Zillow Turns 3!

It was three years ago, February 8, 2006, that we flipped the switch here at Zillow and broadcast to the world that we had: “Free, instant valuations and data for 60,000,0000+ homes” (and you don’t have to enter any personal info and no one will contact you) Actually, our home page accidentally went live a ...

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It was three years ago, February 8, 2006, that we flipped the switch here at Zillow and broadcast to the world that we had:

Free, instant valuations and data for 60,000,0000+ homes
(and you don’t have to enter any personal info and no one will contact you)

birthdayActually, our home page accidentally went live a week earlier. It was a Wednesday afternoon around 1 p.m. when CEO Rich Barton‘s executive assistant, Macy Cross, came running down the hall and informed the team that she noticed the site was live.  Oops! We quickly flipped back to the “we’re coming soon” screen and held our breaths, wondering when the blogs, phones and e-mail would begin to report what they discovered. Thankfully, no one noticed our premature birth (John: were you off that day?) and we proceeded to our designated launch date of Feb. 8.

Fast forward three years and things couldn’t be better. OK, the housing market and economy could be better, but in terms of Zillow’s traffic and viewership, we are tickled. January’s 7.5 million unique users blew all previous numbers out of the water — including December 2008’s record numbers.

Here’s a plateful of stats to show how we’ve grown:

For more stats and progress milestones, please see the Zillow Timeline or check the press room’s facts.

Here are some screenshots to show our progression:

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march-2008

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Many thanks to Jennifer for digging out these screenshots, but mostly, thanks to our 7.5 million monthly users for coming back every day to find homes for sale, look for real estate advice, find a real estate professional or lust after gorgeous kitchens. We appreciate it!