To all the agents in the house,
Maybe it's the sun or their exercise regimes, but Los Angeles luxury real estate agents are an optimistic bunch.
This time last year — when the housing market's impending rebound was far from clear — agents told me it was a good thing pandemic measures banned open houses, and limited physical home showings to one-on-one meetings scheduled in advance.
"It gets rid of the looky-loos," Beverly Hills agent Rayni Williams said at the time, those who couldn't afford a Bel Air mansion but get a kick looking at one.
But nationally a new group of looky-loos has emerged, at least virtually on Zillow.
Omnis Panels, a Naperville, Illinois company, surveyed 1,450 American potential homebuyers this April about Zillow, which has reported billions of website visitors a year.
They found people use Zillow in a habitual way, like its Instagram or Twitter. Sixty percent of respondents look at Zillow before going to bed. Another 26% peruse Zillow when they wake up.
Sixty-eight percent find Zillow "therapeutic and soothing." And in an evident nod to a Saturday Night Live parody, 26% "Have chosen to Zillow surf over intimacy or sex."
Sounds great, right?
Wrong. These people are looky-loos. Over 80% surveyed, "Have searched for homes without the intention of buying."
Most vexing, perhaps, for an agent — and the thousands of agents who pay hundreds of dollars a month to be "Zillow Premier Agents" — 45% of respondents have taken an in-person tour with no intention of buying.
Since so many OpenHouse readers have noted they are current or former Premier Agents, I want to know: Is there a problem with false leads on Zillow? And, how much time do you waste with looky loos?
I realize the market right now has no shortage of serious buyers, but is this a potential problem going forward? Agents, are you wasting even more time calling home buying-voyeurs than you did in the past chit-chatting with them at an open house?
Let me know! Email me anonymously at mblake@housingwire.com. And thanks for all the thoughtful input on appraisers. I'll return to that in the coming weeks.
Sincerely,
Matthew Blake
Senior Real Estate Reporter
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