Zestimate and ‘Zillow Surfing’ featured on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt & Today
Zillow Group CEO Rich Barton appeared on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt on Friday to discuss the latest way Zillow is using technology to simplify buying and selling a home: making the Zestimate an initial cash offer on qualifying homes in 23 markets.
“Peeking at Zillow’s Zestimates can be intoxicating whether you’re buying, selling, or just nosy,” NBC’s Vicky Nguyen said in her setup for the story. She reported that Zillow uses data from public records, feeds from multiple listing services and brokerages, as well as AI, to inform the Zestimate.
“It’s for people who want a fair price for their homes and a really convenient, hassle-free transaction,” Rich Barton explained in the segment. NBC reports that Zillow’s fees are 6% on average and questions whether sellers make less money when selling their home to Zillow– Barton, responds “our data shows they make almost exactly the same money.”
A real estate agent who was interviewed for the segment called Zillow’s new offering “a good platform for people that need a quick sale.” Reporter Vicky Nguyen added that it can be “convenient and even allow you to set your own closing date.”
The next morning, Today talked about the rise of ‘Zillow Surfing’ — the new trend where people scroll, or “surf”, Zillow while dreaming of moving.
The segment gave a nod to the notable SNL Sketch from earlier in February, declaring the viral video hit “a little bit too close to home” for some people. NBC’s Sarah Harman reported that traffic on Zillow skyrocketed during the pandemic as a result of millennials ‘couch surfing Zillow’, dreaming of their next move. Zillow’s Amanda Pendleton was interviewed, confirming that Zillow had 9.6 billion visits to its app and website last year, 1.5 billion visits more than 2019.
Today hosts wrapped the segment by confessing that they are guilty of “compulsive Zillow scrolling” themselves.