Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Zillow is acquiring a company called ShowingTime that offers a platform for scheduling physical home tours so people can go to see a home they’re interested in at a time that’s most convenient all from the showingtime mobile app.
Zillow said it’s buying ShowingTime for $500 million and will use the company’s technology to make it easier for people to request tours through the Zillow website and app.
ShowingTime has a network of nearly one million agents across North America and has developed relationships with hundreds of Multiple Listing Services (MLSs), Zillow said.
ShowingTime enables real estate agents to post their listings' availability for showings so that agents who represent buyers can schedule home tours online with minimal clicks from their mobile device. Buyers can also use the site to schedule a tour for themselves, without the need for an agent.
"We have been impressed with ShowingTime's ability to simplify a cumbersome but critical part of the home shopping experience by integrating with MLSs, agents, and brokers, and giving buyers' agents an easier way to schedule showings with listing agents," said Errol Samuelson, chief industry development officer at Zillow. "ShowingTime will remain an open platform available to all industry participants. We expect to grow ShowingTime's ability to share listing activity and engagement through all channels to ensure touring is easier for the industry and consumers."
Zillow has been steadily advancing its focus on home tours, residential real estate, and associated services. In May, it launched a new service called Zillow Offers, through which it actually buys people’s homes itself, before selling them on at a profit. The company also provides a virtual home tour service for buyers, which has seen enormous uptake since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Zillow announced its acquiring ShowingTime as it posted its fourth quarter results. The company reported strong earnings, with a net income of $46 million on revenue of $789 million.
More importantly, perhaps is Zillow’s platform growth. The company said traffic on its mobile apps and websites grew to a Q4 record of 201 million average unique visitors, up 16% from a year ago. Its mobile apps and sites were visited 2.2 billion times in the quarter, up 27% from one year ago. For the full year it saw more than 9.6 billion visits, up 19%.
This buy out, has me beyond angry, on so many levels!
I’ve been a Realtor since 2004. I’ve watched through the inception of Zillow and seen the misinformation they display- Talk about Predatory! I saw the writing on the wall many years ago! GREED is how its read!
The worst part is all the agents that have paid into this conglomerate to make a buck- they’ve fed the monster. Do I feel threatened, I do. Should a homeowner? Absolutely! Who is vetting the potential buyer as they ‘make an appointment’ to preview a home? Has the buyer been pre approved for a mortgage!? Or is this just a list your property with us and we’ll let buyer’s walk through your house Mr Seller. Cuz, hey, the buyer made an appointment?!!
I hope NAR wakes up! I hope our Multiple Listing Services, Wake Up! 1.7m agents across this country pay your dues.-
Its time to protect your members lively hoods!!!