As I wrote about just a couple of weeks ago, Zillow and other online players have an opportunity to do something incredibly different as the national/local problem begs to be resolved. With the new Zillow announcement regarding mortgage connections, the network gets closer to realization of true partnerships. I believe, and I might be wrong, that Zillow is testing the waters — mortgages are a safer micro-experiment. It’s not that Zillow is creating tough criteria and selecting the best to recommend, but they are establishing criteria.
A couple of more steps and you might have something like this:
Zillow announces today it’s new Zeelocation Program. What Zillow will be doing is inviting RE professionals from around the country to join a partnership in an attempt to strengthen its online efforts to provide consumers with cutting-edge home searching experiences, and begin solving the problems of localism, personalization and context.
What does this mean? Well, the main home search experience for consumers will be unchanged. Home shoppers and home sellers still have free access to listings and all the useful functions Zillow has to offer. However, for those home-buyers who are more seriously and immediately looking for a home and who want reliable local information, Zillow will be creating what is called The Zeelocation Program. Consumers will pay a $15.00 monthly subscription fee for access to a list of RE professionals in the area of the consumer’s interest. These professionals have been vetted by Zillow and meet strict requirements for inclusion in the program. RE brokers, Mortgage brokers, RE attorneys, inspectors, etc. from all areas of country, after meeting the criteria for acceptance, and after paying the yearly fee that Zillow charges for acceptance, will be local partners with Zillow and will be offered to consumers who have subscribed to the program.
RE professionals will be required to follow strict guidelines dealing with consumers in the Zeelocation program – for instance, all forms of spamming are a violation of the program’s guideline and can cause the RE pro to be dropped from the program. Consumers who subscribe to the program will be given a list of local RE pros along with contact information and website addresses. Consumers can then search through these vetted professionals and from their websites and resumes pick the ones they think will be a good match.
Other parts of the guidelines the RE pros have to follow are quick response, followup, quality information and consistent performance. Any RE pros reported for failing to follow these guidelines will be given a warning by Zillow and the second time they will be dropped from the program if the consumer’s complaints are valid.
I know this brings up a thousand questions of how it would work, but I foresee something like this taking place, if not with Zillow, then with another RE company. Like, what would be the criteria for acceptance into the program? Will the criteria be strict or a facade to get as many professional in as possible. I foresee the successful implementation of something like this built on real, strict criteria. If it is real and gains consumer trust, it would be like a seal of approval for consumer protection. However the company implementing this would have to be mindful of litigation issues and it would have to be clearly stated that the company is not responsible and is only verifying the pros have met the criteria for acceptance.
Could this happen? Yes, it could. Is it likely? Probably not any time soon. But who knows?
Mike Farmer says:
I forgot to credit Greg with the litigation concerns.
March 7, 2008 — 1:14 pm