The first thing that we noticed about the Zillow website was its functionality. We liked the number of listings that we saw available. The search feature is also easy to use. Site users can do multiple types of searches. It is possible to search by address, state, map, type of home, rental or home purchase, the number of bedrooms in a home, and other search criteria. It also includes a "Make Me Move" price, where customers can see new homes that are just starting to enter the market. Another thing that we liked about the website was the feature that lets users see factors that increase a home's values. Price valuation increases in a home can be projected for a 5- or 10-year timespan. Also, the site lists recent renovations to a home that may also increase its price. We also liked the number of apps available for Zillow. When we looked at apps in the industry, many of the apps were only geared for the iPhone. We saw apps available for the iPad and Google tablets as well. The Zillow app is very flexible to use on the Windows 8.1 phone, a major plus in our opinion, given the Zillow functionality of the MSN Real Estate website. We found that the Zillow "Zestimate" was also accurate. We looked at homes on the website and then checked these prices with real estate websites and other listings. The Zestimate feature allows users to see a price that is projected based on several factors, including prices of homes that are also going in the same search area. Zestimate, however, is not always accurate. One of the problems that we found with "Zestimates" was that the price accuracy varies by location and current offers if buyers are negotiating for the home.

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The Bad

Customer support
Zestimate accuracy

One of the things we noticed right away was the lack of support available for the Zillow website. They don't offer a toll-free number for customers to call in. There is also no live chat app for customers who are looking for information about a particular home. Another problem that we found with Zillow was that the Zestimate and home prices listed on the website was not always accurate. We found that a homeowner who rented had lost income on a property because the property was incorrectly listed as being "in foreclosure." The client asked to receive funds to help compensate for their losses, but Zillow responded by saying that their information is received from third-party sources. We found that the pricing critiques of the website hinged on the following factors:

Some data used to compile the Zillow price estimate can be as old as twenty years and is based on old bank data, public data, and sales transactions.
Only 65% of Zillow's listing stock can be considered "accurate," according to Fortune magazine.
Real estate agents and brokers are more likely to know the most up-to-date and factual information about a home that is listed for sale.

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The Bottom Line

Overall, we would recommend Zillow as a website for listing your home or looking for a new home. Here is what we liked about Zillow's website:

Accurate data, for the most part, that is compiled from trustworthy and up-to-date public sources.
The "Zestimate" price that is listed for homes.
The search functionality of the website.
The ability for site users to ask real estate questions in a public forum.
The map feature and aerial views offered for homes.
Price valuation information for a home that is listed in timespan intervals.
Rental listings that are almost as extensive as sales listings.

We saw a pattern of complaints such as occasional inaccurate price information for a new home. Some landlords lost money due to homes being listed as "in foreclosure" on the website when they were in fact not. Also, we had concerns with some property information on the website, especially bank data, as being as much as two decades old. Even though Zillow gets its information from third-party sources, more supervision of the data is needed to ensure its accuracy.

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User Reviews

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4.4

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518 Reviews

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1 grade

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Brittney Mac Gregor Louisville, KY

I have been using Zillow for a couple of years to monitor houses for sale in areas that I am interested in moving to. Zillow gives a lot of feedback to the users. It let's you know how much the houses are going for, what it was sold for, average statistics and demographics in the area. There are usually pictures listed as well. There is also information on who to get in touch with for properties that you are interested in.

5 years ago

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Deanna Ryde Madison, WI

Zillow Home Loans was wonderful to work with. The process was smooth and quick. They gave us quick responses to questions. The closing was one of the quickest we and our closing company have ever experienced. I would definitely recommend them! As an experienced real estate agent, I have worked with many mortgage companies and this is one of my top picks!

5 years ago

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Sa Bellevue, WA

My wife and I have been using Zillow for about 6 years now, and it has become like part of our family! We’ll typically sit around the dining table after dinner, pour some coffee, and review the properties Zillow has presented to us that week. We’ve made a very handsome profit in the last few years from our property investments—enough to guarantee us a great retirement, with travel options and exploring all the wonderful places in the world we’ve always wanted to see! For us—and often several family members at a time—Zillow has made looking at potential investment properties in the evenings an enjoyable pastime, providing us with details it would take us too much time to research by ourselves. Their info is comprehensive and trustworthy. Six years in, we wouldn’t know what to do without Zillow—thanks guys!

4 years ago

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Frank Herbert Portland, OR

Zillow has been my go-to source for real estate valuations and listings since 2008. I own residential property in Portland and rental property in Seattle and Southern California. Zillow gives me accurate FMV rental estimates and property valuations in all locations. I can also enter my owner's information to fine tune the valuations. I have sold property in Northern Virginia and Southern California and my real estate agents have always listed on Zillow to gain maximum exposure. The listed valuations are accurate based on actual sales prices in the area. Zillow is easy to use and comprehensive in coverage, so I continue to use in all my real estate transactions.

4 years ago

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Wendy Barney Vancouver, WA

Zillow has been fantastic the last two years as we have been wanting to move out of our current state to another area of the US. We want more land and need a home with a mother in law suite for our family needs. Zillow has wonderful filters to narrow down the property searches. There are often great pictures with the properties and Zillow dictates which schools the property is in (including their score comparisons). There is an easy tool to consistently show the time to specific locations for places that you may work. Above all, Zillow is easy and there is an easy way to tell which properties you have already seen and which ones you texted to a friend to see too! Zillow has enabled us to zero into one specific location from three very large areas in the US to potential move locations. Thank you Zillow! We have found where we can afford to live and still get what we want!

4 years ago

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abw fsu Tallahassee, FL

Zillow is easily one of the best website for finding a home! I love how specific the filter and map functions are. I can see EXACTLY where the property is, which leaves little room for doubt or ambiguity. I also like that I can specify whether I am looking to rent or own a home/apartment. I feel like a big misconception is that Zillow is only for grown people who are looking for somewhere to start a family and settle down but this is so wrong! Zillow is great for young people who are starting a new job or phase in their academic career, to find an apartment within their price range without worry of being scammed. Zillow is a great resource!

5 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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Anoushka Ahuja Orlando, FL

It’s very easy to find houses on Zillow especially listings that are not on An actual MLS. You can find listings from pre-foreclosures two for sale by owners. Zillow also gives you Zestimate That sometimes may not be very accurate but overall a very good website to use when looking for houses

4 years ago

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Luke Swierczynski Franklin, MI

Found our current home on zillow, flagged an open house and we placed an offer. There search filters and criteria make is super simple to find what your looking for. Just wish I had noticed the "No HOA" filter before falling in love with our home.

4 years ago Edited November 30, 2021

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JJ Jenkins Phoenix, AZ

Zillow is one of the best companies for buying and selling homes. They keep homes listed even if they are no longer for sale so that you can go back And find out Facts about homes even after they have sold. They give reliable Information and photos for homes in the area that you are looking to buy or sell a home property.

5 years ago

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Eddie Rios Ogden, UT

Zillow is industry leading in search tools in real estate. I found that they had more variables to choose from, more options and more comprehensive search results. I made Zillow my choice tool when I was in the real estate market. I will do so again very soon.

6 years ago

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Tanner Cook Gilbert, AZ

Using Zillow was a great resource for my wife and I, as many listings on there or not on the MLS. Even though we had a realtor, we found the property that we most like through Zillow. When it comes time to rent in a year, will be using Zillow again

7 years ago

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Cassidy Gundersen Orem, UT

Zillow is hands down the best place we have found to look for homes. It is easy to use and find homes and most of the homes have all of the information that you would need to make a decision. Because there are so many users- there are lots of choices. I have never had issues with the app

8 years ago

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Pickgrinder

Zillow came out of nowhere to me. I remember none of the information for housing was available unless it was through MLS. And with that, you had to be a realtor. It's pretty cool to have free access to real estate details and property history. I never used the real estate services they offer, just the details and data they offer. Totally appreciate it Zillow!

4 years ago

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Philadelphia PA Reviewer Philadelphia, PA

Zillow app is very user friendly. Realtors usually respond within 2-24 hrs . The properties are nice and in good shape. Im not bombarded by ads and millions of emails after making an account . They make it where you can submit multiple inquiries without having to type the same i information over and over again. You also have the ability to personalize your messages to owners as well. I always customize. Makes you stand out :)

4 years ago

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Erica Reynolds

We not only found our dream home using Zillow, but we also found our amazing realtor too! Zillow allowed us to search our area for the home that was just right for us. We narrowed down our options with their advanced search options. You can search for homes by number of rooms, price, and amenities. The only downfall would be houses showing up in the app as available when in reality they are no longer available

4 years ago

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Korinne C Riverton, UT

I love Zillow and use it almost daily to see what houses are for sale near me and in other neighborhoods. I love that I can save homes and follow them. There are a few houses that I would be interested in if they ever went up for sale. The only thing I don't like about it is that sometimes I can't see listings in my area when it says there is one available. It just won't show up. But other than that I use it as my go to resource for homes for sale, and for property value info.

4 years ago

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emblair Herriman, UT

You mean you don't get on Zillow every day just to look at dream houses?! In all seriousness though, when we moved across the country Zillow was my lifeline. I was searching for a new home while living out of state, and zillow had all the information I needed to help narrow down decisions to send my realtor, such as school ratings, property taxes, etc. Thanks, Zillow!

4 years ago

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Jennifer Dunlap Kingston, WA

Zillow has multiple listings in our area and allows companies an easy way to display land and houses without having to go to realtor's actual business to get brochure. When my property was listed. Zillow did have it on the map wrong and my realtor had to change it several times. It had my property in the middle of nowhere and so it was not getting viewed often. Once the location was fixed, the property had much more action.

4 years ago

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Maxwell Williams Victorville, CA

My wife and I were looking for a home. Zillow was one of the places we would often visit. They gave such helpful information. Their details about the houses in our area are precise and exact. I love the fact that they provide pictures of the properties. They even offer virtual walkthroughs. They are able to place you with an agent. They are able to provide you with comparable in the area. For someone who is investing in real estate or simply looking for a home, Zillow is a great tool.

4 years ago

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carole abel Palm Coast, FL

just refinanced late last year and was offered a pretty poor appraisal for our home that we bought summer 2020. Was kind of insulted that it appraised so low see we disputed the appraisal's value and used Zillo to prove that our home was worth much more than offered. it showed comparable homes and the fencing that we installed when we bought the house. it made all the difference.

4 years ago

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Shoppingmom7 Cincinnati, OH

Zillow was such a great resource to have during the process of our new home search. The listings we received seemed to fit our search criteria as we were able to customize our searches to exactly what we were looking for which in todays market u had to be "johnny on the spot" & if u see a home listing u even THINK you may want to look at you have to jump right in it....Zillow helped us find our new home!

4 years ago

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Bradley Baer Philadelphia, PA

Overall I love Zillow and appreciate the ease of setting filters and easy boundaries when searching for a property. The only thing I would change would be allowing visitors to cancel or eliminate a property if they've viewed it and are not interested. This could function similarly to the swipe left/swipe right interface many dating sites use. Currently, I find myself reviewing the same property repeatedly, even if I'm not interested. Other than that, a great site!

4 years ago Edited January 5, 2022

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Autumn Lewiston, ID

Zillow was the number one search engine I used when shopping to buy a home. I liked how Zillow shows you information such as the last time the home was sold and important facts and features that every home buyer is looking for. You can easily find out the property tax amount and use all this information to determine if this is the best/ affordable home for you.

4 years ago

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Allison Ager Tallahassee, FL

Zillow is my 'go-to' for listing rental properties. They streamline everything with background/credit check and bring excellent tenants. It's easy to upload your photos and create your listing. They provide great exposure to the market of tenants I'm looking for. The fee is charged weekly, and in my experience, I've only needed to list a rental property for one day!

4 years ago

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Cynthia Landing Forest City, IL

Zillow gives more detail information about the properties, customer service representatives are very professional, realtors takes pride in during a thorough job by starting off finding what exactly the clients interest are, learning what their requirements are, making the buyer feel comfortable, stress free while the realtor takes the position of finding that perfect dream home for the clients

4 years ago Edited January 5, 2022

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Abril Hunter Tallahassee, FL

I like that Zillow offers a tool to filter houses by a variety of characteristics. When I was helping my brother find a home in Oregon, the up-to-date nature of the application was nothing short of helpful. I find that, despite other home search applications, I always find myself returning to Zillow because of its accessibility. I really enjoy the emails about changes in the market price of homes, it really keeps me in the know.

5 years ago

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Taylor Hall Los Angeles, CA

Zillow found my husband and I had a little house of our dreams. It is so easy to use and so clear! You can search by whatever characteristic you’d like. My favorite feature is the map search, which lets you search for homes based on their location. The pictures are always great quality and the realtors and sellers are easy to contact. Response time is wonderful!

5 years ago

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daphjohnson Saratoga Springs, UT

Zillow provides a fast and easy way to look at the housing market. Some of my favorite features about zillow are the market summaries and details. I also like being able to look up house price estimates as I am driving by. This helps me feel informed in real time. I use this app a lot because of that. I also found my first home through Zillow so I am forever grateful for the app.

5 years ago

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Morgan Knight Salt Lake City, UT

This past summer we were in the middle of the craziest housing market, thankfully we had Zillow! We were on Zillow all day everyday looking at neighborhoods and using the zestimate as a good reference pint in areas we were not super familiar with! Zillow was a key component of finding our home! I also used Zillow to rent our unit on our rental property and it is amazing! I love how they have an application all ready for you to use and how easy they make the process in communicating with potential applicants.

5 years ago

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Terin Layton, UT

We have been using Zillow a lot recently since we are buying a home. Zillow is a great resource for a home buyer because their website has so much information! Each listing tells us everything we need to know about the home, the property, the community, etc. You can often times read what the seller loves about the home, that’s one of my favorite parts. I would highly recommend Zillow!

5 years ago

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Nashali Vescovacci Fort White, FL

This is a great company to use for property searching. The website is very easy to manage and is very detailed which is helpful for house hunting. This is one of the best companies compared to their competitors.

4 years ago

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David Stickles West Jordan, UT

Great for looking to buy or rent property. As one of the bigger platforms you can truly see a large percentage of the available properties in an area with a great range of filters.

5 years ago

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courtney tennant Salem, VA

Zillow has a very convenient way to filter homes or whatever else you are looking for. I wish they would update the app a little bit more, but other than that, it is amazing & I look through it all of the time.

5 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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Michelle Burke Folcroft, PA

I was connected with Megan J while looking to buy a starter home. She was SO knowledgable and patient with my THOUSANDS of questions as I was a first time buyer. I couldn't recommend Megan and Zillow enough.

5 years ago

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Fred Frontino Mesa, AZ

I've used Zillow for years to find several rental houses and then I found my permanent house I bought last year. I also use it for my work when I need to take a quick look at a property. I am very pleased with there service.

5 years ago

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Brooklyn Bishop Smithfield, UT

Zillow is a great way to look for houses in the area you want. You can type in the area and it will show all the houses available in that area. It gives prices and has very high quality pictures of the houses.

5 years ago

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Beverly Schacher Long Beach, MS

I love the Zillow app. It is easy to use and easy to filter out only the types of properties you are interested in. I like how it gives additional information about sales history, HOA fees, mortgage payments, schools, etc.

6 years ago

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Brittany Wilkinson Herriman, UT

I work in insurance and I use Zillow's website frequently. It is full of useful information. There site is easy to read and full of important home details and information. It is easy to navigate.

6 years ago

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Jacinda E Sandy, UT

It is a fun app to look at the kind of house one would like. My husband and I are in the market and we have enjoyed being able to select an area and a price then look at different homes.

8 years ago

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Cindy Meens Houston, TX

The best place hands down to find a home! User friendly, useable filters, complete listings. If you’ve bought or sold a home before you can skip the extra realtor, see what you like and save money. Forget realtor sites. All you need is an address to get info and see pictures on something you found while out driving.

4 years ago

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Judy Fred Narragansett, RI

Zillow is my "go to" to check on properties and neighborhoods. As an Attorney, I often need to get quick accurate values on local properties. I have a Zillow bookmark pinned to my toolbar! The information they provide is invaluable, and I often recommend the site to my clients.

4 years ago

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KW Seattle, WA

Zillow makes house hunting easy. I love how the map works... it's easy to narrow your search down by price, home type, features, etc. so you're not sifting through homes that aren't what you're looking for. It's also easy to keep track of your home's value and how much nearby homes are selling for.

4 years ago

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Queen Shavy Miami Beach, FL

Zillow is great to find properties and is very useful to research information on any location. The website is very user friendly and I am able to search in any area location size which is great. The feature to save and compare properties is helpful when searching different areas

4 years ago Edited April 6, 2022

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Marlen Peek Woodridge, IL

I use Zillow daily as a Real Estate investor. It is a quick way to review homes and locations prior to physically requesting a tour. I also use Zillow to post houses for rent from my portfolio. It's a great site that is used by many.

4 years ago

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Sharon Ernest Cedar City, UT

I love Zillow. Selling and buying homes, I like to read their comps and valuations. They always have great pictures. Only complaint is their listings get really outdated. I bought my house a year and 6mos. ago and they still have the pictures posted. Also homes are usually long gone by the time I see them.

4 years ago

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Phalda Morris Jacksonville, FL

Zillow makes it easy to search for houses. They can filter homes by price and area, which helps you be able make a choice that best fits you and/or your family. They have many houses on their websites for all kinds of tastes.

4 years ago

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Emily Swierczynski Waterford, MI

My husband and I found our home on zillow without a realtor. Went to an open house and ended up putting an offer in and negotiating with the sellers agent to cut the cost of the home by the 3% the buyers agent generally takes. Got a great deal and wouldn't of ever found the home without zillow

4 years ago

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Cathy Lee Gettysburg, PA

The Zillow site is so easy to use! I love that you can search by a specific address and see the pictures of the house BEFORE you decide whether or not to spend the time with a showing. With the mobile app, you can do it on the fly!

4 years ago

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Wendy Shaw Queens, NY

Great app with easy to use tools. Browse thousands of properties in your desired area right from home. Exceptional customer service. New listings updated frequently. For someone with limited online experience, like myself, it was very easy to navigate. Would recommend to friends and family.

4 years ago

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HO1 Charles Town, WV

When I was in the market to buy a home I used Zillow to find homes in my target areas, and to research information about past sales, neighborhoods, crime, schools, etc. It was very easy to use. Now I use Zillow all the time to keep track of my home value, and to stay abreast of houses for sale in my area.

4 years ago