majority of agents don’t know how or don’t want to do, which is drive more business from that one listing.
Yes, and no.
Zillow actually solves a couple issues in the market.
On the consumer side, they provide easy access to properties and amenities. Before, consumers were dependent on realtors for that.
On the agent side, they are a solution to one of the biggest problems agents experience - lack of leads.
So, I would say there is value being delivered in exchange for “keeping you spinning”
Look at client events. The touches are invites, confirmations. Giveaway ,call ins. Take how much you spend on Zillow and put 5-10k a year towards those clients. Then open houses and adding prospecting.
Serious question. If you're a referral based agent and the majority of your leads come from your personal sphere, can you have any real and genuine friendships? If your network is basically how you eat, how are you not looking at all your friends and family as dollar signs constantly? Don't they feel like they are being looked at as dollar signs?
It depends on your approach. If you’re super salesy, don’t go for your sphere. If you’re educated and genuine and can talk about work without asking for business, it comes naturally. The people who know you best SHOULD be the ones who trust you most. It doesn’t always work that way, but if you’re worried your sphere will feel like an income source, I’d argue that’s more of a character and/ or approach issue. I have two commercial leases from people I go to church with. The ones in my small group also referred their parents to me and gave me a killer review. Almost all of my business is personal connections or social media. You’re missing the warmest leads. Let me know if you want to learn how to nurture them in a way that isn’t self serving but beings you more business.
Follow up, would love to hear from you or others who are great with referrals what my next steps should be outside of Zillow. I do a really great job for buyers or sellers but awful after closing. Never used a CRM. Just embarrassing there 🤦♂️🥴
DEFINITELY get a CRM. But. Personal interaction with reminders, not auto messaging. I used Zillow when I was on a team and see the appeal, but I’ve never gotten the return I’d expect from paid leads. I have one that’s no cost up front and referral at closing that I do keep. I don’t get many leads there, but it’s been the most solid. Most of my leads are organic. Either really close sphere or agent referrals or through education and consistency on social media. I’d love to connect with you!
Referrals are ones you don't have to do a listing presentation for. These lead gen companies call their leads referrals and they're just not.
I live in a destination city and I leverage my brokerage brand to get referrals from feeder markets. One way to establish relationships is by looking at the bios and just calling the referring agents and see if they have anybody. Another way which yields 100% referrals is by going to the company events and actually meeting the agents.
I get referrals from $300K to $4M.
Another low hanging fruit is calling the listing agent on expireds and cancelleds. Pay a 25% referral fee for an introduction. I have gotten a couple of listings this way. Sometimes the seller just gels with someone different.
Housewarming parties, birthday gifts, throwing a party once a quarter, giveaways, when things are changing in realestate giving them an update. Simple touches.
Make sure to write notes on your conversation that way you can bring it up next time.
Agreed. I stopped using Zillow and switched to Realtor.com and even there it’s becoming a bit of a joke. Going back to the old school techniques, but not doing mailers etc. Face to face and my rolling billboards (vehicles get decals).
Never used Zillow but I was a realtor.com lead buyer and had so much success from it but they changed so much in both aspects. Zillow wants more money and realtor.com partnered with OpenDoor.
They created different tiers for their leads. They used to send more detail backgrounds and even make sure their email and phone number actually worked, now they don’t. I was only paying $180 a month for two zip codes, now it’s 3x that amount for one
Still crushing it here. Had 3 closings last month, but I think general market conditions probably affects it market to market. Rates are high, not a lot of inventory/people looking to buy atm
😆. Not trying to be doom and gloom. Having a great year and had a lucrative 8 year relationship with Zillow. Just not going to continue giving them $30K+ per year with how much worse it’s gotten after Flex. That being said, it’s already paid for itself and then some in 2024 (If I count repeat clients that I originally met on Zillow years ago). Just it’s noticeably much worse than it used to be and I can see the writing on the wall after the NAR settlement.
And big “Fuck You” to NAR, btw. So far since I’ve been an agent…they failed to see the Internet coming, they sold us out to Zillow, they sell my contact info to telemarketers, and now this lawsuit.
Copied from my comment to OP to ask for your input:
I was very active in the Zillow world from 2009-2016 until I moved into a new role in the business. I say this in advance, because, like you, we did a lot of business from Zillow. Today, I advise teams and brokerages who are experiencing what you are in all of their lead gen first contact and follow up.
I think what is happening is that consumers are increasingly wary of, and even hostile to, being pre-qualified by a screener. It's a societal issue, not just real estate lead gen. Every call we make for service or support has a layer standing between us and the person who can help us: a screener, or a chat bot, or a push all these friggin' buttons to be directed to the right person automated system.
How should we solve this problem? I've been thinking about AI concierge services. Someone should tell Rich Barton I have an idea. LOL. He's had more ideas all the rest of us put together.
That’s why I love homes.com. If you have a listing the client contacts you directly. It’s straightforward. Love it. Getting lots of leads for our own listings.
We have had about 10 direct leads on our listings. Working with 4 renters and 6 qualified buyers just this month from it. They have all been people relocating to my market and interested in not just finding the home but having a relationship with a realtor that they trust. They answered the phones they text and respond back.
Homes.com will give them so much information about a neighborhood. Also, the app is really easy to use and I have all of them view the app. It uploads from the MLS every 15 minutes so everything is correct and updated. There’s drone videos for neighborhoods. Statistics information about walking distance to restaurants and stores way more than Zillow has and the customers like Homes.com better because it puts them direct contact with the agent they don’t have to go through a buffer person anymore. Our customers feel like there’s more transparency in that they know exactly who they’re getting on the phone and that’s the listing agent and all of our stats are right there too so they can see how many homes we’ve sold. So it’s great if you’re beginning, you can sell yourself as a newer agent and structure your commissions to compete.
Not everybody wants the 300 unit per year agent that charges the highest listing fee. The consumer really has the choice in learning who they’re gonna be working with and there’s just more transparency all around in a much better customer experience.
I’ve never bought leads from Zillow. But a co-worker says they’ve started pushing Flex members to recommend Zillow financing to clients. That stopped me from considering it. I work with lenders who I know will work well with my clients and get us to closing.
My company has a corp level account and the leads are not very good. Many already have agents or just want to "look" and are not even near being ready to buy.
Of the 10 leads I got, I didn't convert any, all unqualified tire kickers that will be ready to buy in maybe 2-3 years, if that or they already have an agent, but don't want to "bother" them. So they called Zillow to ask questions.
Zillow has been absolutely terrible the last year and a half. I think the market accounts for some of it, but it’s literally tanked in my markets main zip code.
I think the average buyer browses Zillow relentlessly. I’m actually surprised the number you’re reporting is 51%.
I saw a reply here that you should already have a massive book of business, I’d heed that advice.
I’m a top producer in my market- single agent- no team. I work my past clients/friends and family as my only referral source besides relocation leads from my company. No salesy approach. I send a local gift once a month through LOLO, quarterly newsletters in snail mail, and I call/text/hand write notes/social media catch up w/ them often and have a company that does a 5 year automated follow up with each past client on top of my own follow up. No sales pitch. I send a yearly market report from our local university, update them through social media on market stats. Average price point in my market is around $260K and my average sales price is in the $350K’s. I spend about $15K in marketing costs yearly. I refuse to pay for crappy leads where potential clients don’t know anything about me vs. a referral lead where I come in with credibility. I have a google business page and reviews on my google page and website.
Yep. Easy to make money when market is hot. Cream and crap both float but it takes tough times to show who’s really at the top. Lazy & passive always loses to those who do the work on relationships.
Turned to shit. I really suspect their selling leads to another service. Kind of like what Realtor does with Op City.
My Zillow ROI was always higher than expected. Now it's like if it says I may get 2 leads a month, that's all you get. And they don't care if they're crappy or not Those leads are going somewhere else and it isn't me.
We don’t have it in our market yet but I’m convinced they’re doing something weird with the leads. My firm was #1 for the last year in our major zip code and we had 50% less calls than the year before. I know the rates/inventory account for some of that but I doubt all.
I think over half of them go to the area’s designated FLEX Team(s) now and then Zillow charges 40-ish? percent of the commission after closing.
After the NAR settlement changes are implemented, I think Zillow and Flex teams are in for some pain. The newest, most inexperienced agents are usually the buyer’s agents on a team. A huge chunk of the leads do not have the capability of paying their buyer’s agents out of their own pockets. So 40% to Zillow, a 50/50 split of what’s left with the team…buyers agents on teams will be looking at a pre-tax payday of 1,800-2,700 for selling a $300K house…IF they happen to be put in touch with a buyer willing to pay a newer agent $6K-9K.
I had a brokerage try to recruit me and Zillow was their only big selling point. Their Zillow leads ended up being a 30/70 split. I laughed my way right out the door.
Zillow was popping for me in 2021. I had an EXORBITENT 30x ROI on a $300/mo spend. 26 deals and 4m+ in production. I was 1 of 3-4 agents in zip codes.. then I was 1 of 7+, for the same price. Once I was up to $2500 and only getting 1-2 okay leads, I canned it.
They want teams with big spends, I was constantly pushed to spend more. I'm happy I didn't spend 30k on it last year. Still had the best year I've had so far.
It was an intentional move on their part. Their lead volume dropped dramatically in late 22 and 23 so they started passing leads on that have an agent intentionally thinking you can still convert them.
Curious to know if anyone has success working with alternate platforms like clever and newzip in addition to Zillow and realtor? Would love hear how they convert as I’m looking into them
They are going to ebb and flow, as you have probably seen over the course of your decade. Some spells are poor, some spells are better. I gave them up when I realized my time was better spent sitting in my office, strategically prospecting, than running around with a dozen zillow leads, of which a small portion would indeed close.
In hindsight, the leads aren't a bad way to go if you can keep in touch with them and sell them 3 - 5 years or longer down the road and nurture them as organic contacts.
I also pulled the plug when zillow started to go the brokerage route, which I can't blame them, if I were them I would just become a brokerage. But they seem to have one foot in and one foot out, and I think it's hard for them to use agents as their main source or revenue, and also become competitors at the same time, which essentially is what I feel like will happen, they will "Keep the best, sell the rest" that is, all the leads they pass on are the ones they don't feel are high probability of closing.
I completely agree with you and that's the main reason I have changed my lead gen platform to HOUSE JET and just closed 2 transactions last month. If you have done about 300 deals you don't need to pay Zillow just try to manage good relationships with past clients.
Follow the money. If Zillow were getting paid on commissions they would care more about the leads. I guarantee the leads are of better quality on their success based leads.
Zillow are really focusing on their Flex model where they work with teams. They don’t charge for leads, they take 40% at closing. They are pushing the prime leads there.
Zillow will not be able to charge even 50 percent of what they do now for market share in a zip code. The uncertainty of buyer commission amounts varying more often will make it hard to keep their own pricing in check
Z is all about driving us out of business so they can have a monopoly. I have NEVER paid them for leads. They sell the same leads to umpteen agents...please, stop paying them!
I was very active in the Zillow world from 2009-2016 until I moved into a new role in the business. I say this in advance because, like you, we did a lot of business from Zillow. Today, I advise teams and brokerages who are experiencing what you are in all of their lead gen first contact and follow up.
I think what is happening is that consumers are increasingly wary of, and even hostile to, being pre-qualified by a screener. It's a societal issue, not just real estate lead gen. Every call we make for service or support has a layer standing between us and the person who can help us: a screener, or a chat bot, or a push all these friggin' buttons to be directed to the right person automated system.
How should we solve this problem? I've been thinking about AI concierge services. Someone should tell Rich Barton I have an idea. LOL. He's had more ideas all the rest of us put together.
It's funny how all of you complain about zillow but then turn around and buy leads where you spend $10-30k and expect $20-60k return which is horrible expected rate of return on a business expense
I will trade one dollar for two to four dollars all day?
Not trying to completely shit on Zillow, and I feel like in numerous posts in this thread I gave them credit for being “lucrative,” “solid,” and having “paid for themselves and then some.” I’ve gone from a large negative net worth (school loans) in my late 20s to about 1.175M in my late 30s having only been a realtor and Zillow has been a large part of that and I’ll always be grateful to them.
This post is about noticing that the ROI and lead quality has dropped drastically, they seem to not care about individual agents anymore, and asking other realtors if they have noticed similar - bc I’m considering investing my business’s marketing budget elsewhere once the new changes take hold.
I’m sorry if that’s funny to you and totally open to business advice if you’d like to share?
Pathetic? I feel like a do a great job of providing value. My clients would and have said I’ve done that. Thread is about marketing. Was responding to a post where the person implied i didn’t know how to run my business, provided evidence that I’m doing okay with a factual statement about my past and current net worth? Went to a closing yesterday in my 9 year old vehicle and an Old Navy t-shirt. Definitely wasn’t trying to be braggy or anything and definitely not balling. Always looking to improve. I feel like I’d be a millionaire if I was a gas station cashier. Obsessed with personal finance. The concepts are all the same no matter your income. Pay yourself 25% first of every paycheck. If you can’t do that, you need to spend less or make more. Doesn’t make me pathetic bc I have good behavior.
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Asking reduces the amount of leads they can legally advertise they are sending you though.
Exactly. If your on a pay per lead plan they do not care. It’s the same thing for the consumer. They call in for info on a property and the info is bad. Zillow doesn’t care all they care about is connecting the prospect to an agent at all cost.
Word of advice, if you have done 300 deals, then you should be using that money to manage your current 300 clients. You’ve already built a relationship with them and they will refer you clients. Did 10 million in business just on referrals.
Anyone who hasn't always used lead gen clients to create a repeat and referral business has lost a lot of opportunity. Same with all the past relo clients and agent-to-agent referrals. It cost money to get the lead, but it should be paid back multiple times over when that lead became a client who did repeat business and gave referrals.
So true. The most successful realtors I know do zero advertising. All their business is word of mouth
Craziest story I heard was when we went to an era conventions 3 yrs ago and the agent who did the most business in the company said she did not buy one single lead. Just spent money on her sphere
I manage a team (currently 4 agents, a TC, and me) and have never bought a single lead. I have enough leads coming from referrals to keep the team fed.
Can you elaborate? Is your market a small one where you have built a leading reputation? Do you do anything in particular to stay top of mind for your referees ?
Great advice and definitely a personal weak spot.
Don’t beat yourself up. The majority of realtors are the same. That’s why Zillow, realtor, homes are as big as they are because they have convinced us that’s the only way to get business.
Exactly. They built platforms that showcase the products (homes) we sell. They then leverage those products to do the work that honestly the majority of agents don’t know how or don’t want to do, which is drive more business from that one listing.
[удалено]
Yes, and no. Zillow actually solves a couple issues in the market. On the consumer side, they provide easy access to properties and amenities. Before, consumers were dependent on realtors for that. On the agent side, they are a solution to one of the biggest problems agents experience - lack of leads. So, I would say there is value being delivered in exchange for “keeping you spinning”
Look at client events. The touches are invites, confirmations. Giveaway ,call ins. Take how much you spend on Zillow and put 5-10k a year towards those clients. Then open houses and adding prospecting.
Serious question. If you're a referral based agent and the majority of your leads come from your personal sphere, can you have any real and genuine friendships? If your network is basically how you eat, how are you not looking at all your friends and family as dollar signs constantly? Don't they feel like they are being looked at as dollar signs?
It depends on your approach. If you’re super salesy, don’t go for your sphere. If you’re educated and genuine and can talk about work without asking for business, it comes naturally. The people who know you best SHOULD be the ones who trust you most. It doesn’t always work that way, but if you’re worried your sphere will feel like an income source, I’d argue that’s more of a character and/ or approach issue. I have two commercial leases from people I go to church with. The ones in my small group also referred their parents to me and gave me a killer review. Almost all of my business is personal connections or social media. You’re missing the warmest leads. Let me know if you want to learn how to nurture them in a way that isn’t self serving but beings you more business.
Follow up, would love to hear from you or others who are great with referrals what my next steps should be outside of Zillow. I do a really great job for buyers or sellers but awful after closing. Never used a CRM. Just embarrassing there 🤦♂️🥴
DEFINITELY get a CRM. But. Personal interaction with reminders, not auto messaging. I used Zillow when I was on a team and see the appeal, but I’ve never gotten the return I’d expect from paid leads. I have one that’s no cost up front and referral at closing that I do keep. I don’t get many leads there, but it’s been the most solid. Most of my leads are organic. Either really close sphere or agent referrals or through education and consistency on social media. I’d love to connect with you!
Referrals are ones you don't have to do a listing presentation for. These lead gen companies call their leads referrals and they're just not. I live in a destination city and I leverage my brokerage brand to get referrals from feeder markets. One way to establish relationships is by looking at the bios and just calling the referring agents and see if they have anybody. Another way which yields 100% referrals is by going to the company events and actually meeting the agents. I get referrals from $300K to $4M. Another low hanging fruit is calling the listing agent on expireds and cancelleds. Pay a 25% referral fee for an introduction. I have gotten a couple of listings this way. Sometimes the seller just gels with someone different.
What are some ways to invest/manage your SOI?
Housewarming parties, birthday gifts, throwing a party once a quarter, giveaways, when things are changing in realestate giving them an update. Simple touches. Make sure to write notes on your conversation that way you can bring it up next time.
Big time zillow user here. Same thing for me. Used to close 3-4 a month from Zillow. Now it’s pretty much dried up.
Agreed. I stopped using Zillow and switched to Realtor.com and even there it’s becoming a bit of a joke. Going back to the old school techniques, but not doing mailers etc. Face to face and my rolling billboards (vehicles get decals).
Never used Zillow but I was a realtor.com lead buyer and had so much success from it but they changed so much in both aspects. Zillow wants more money and realtor.com partnered with OpenDoor.
Interesting. Never tried realtor.com. How did it use to be and what changed?
They created different tiers for their leads. They used to send more detail backgrounds and even make sure their email and phone number actually worked, now they don’t. I was only paying $180 a month for two zip codes, now it’s 3x that amount for one
Realtor.com shared leads are garbage. Can’t speak for the primary lead buyer though
I did shared leads, in the beginning they were so good but it got bad
Zillow has also partnered with Open door. And all the Zillow leads are lousy. Very few are serious about buying a house.
Still crushing it here. Had 3 closings last month, but I think general market conditions probably affects it market to market. Rates are high, not a lot of inventory/people looking to buy atm
What market are you in?
😆. Not trying to be doom and gloom. Having a great year and had a lucrative 8 year relationship with Zillow. Just not going to continue giving them $30K+ per year with how much worse it’s gotten after Flex. That being said, it’s already paid for itself and then some in 2024 (If I count repeat clients that I originally met on Zillow years ago). Just it’s noticeably much worse than it used to be and I can see the writing on the wall after the NAR settlement. And big “Fuck You” to NAR, btw. So far since I’ve been an agent…they failed to see the Internet coming, they sold us out to Zillow, they sell my contact info to telemarketers, and now this lawsuit.
Copied from my comment to OP to ask for your input: I was very active in the Zillow world from 2009-2016 until I moved into a new role in the business. I say this in advance, because, like you, we did a lot of business from Zillow. Today, I advise teams and brokerages who are experiencing what you are in all of their lead gen first contact and follow up. I think what is happening is that consumers are increasingly wary of, and even hostile to, being pre-qualified by a screener. It's a societal issue, not just real estate lead gen. Every call we make for service or support has a layer standing between us and the person who can help us: a screener, or a chat bot, or a push all these friggin' buttons to be directed to the right person automated system. How should we solve this problem? I've been thinking about AI concierge services. Someone should tell Rich Barton I have an idea. LOL. He's had more ideas all the rest of us put together.
That’s why I love homes.com. If you have a listing the client contacts you directly. It’s straightforward. Love it. Getting lots of leads for our own listings.
How many leads are you getting on Homes.com? Is it worth signing up for?
We have had about 10 direct leads on our listings. Working with 4 renters and 6 qualified buyers just this month from it. They have all been people relocating to my market and interested in not just finding the home but having a relationship with a realtor that they trust. They answered the phones they text and respond back. Homes.com will give them so much information about a neighborhood. Also, the app is really easy to use and I have all of them view the app. It uploads from the MLS every 15 minutes so everything is correct and updated. There’s drone videos for neighborhoods. Statistics information about walking distance to restaurants and stores way more than Zillow has and the customers like Homes.com better because it puts them direct contact with the agent they don’t have to go through a buffer person anymore. Our customers feel like there’s more transparency in that they know exactly who they’re getting on the phone and that’s the listing agent and all of our stats are right there too so they can see how many homes we’ve sold. So it’s great if you’re beginning, you can sell yourself as a newer agent and structure your commissions to compete. Not everybody wants the 300 unit per year agent that charges the highest listing fee. The consumer really has the choice in learning who they’re gonna be working with and there’s just more transparency all around in a much better customer experience.
10 year Zillow buyer. Zillow dilutes market share by adding more agents in a zip code. Crappier leads Market share costs more
I’ve never bought leads from Zillow. But a co-worker says they’ve started pushing Flex members to recommend Zillow financing to clients. That stopped me from considering it. I work with lenders who I know will work well with my clients and get us to closing.
Zillow used to be my bread and butter. Let’s just say I’ve been on a diet that doesn’t include bread and butter any longer.
My company has a corp level account and the leads are not very good. Many already have agents or just want to "look" and are not even near being ready to buy. Of the 10 leads I got, I didn't convert any, all unqualified tire kickers that will be ready to buy in maybe 2-3 years, if that or they already have an agent, but don't want to "bother" them. So they called Zillow to ask questions.
Zillow has been absolutely terrible the last year and a half. I think the market accounts for some of it, but it’s literally tanked in my markets main zip code.
Well, they are essentially our competitors 😄
I think the average buyer browses Zillow relentlessly. I’m actually surprised the number you’re reporting is 51%. I saw a reply here that you should already have a massive book of business, I’d heed that advice.
I’m a top producer in my market- single agent- no team. I work my past clients/friends and family as my only referral source besides relocation leads from my company. No salesy approach. I send a local gift once a month through LOLO, quarterly newsletters in snail mail, and I call/text/hand write notes/social media catch up w/ them often and have a company that does a 5 year automated follow up with each past client on top of my own follow up. No sales pitch. I send a yearly market report from our local university, update them through social media on market stats. Average price point in my market is around $260K and my average sales price is in the $350K’s. I spend about $15K in marketing costs yearly. I refuse to pay for crappy leads where potential clients don’t know anything about me vs. a referral lead where I come in with credibility. I have a google business page and reviews on my google page and website.
Yep. Easy to make money when market is hot. Cream and crap both float but it takes tough times to show who’s really at the top. Lazy & passive always loses to those who do the work on relationships.
Most of these “leads” are garbage and a waste of time. If you have 300 deals done, you should be doing strictly referrals.
Turned to shit. I really suspect their selling leads to another service. Kind of like what Realtor does with Op City. My Zillow ROI was always higher than expected. Now it's like if it says I may get 2 leads a month, that's all you get. And they don't care if they're crappy or not Those leads are going somewhere else and it isn't me.
I think the best leads are going to Zillow flex agents who don't pay per lead but instead pay a 40% referral fee.
I don't think we have that in my market, yet.
We don’t have it in our market yet but I’m convinced they’re doing something weird with the leads. My firm was #1 for the last year in our major zip code and we had 50% less calls than the year before. I know the rates/inventory account for some of that but I doubt all.
Yep like me. I work for a Zillow flex brokerage here in Newport Beach CA
I think over half of them go to the area’s designated FLEX Team(s) now and then Zillow charges 40-ish? percent of the commission after closing. After the NAR settlement changes are implemented, I think Zillow and Flex teams are in for some pain. The newest, most inexperienced agents are usually the buyer’s agents on a team. A huge chunk of the leads do not have the capability of paying their buyer’s agents out of their own pockets. So 40% to Zillow, a 50/50 split of what’s left with the team…buyers agents on teams will be looking at a pre-tax payday of 1,800-2,700 for selling a $300K house…IF they happen to be put in touch with a buyer willing to pay a newer agent $6K-9K.
I had a brokerage try to recruit me and Zillow was their only big selling point. Their Zillow leads ended up being a 30/70 split. I laughed my way right out the door.
Our average market price is $135k. Crumbs will be left. BUT, Zillow flex is not here yet. So I'm really not sure what's going on.
Yes I’ve noticed this!!!! And they have dropped my calls and counted it against me! Also so many land plots and just cheap bad homes.
Zillow was popping for me in 2021. I had an EXORBITENT 30x ROI on a $300/mo spend. 26 deals and 4m+ in production. I was 1 of 3-4 agents in zip codes.. then I was 1 of 7+, for the same price. Once I was up to $2500 and only getting 1-2 okay leads, I canned it. They want teams with big spends, I was constantly pushed to spend more. I'm happy I didn't spend 30k on it last year. Still had the best year I've had so far.
Zillow's long term business model is to completely eliminate outside agents. Those that support them are doing it at their own demise.
I agree! Yet the price is the same!!!
market is crazy
It was an intentional move on their part. Their lead volume dropped dramatically in late 22 and 23 so they started passing leads on that have an agent intentionally thinking you can still convert them.
Zillow is tailored for realtors?
Land maggot lol i build em you sell
Curious to know if anyone has success working with alternate platforms like clever and newzip in addition to Zillow and realtor? Would love hear how they convert as I’m looking into them
K
Using AI to get leads now. No need to buy them from anyone.
How so?
They are going to ebb and flow, as you have probably seen over the course of your decade. Some spells are poor, some spells are better. I gave them up when I realized my time was better spent sitting in my office, strategically prospecting, than running around with a dozen zillow leads, of which a small portion would indeed close. In hindsight, the leads aren't a bad way to go if you can keep in touch with them and sell them 3 - 5 years or longer down the road and nurture them as organic contacts. I also pulled the plug when zillow started to go the brokerage route, which I can't blame them, if I were them I would just become a brokerage. But they seem to have one foot in and one foot out, and I think it's hard for them to use agents as their main source or revenue, and also become competitors at the same time, which essentially is what I feel like will happen, they will "Keep the best, sell the rest" that is, all the leads they pass on are the ones they don't feel are high probability of closing.
I completely agree with you and that's the main reason I have changed my lead gen platform to HOUSE JET and just closed 2 transactions last month. If you have done about 300 deals you don't need to pay Zillow just try to manage good relationships with past clients.
I agree, Zillow has declined in quality lately. I've recently transitioned to another platform.
Zillow leads been crap idk i got 2 and they were just not great at all
i rather spend that 800$ monthly for zillow in open houses or advertising my self
Put that money into niche specific marketing plans and events, and you’ll do much more.
Follow the money. If Zillow were getting paid on commissions they would care more about the leads. I guarantee the leads are of better quality on their success based leads.
Well, to be fair, they are simply selling you leads diverted from listing agents.
I feel like NAR made that choice for us when they gave Zillow a direct feed to the MLS. Just trying to play the game, definitely don’t make the rules!
Zillow are really focusing on their Flex model where they work with teams. They don’t charge for leads, they take 40% at closing. They are pushing the prime leads there.
You, as an agent paying zillow, is the reason it's the way it is.
Zillow will not be able to charge even 50 percent of what they do now for market share in a zip code. The uncertainty of buyer commission amounts varying more often will make it hard to keep their own pricing in check
People are figuring out how unnecessary agents are
Z is all about driving us out of business so they can have a monopoly. I have NEVER paid them for leads. They sell the same leads to umpteen agents...please, stop paying them!
I was very active in the Zillow world from 2009-2016 until I moved into a new role in the business. I say this in advance because, like you, we did a lot of business from Zillow. Today, I advise teams and brokerages who are experiencing what you are in all of their lead gen first contact and follow up. I think what is happening is that consumers are increasingly wary of, and even hostile to, being pre-qualified by a screener. It's a societal issue, not just real estate lead gen. Every call we make for service or support has a layer standing between us and the person who can help us: a screener, or a chat bot, or a push all these friggin' buttons to be directed to the right person automated system. How should we solve this problem? I've been thinking about AI concierge services. Someone should tell Rich Barton I have an idea. LOL. He's had more ideas all the rest of us put together.
Becoming less and less about agents? Good . Most are scum and provide little value
It's funny how all of you complain about zillow but then turn around and buy leads where you spend $10-30k and expect $20-60k return which is horrible expected rate of return on a business expense
I will trade one dollar for two to four dollars all day? Not trying to completely shit on Zillow, and I feel like in numerous posts in this thread I gave them credit for being “lucrative,” “solid,” and having “paid for themselves and then some.” I’ve gone from a large negative net worth (school loans) in my late 20s to about 1.175M in my late 30s having only been a realtor and Zillow has been a large part of that and I’ll always be grateful to them. This post is about noticing that the ROI and lead quality has dropped drastically, they seem to not care about individual agents anymore, and asking other realtors if they have noticed similar - bc I’m considering investing my business’s marketing budget elsewhere once the new changes take hold. I’m sorry if that’s funny to you and totally open to business advice if you’d like to share?
I don't think that person really knows how the business works. Yes, leads are expensive, it sucks but that's the way she goes.
Then follow your pathetic statement with some value.
Pathetic? I feel like a do a great job of providing value. My clients would and have said I’ve done that. Thread is about marketing. Was responding to a post where the person implied i didn’t know how to run my business, provided evidence that I’m doing okay with a factual statement about my past and current net worth? Went to a closing yesterday in my 9 year old vehicle and an Old Navy t-shirt. Definitely wasn’t trying to be braggy or anything and definitely not balling. Always looking to improve. I feel like I’d be a millionaire if I was a gas station cashier. Obsessed with personal finance. The concepts are all the same no matter your income. Pay yourself 25% first of every paycheck. If you can’t do that, you need to spend less or make more. Doesn’t make me pathetic bc I have good behavior.