How to Use Zillow to Your Advantage When Selling Your Home Yourself

Most people selling a home have heard of Zillow. It’s the place many people go to when they begin looking at their options. They have a ton of traffic, they are well known, and you can list your home by owner on Zillow for free. Despite not having a solution in place to help a home seller through the entire sale process, listing your home on Zillow by Owner has some huge advantages. If you know what you’re getting yourself into and you have a good strategy, you can capitalize on Zillow’s wide marketing reach. Using Zillow in conjunction with Homepie is the perfect solution. Here’s why…

Zillow has a huge reach. They get over 80 million visits site wide per month! Listing your home on Zillow is sure to get in front of the right eyeballs – buyers looking for homes like yours, in your area. 

There is always a give and take. Zillow allows you to list your home for free which in turn gets you free marketing. But there is a catch you need to be prepared for… Zillow makes most of their money from selling leads to real estate agents and you will be inundated with phone calls from agents trying to get your listing. This is difficult to avoid, however, many sellers feel it’s worth it for the free exposure to buyers. You might get 30-50 calls on day one from agents, so some people choose to filter these calls by using a free Google Voice number.

The limitations. Your contact information is difficult to find in your Zillow listing. Your phone number is near the bottom of your listing and all other contact opportunities before that go to an agent. There is a good chance some potential buyers may only reach you through an agent. Zillow only gets you as far as initial marketing and buyer inquiries. Once you find a buyer, you’re on your own, or you’re subject to the advice of your buyer’s agent who is obviously not on your side.

The solution. Homepie offers a unique sell it yourself experience. Posting your home on Homepie will provide you with everything you need to handle the sale of your home yourself. Potential buyers can contact you directly through our site by clicking on the Chat with Seller button. You will immediately receive an email with that person’s message to you. You can reply through the platform without revealing your personal information unless you choose to. We offer a multitude of free tools including a free listing page with a unique URL specific to your home, unlimited photo and video upload, ID verification, and loan pre-approval. We also offer low cost options for services that can enhance your exposure and help you sell your home successfully.

The close. Once you find your buyer, whether they have an agent or not, you can direct them to your listing on Homepie. There, they can write you an offer and you can negotiate every term just like you would do if you had an agent representing you. Homepie’s system walks you through that process. Once all parties agree, Homepie will generate a bonafide purchase contract. Homepie is completely free up to this point. As an add on service, Homepie will assign you a transaction coordinator to take you the rest of the way through closing. They will open escrow for you, make sure you fill out proper disclosures, and make sure everyone is on track and following their contractual obligations.