An ever-present war has been raging between Zillow and real estate brokers. Zillow believes it filled a gap where NAR failed to provide valuable services for online consumers. Real estate brokers believe Zillow steals listing information from MLS agreements, repackages the information, and then sells the information back to real estate agents who owned it in the first place.
In 2015, upon the merger of Zillow and Trulia into one big company, Zillow Group, the war between brokers and Zillow escalated. And now, the war seems to be entering an escalated phase once again. For several years, Zillow has worked to transition into a buying-and-selling entity, offering iBuying services through Zillow Offers, and mortgage, title, and escrow services through Zillow Home Loans. Taking things a step further, Zillow has now started its own licensed brokerage: Zillow Homes.
Starting in January 2021, Zillow Offers customers in Atlanta, Tucson, and Phoenix will be able to work directly with licensed employees of Zillow Homes. Zillow Homes plans to expand into additional markets later in 2021. Zillow Homes will be licensing existing Zillow employees under the entity, rather than recruiting agents from any other companies. With this move, Zillow will be free to pull directly from the MLS Internet Data Exchange, which it believes will allow Zillow to more efficiently serve mutual customers with MLS partners. Zillow has also announced plans to join local real estate associations, including NAR.
Zillow’s expansion has created an evident risk to brokers’ businesses. After using Zillow services for years, usually paying Zillow for access to their own listing leads, Zillow entering the broker sphere threatens to take away much needed business. Now, it is especially critical for real estate brokers to keep their licenses in good standing with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, avoiding any client complaints or perceived unethical conduct. If you do find yourself facing disciplinary action the law firm of Williams & Nickl has extensive experience assisting real estate brokers in defense of their licenses and can effectively help you through the process.