Real Estate Agent and Brokerage Blogs

Whether you love Zillow or love to hate Zillow, there is no denying that consumers cant get enough of it. Truth is, I have been known to check my own house value and other properties in Cape Coral frequently. I love all the comparison, property mapping and valuation tools. Is the data always accurate? Absolutely not. In fact, not only does Zillow over-value my home, according to Zillow we live in the middle of a canal! So, whats the big fuss over the Zillow API and how can it benefit your website?
 
Zillow is a Web 2.0 technology called a "mashup." Mashups are the next generation of website usage. A mashup is a website or web application that uses content from more than one source to create a completely new service. Much the way blogs are revolutionizing online publishing, mashups are revolutionizing web development. In real estate this might contain: listings served from an MLS; maps of the listing; an AVM model to demonstrate the value of a particular property; public records data for additional info on a property; news services; or market statistics and data. The real value will be in the simplicity of its use.

Zillow API

While the Zillow functionality is currently only available on the Zillow site itself and a select group of approved Zillow developers, however, Zillow is set to release its API for open distribution across the web very soon. The first incarnation of the API feature set will include the majority of information that can be found on Zillow.com including Zestimates, Zindex info, charts, comparable sales (including sales date and price), beds/baths and other data.

I am currently working with this API and like the utility it provides for my clients.  However, in a recent conversation with Zillow, I was given a sneak preview of their next release candidate.  WOW!  You wont believe what this thing will allow you to do.  For example, they will be storing more MLS type data like the number of bedrooms and baths.  You will also have access to the heat maps which by any standard are super cool.

As a developer, I think in terms of how I can personalize these features and use them to their best advantage on a Realtors website. 

What is an open API?

In business terms, Zillows open API will allow a third party Web site to recreate a lot of Zillows functionality on their domain. In technical terms, API stands for Application Programming Interface and allows two computer systems to talk with each other in a common language.

What does this mean?

Although there are more than one million local individual agent, brokerage and realtor websites in the US alone, a small percentage of large national site see the majority of the web traffic. That being said, buyers and sellers engage with real estate professionals on a local level. What the Zillow API will do is allow the local individual agent to enhance their own sites with the type of relevant, "sticky" content that drives measurable traffic and sales for their site. You will be able to augment your user MLS searches with property maps, valuation estimate comparisons, public records and market trend evaluations. Your site will become a customizable, easy to use, one stop home shop that offers your clients all the information they need to find and select a property.

Best uses of the Zillow API on your website or blog:

Buyers

• Automatically pull Zindex, Zestimate and Comparable homes with each featured listing and MLS search on a Realtors website to offer the user a one stop shop for all the information about the homes in your selling area.   Click here for an example.
• Plot the comparable homes (from the Zillow pull) around a listing on a Google or Yahoo! Map (I am really partial to using Yahoo! maps (more about that later)) for a complete overview of the competitive landscape. Click here for an example.
• Offer another search tool you could call market trends which would pull back the graphical data for their area so they could see how the market is affecting the area in which they are considering buying.

Sellers

• Use the Zestimate or comparable homes feature in a lead capture tool.  Lets say you offer free CMAs, what if your site offered a lead capture tool that gave a an instant Zestimate then said you would be contacting the visitor within 24-48 hours with an accurate professional CMA.  Because people like "instant" they will be more likely to leave you their information.  While some Realtors are very wary of the Zillow feature of this tool (and rightfully so- due to the data inaccuracies), our Realtors that use a tool like this experience a 36% increase in lead generation over those that use only the CMA tool without the Zillow integration.
• Offer a property search tool where a seller would enter their address and a Zillow pull would display the Zindex, Zestimate and comparable home listings along with a map plated with all of the comparable homes. 
• Offer another search tool you could call market trends which would pull back the graphical data for their area so they could see how the market is affecting their home and the homes around them.

How would you like to see the Zillow API used on your website?

Hey, if you can think of something you would love to see the Zillow API do on your site, let me know.  I love a challenge and am always looking for new ways to build a better real estate website.