In a bid to attract more listings, tech-focused brokerage and referral firm ZipRealty Inc. has launched a “Seller Center” that provides property value estimates and a tool for identifying comparable sales, and offers to connect sellers to an agent who can help them refine their asking price and develop a marketing strategy.
“Our new Seller Center brings together the many components that are essential in the home-selling process all in one place,” said ZipRealty CEO Lanny Baker in a statement.
“ZipQuote” property value estimates come from four sources — Zillow, eppraisal.com, HomeGain and ResPrice.com, the last of which is exclusive to ZipRealty. ResPrice.com uses historical sales, price trends and property characteristics to generate an estimate.
The center’s interactive pricing tool helps consumers research recently sold comparable homes in their area. Like a similar tool released by ZipRealty competitor Redfin in March, ZipRealty’s allows users to create a filter that surfaces recently sold comparable homes. Users can then manually select a handful of comparables to generate a valuation.
According to its most recent annual report to investors, buyers made up 85 percent of ZipRealty’s closed transactions in 2012. Baker has said the company is working to attract more listings.
