05 Nov Zillow Offers Free Information on Formerly Invisible Properties
Up until recently, home buyers were unable to find information about pre-foreclosure and foreclosure properties online. Now, Zillow will help the reported 55% of home buyers who are interested in purchasing a foreclosure by making 1.2 million pre-foreclosure and foreclosed properties available at no cost. According to Zillow, these homes are not yet listed and have yet to appear on any Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
Zillow says their efforts will make information available to all home shoppers that only certain investors had before. CEO Spencer Rascoff notes, “For the first time, home shoppers are able to see the entire scope of housing inventory in their area, both pre-market and for-sale, side by side. This is another tremendous step forward in consumer empowerment.”
Pre-market inventory includes pre-foreclosure properties, which are homes that have begun the foreclosure process or have been scheduled for auction. According to Zillow, there are currently about 1 million of these properties, and they also have 260,000 unlisted foreclosure properties. Zillow will include its own estimate of the home’s foreclosure sales price, which will include a percentage and dollar discount based on the FMV (fair market value). Other foreclosure details will include the foreclosure timeline, unpaid balance, and the lender, and will be available to those who sign-in.