Zillow is officially buying homes again in five more markets, the company announced Wednesday. The home buying aspect of the company’s iBuyer business is returning to Portland, Oregon; Nashville, Tennessee; and Denver, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Jeremy Wacksman | Photo credit: Zillow
“We know that people still want to move, and Zillow Offers is a way for them to do so safely and easily,” Zillow President Jeremy Wacksman said in a statement. “With Zillow Offers, homeowners can sell their home without showings or open houses and can close digitally.”
The company announced last week it was returning to homebuying in Arizona and North Carolina, after suspending homebuying for nearly two months due to health and safety concerns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company returned to homebuying in those markets with Regina Benjamin, the former surgeon general of the United States, consulting with the Seattle-based real estate technology company on new, ever-evolving safety protocols.
Those protocols include only one home visit, as opposed to three and all Zillow employees being required to pass a health and safety test after each visit, including a temperature check. The company also launched formal requirements around protective equipment.
“For Zillow-owned homes, we’ve rolled out new health and safety measures so buyers can feel confident during an in-person tour,” Wacksman added. “We also provide a virtual tour option through our 3D Home feature. We are committed to helping people find and move into a home they love.”
The return of Zillow Offers to these five markets comes amid a backdrop of increasing wholesale activity. Zillow’s own data shows that stay-at-home orders have prompted people to want to move so the company is ramping Zillow Offers back up to meet demand.
The company plans to roll the homebuying side of Zillow Offers back to all 24 markets on a rolling basis, as more states relax stay-at-home regulations.
