Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Smart Home
  3. News

Zillow’s new online tools are going to make apartment hunting much easier

By

An aggressive new move by real estate database giant Zillow aims to streamline the process by which millions of people find housing by integrating rental application functions into its most popular apps. The new tools will allow people looking to rent houses or apartments to complete a rental application and file background and credit checks on the fly, under the umbrella of a single application fee.

The new tools, which will also enable renters to pay their rent directly to Zillow, could potentially disrupt the multi-billion secondary services market for companies that process the rental application market and rent payments. But Zillow says it’s simply responding to the majority of renters it recently surveyed for the upcoming 2018 Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report. The new survey found that most apartment dwellers have less than three months to find housing, so streamlining the process could be a huge improvement.

Recommended Videos

“Renters tell us they want the entire rental process to happen online, from search to application to payment,” Zillow President Jeremy Wacksman said in a statement. “However, most landlords don’t have the resources to offer these services. We’re excited to provide the technology to help renters and landlords have a better experience.”

Related

The tools will allow renters to engage with potential landlords through three of its most popular sites, Zillow, Trulia, and HotPads, to apply for multiple apartments through one all-encompassing application for a flat fee of $29, allowing users to send applications to as many properties that they want (that accept Zillow’s application structure) during a 30-day period. That’s a pretty dramatic shift for a rental market that is typically forced to pay application and background check fees of $50 to $100 per property, usually three or four times in a given search period. One real estate market that misses out on the new bells and whistles for the moment is New York City, where Zillow’s StreetEasy platform is popular with those seeking housing in a dense urban center.

Zillow hasn’t built all the functions of its new toolbox from scratch, though. The real estate giant partnered with Checkr to handle background checks and eviction histories as well as Experian to process credit reports. Zillow will also accept rental payments directly from tenants, passing on those potential billions of dollars back to landlords via the existing Zillow Rental Manager. Zillow says it isn’t charging landlords for any of these new services.

It’s a massive move into the property management services market for Zillow and follows hot on the heels of the launch of Zillow Offers, a new prototype service recently opened in Denver that allows home seekers to make cash offers for homes. The service is also currently available in the real estate hotspots Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Atlanta.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Clayton Moore
Clayton Moore
Contributor
Clayton Moore’s interest in technology is deeply rooted in the work of writers like Warren Ellis, Cory Doctorow and Neal…
Fallout 76 Patch 11 will make it easier for new players to survive the Wasteland
Raiders in Fallout 7 fighting near fire.

The next patch for Fallout 76, which is expected to roll out in mid-July, will include updates to make it easier for new and low-level characters to survive the Wasteland.

In an Inside the Vault blog post, Bethesda previewed the contents of Patch 11. One of the highlights is the planned adjustments for a more gradual introduction of mechanics and challenges to players who are just starting out with the game.

Read more
Samsung’s new A.I. software makes generating fake videos even easier
samsung ai deepfake videos software

Few-Shot Adversarial Learning of Realistic Neural Talking Head Models

A.I. is getting better and better at producing fake videos, for everything from amusingly adding Nicholas Cage into movies to maliciously spreading fake news. Now Samsung has developed software which makes creating fake videos even easier.

Read more
Flash deal gets you an Amazon Echo Pop for $20 — that’s 50% off
The Echo Pop sitting on a countertop.

If you've always wanted easy access to Amazon's Alexa across your home but you're not willing to spend hundreds of dollars on Amazon Echo deals to equip several rooms with a smart speaker, then don't miss this chance to get the Amazon Echo Pop for only $20. A limited-time deal from Amazon has slashed the device's price with a $20 discount on its original price of $40, so you'll be able to afford to buy multiple. You're going to have to hurry though, as it may be back to its regular price as soon as tomorrow.

Why you should buy the Amazon Echo Pop
The Amazon Echo Pop isn't going to challenge the performance of the Amazon Echo Studio nor match the 360-degree sound of the Amazon Echo Dot, but it's a great way to access Alexa without spending a lot of money, according to our guide on which Amazon Echo should you buy. It's very compact so you'll be able to easily find a spot for it within any room, and while its front-facing design is a bit limiting, it's a minor trade-off especially if you're planning to place it in a small area.

Read more