Zillow is the leading digital platform for real estate across the US and the go-to website for individuals searching for a home to buy. It is also the largest marketplace for For Sale By Owner (FSBO) listings.
Listing your house for sale on Zillow is relatively easy, but the process of communicating with buyers, scheduling showings, fielding offers, negotiating, handling paperwork, legal disclosures are a little more complicated.
If you want to learn more about listing your home on Zillow, check out How to Sell Your Own Home in our learning center to help you get started.
What can I expect when my home gets listed on Zillow?
Once you are officially listed on Zillow, you can expect to receive a flurry of calls. We typically see following three types of calls immediately:
- Seller Agents – The majority of these calls will be coming from Agents who are calling to persuade you to list your home with them. Some will be very direct and ask for the listing outright and some will try to convince you that listing with an agent is better than doing it on your own (FSBO). There is no reason to hire a local, full fee agent so we recommend practicing patience before moving forward with an agent. If you are thinking about hiring an agent, check out Is a Local Real Estate Agent Right For You first.
- Buyer Agents – You will also get calls from buyer agents asking if you will pay them a commission if they bring you a buyer. Some of these agents may actually be working with potential buyers and will ask to set up a home showing. If you have questions about commissions, check out Real Estate Commissions – What you need to know.
- Direct Buyers – The calls you really want are from buyers interested in buying your house. These buyers may or may not be working with agents, but they will be calling to ask specific questions about the property and to schedule showings.
All these calls and solicitations may frustrate you or feel “noisy”, but you have to be patient with the process. Typically speaking, the first two weeks will be busy and you will get more online views and calls during this period than any other time, but will begin to level out after a couple of weeks.
What if you haven’t found a buyer within the first two weeks?
If you have not sold your home after a couple of weeks, it can probably be attributed to one of three factors:
1. Home Exposure
Zillow is just one of thousands of websites to market your home for sale. Our free Multiple Listing Service (MLS) listing will get you on all of them and increase your exposure by over 400% versus Zillow alone. When you are listing on the MLS, you will also stop getting those annoying calls from agents wanting to list your home for you.
2. Home Price
Price may be the biggest factor in whether a home sells or not. In a strong sellers market, you cannot underprice your house because you will get buyers competing with each other (multiple offers) to raise the price, but overpriced houses tend to sit on the market unsold and with limited activity until the price is adjusted lower. Even a price adjustment of $10,000 can make a big difference in activity and offers. Better to price the house low and negotiate than price it high with no room for negotiations.
3. Home Listing Presentation
The issue may be poor photos, too many photos, too few photos, or other marketing faux pas. You have to have a great presentation to attract quality buyers. High quality photos, drone photography and virtual tours are essential to get a buyer interested in seeing the home in person. Think of listing a house for sale like an online dating site. Good photos attract interested people and cause them to take a closer look. If they like what they see, they want to meet to learn more. Upon meeting, they know almost instantly whether it is something worth pursuing or not. So when presenting a house for sale, you want a great cover photo and an enticing photo array with just enough information to get them to go see the house in person.
Everhome’s Listed With Owner Program
If you have listed your home or are thinking about listing your home FSBO our Listed With Owner program might be the right fit. It was designed to provide home sellers with massive exposure plus full service seller representation through the critical and more complex elements of the transactions. For a low set fee (regardless of the price of your home), we make sure your home is expertly marketed and properly (sometimes aggressively) represented so you are not taken advantage of, and get the best price and terms when you sell your home.
We have the experience and expertise needed to protect you and get your transaction closed. Our clients often tell us over and over again what a great value they get after seeing how much more money they net as a result of our representation. Take a look at some of the 100+ verified 5-star reviews and decide for yourself!
If you’d like to chat, call us at (805) 379-3300 for a free consultation. We’re here to help!
You can also check What Happens After You Find a Buyer or How To Handle & Negotiate Multiple Offers On Your Home.
