Zillow Wants To Make You An Offer
Bloomberg Businessweek|February 18, 2019

Known for price gawking, the real estate app plans to buy homes by the thousands.

Patrick Clark
Zillow Wants To Make You An Offer

With its tan stucco exterior and red tile roof, the Rittenhouse home on South Star Canyon Drive looks a lot like the other houses in Power Ranch, a large planned community southeast of Phoenix.

Mark, a meat buyer for a grocery chain, and Anne, a nurse, bought the house for $293,000 in 2010 during the U.S. foreclosure crisis, which hit the Phoenix area particularly hard. At the time, local home prices were down about 50 percent from their peak in 2006. By late last year the market had recovered, and Mark and Anne were thinking about moving on.

They still liked Power Ranch, which had good schools and a network of parks and hiking trails where they walked their golden retriever. But a quirk in the 3,000-square-foot home’s layout was grating. The kids’ rooms were the size of typical master bedrooms, and the master was even bigger. But the living room was the only usable common space, a vexing issue when the family’s two boys brought friends over. Mark suggested they could throw up a couple of walls and create a teenage quarantine zone. Anne shot him down. They needed a new place— fast. So they went house hunting.

To buy a new home, the Rittenhouse would have to sell their old one. They started pricing repairs and debated whether it made more sense to sell first and move into a temporary rental, or if they should try to manage two transactions at once. Then they met a buyer willing to pay cash, who wasn’t hung up on the big bedrooms or a little bit of dog damage. Their dream buyer? An algorithm.

この記事は Bloomberg Businessweek の February 18, 2019 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は Bloomberg Businessweek の February 18, 2019 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEKのその他の記事すべて表示
Instagram's Founders Say It's Time for a New Social App
Bloomberg Businessweek US

Instagram's Founders Say It's Time for a New Social App

The rise of AI and the fall of Twitter could create opportunities for upstarts

time-read
4 分  |
March 13, 2023
Running in Circles
Bloomberg Businessweek US

Running in Circles

A subscription running shoe program aims to fight footwear waste

time-read
3 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
What I Learned Working at a Hawaiien Mega-Resort
Bloomberg Businessweek US

What I Learned Working at a Hawaiien Mega-Resort

Nine wild secrets from the staff at Turtle Bay, who have to manage everyone from haughty honeymooners to go-go-dancing golfers.

time-read
10 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
How Noma Will Blossom In Kyoto
Bloomberg Businessweek US

How Noma Will Blossom In Kyoto

The best restaurant in the world just began its second pop-up in Japan. Here's what's cooking

time-read
3 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
The Last-Mover Problem
Bloomberg Businessweek US

The Last-Mover Problem

A startup called Sennder is trying to bring an extremely tech-resistant industry into the age of apps

time-read
10+ 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
Tick Tock, TikTok
Bloomberg Businessweek US

Tick Tock, TikTok

The US thinks the Chinese-owned social media app is a major national security risk. TikTok is running out of ways to avoid a ban

time-read
10+ 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
Cleaner Clothing Dye, Made From Bacteria
Bloomberg Businessweek US

Cleaner Clothing Dye, Made From Bacteria

A UK company produces colors with less water than conventional methods and no toxic chemicals

time-read
3 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
Pumping Heat in Hamburg
Bloomberg Businessweek US

Pumping Heat in Hamburg

The German port city plans to store hot water underground and bring it up to heat homes in the winter

time-read
3 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
Sustainability: Calamari's Climate Edge
Bloomberg Businessweek US

Sustainability: Calamari's Climate Edge

Squid's ability to flourish in warmer waters makes it fitting for a diet for the changing environment

time-read
4 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023
New Money, New Problems
Bloomberg Businessweek US

New Money, New Problems

In Naples, an influx of wealthy is displacing out-of-towners lower-income workers

time-read
4 分  |
March 20 - 27, 2023