Zillow Offers is officially live in South Florida, with plans to eventually move outside the traditional buyer parameters of iBuyers and start buying condos. Starting Monday, sellers in Fort Lauderdale, Miami and other parts of South Florida can get a free, all-cash offer from Zillow.
“We’re on a mission to transform real estate by creating a seamless experience through Zillow Offers – no more open houses or worrying about when your home will sell,” Zillow Brand President Jeremy Wacksman said in a statement. “Since we launched Zillow Offers a year ago, the response has been incredible, and we’re excited to bring Zillow Offers to homeowners in South Florida’s tri-county region who are looking for a stress-free way to sell their homes.”
Jeremy Wacksman | Photo credit: Zillow
Zillow Offers originally launched in April 2018 and has since grown into a nearly $250 million revenue business. The company, in the second quarter of 2018, sold 786 homes – nearly twice as many as the first quarter – and purchased 1,535 homes, an increase of 71 percent.
More than 170,000 homeowners have requested an offer through the program. There’s no doubt that it’s scaling quickly – it’s live in 16 markets and will be in 26 in 2020.
Despite the quick scaling, Zillow is still losing money on each home it buys and subsequently sells, on average. However, that number is trending in a positive direction.
In South Florida, Zillow has tapped Laurie Finkelstein Reader Real Estate to act as its listing and buyers’ agent. The company will also provide local Premier Agent customers with seller leads if the homeowners opt not to take Zillow’s offer.
Zillow is the first iBuyer to offer instant buying services in the tri-county area. Other competitors are in Florida, but focused more on Orlando and Tampa.
And while iBuyers typically have pretty strict buy parameters, Zillow plans to eventually expand that box to more homes and even condos.
