Inman

Zillow Offers rolls out in Orlando

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Zillow Offers, the direct-to-consumer homebuying and selling offering from real estate tech giant Zillow, is officially live in Orlando, Florida today.

Orlando is the platform’s 11th market, joining Phoenix, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Dallas, the Twin Cities, Charlotte and Raleigh in North Carolina and Riverside, California.

“In a world of on-demand everything, people want ease and quality – and that expectation is extending to real estate,” Zillow Brand President Jeremy Wacksman said in a statement. “Zillow Offers is key to our goal of rewiring the real estate transaction, giving people the seamless, convenient experience they demand.”

Helping consumers buy and sell homes isn’t exactly a new business for Zillow in Orlando, which was originally one of the markets in which Zillow tested it’s now defunct Instant Offers platform. Instant Offers was the precursor to Zillow Offers, a platform that allowed consumers to receive instant all-cash offers on their homes from an investor, facilitated by Zillow.

Eventually, Zillow itself decided to become that investor and eventually they shuttered the Instant Offers platform as Zillow Offers grew and they lost a partner in Offerpad, a rival iBuyer.

“We’re thrilled to come back to Orlando, where we first tested this service, to start providing Floridians with a better way to buy and sell homes,” Wacksman said.

Zillow Offers provides home sellers an all-cash, quick-close offer. Zillow then takes the homes and preps them for market, providing light repairs and a sprucing up with the intent to quickly turn around and sell.

The platform has scaled quickly since launching in Phoenix in 2018, to a point where more than 100,000 homeowners have requested an offer from Zillow to buy their home. The company says it receives a request for an offer every two minutes.

Orlando is the newest market during a time of rapid expansion for the platform. Zillow has set its sights on launching in Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa by the end of the first quarter of 2020.

A local brokerage represents Zillow on both sides of the transaction in each market where Zillow Offers is currently available. Zillow has long declined to disclose the commission it pays in each market, but has said it’s individually negotiated with each brokerage it works with.

The company also provides certain Premier Agent customers with seller leads for homeowners who opt not to take Zillow’s offer.

Email Patrick Kearns

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