Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Popular online real estate information marketplace Zillow, Inc. has filed with the SEC to raise $52 million in an initial public offering (IPO). Zillow has been growing fast in these turbulent real estate times, offering a simple interface and process to buying and selling property.
Richard Barton and Llloyd Frink, both former Microsoft executives and founders of Expedia, joined forces to create Zillow.com in 2005. The site features a computerized algorithm to calculate appraisal estimates (called Zestimate) and provides home buyers with a wide range of information about properties, including sale price, Zestimate, lot size, bedrooms, baths, year built, description, approximate mortgage payment, estimated rent cost, real estate agent contact information and rating, and much more.
Other features on the site include:
Zillow, Inc. raked in $30.5 million last year ($17.5 in the previous year), and its website currently has data on 100 million homes in the United States. Zillow.com has an Alexa traffic rank of 138 among all U.S. websites. Citi is listed as the sole book-running manager for the IPO, while Allen & Company, Needham & Company, LLC, ThinkEquity LLC, and First Washington Corporation will act as co-managers. Details such as the number of shares in the offering and stock prices have yet to be determined.
