Bizarro Zillow: How to List a Home Without a Zestimate: The Tale of Two Pages

It is possible for 1 home to have 2 separate home detail pages on Zillow, one with listing information and no zestimate, one with a zestimate but no listing information. Really? Yup.

How is that possible? Which detail page will a buyer land on? Which page is more valuable to a buyer? Are the 2 pages connected in some way? Is this any benefit/loss to the listing broker who sends a feed? Curious? Read on– but be prepared, you are about to enter Bizarro Zillow.

How I Stumbled Into Bizarro Zillow

In a recent post, I am Curious Zillow, I explained how I did a zip code search on Zillow and discovered homes with undisclosed addresses displayed without zestimates. I wondered:

1. Was Zillow allowing homes to be listed for sale by owners without addresses, thereby frustrating the attachment of a zestimate to that home (no address=no public data= no zestimate).

2. Whether a broker feed with addresses undisclosed was a work-around for eliminating the zestimate attached to the home — a self-made opt-out? A secret door out of Zillowland?

The answer to question 1 was never revealed (my guess is no, because it would frustrate the zestimate machinery). Update: Since an owner can list on Zillow manually and leave off the street number (I typed “Main Street” and did not get an error message) it may be possible to get a second page too, also without a zestimate. (David G will let us know if that’s true.)

Two Listings For the Price Of One

The answer to question 2 was curious, perhaps bizarre. Yes and no. Apparently, 1 home can have 2 detail pages– one with listing info and no zestimate and another with a zestimate but no listing information . I’ll let David G explain how that’s possible:

When we get a listing in a feed, for which it is specified that the address may not be displayed, we create a second detail page for the home with only the listing information. The home does still have its normal home detail page on Zillow, there’s just no listing details on it. (emphasis added)

So there you have it: 1 home, 2 detail pages— one with listing info (broker feed), one without listing info (normal (?) Zillow page). Bizarro.

As I said earlier, it may be possible for an owner to get a second page on Zillow without a zestimate by manually listing a home for sale and leaving out the house number (just enter “Main Street).

Other Oddities in Bizarro Zillow

Yes, I know you have questions.

1. Which home detail page will a buyer land on?

Not sure. I landed on the broker feed listing via a zip code search, which I entered in Zillow.com’s home page required box. David G says these pages are not usually found. I quote Mr. G:

These listing pages are not found by many buyers relative to those that have addresses because most buyers use our mapped search results to browse for listings. (emphasis added)

How can that statement be true? The home page has 2 boxes. The state, city & zip code box is required and the the address box is optional. Logic says the required box is filled out more than the optional address box. But, hey, anything is possible in Bizarro Zillow. I asked David if he had data to back up his statement that “most buyers use our mapped search results to browse for listings“, but he hasn’t responded. Mapped search is the most common way to search on Zillow? Are you serious? Oh wait, I’m in Bizarro Zillow.

which box gets more?

2. Which page is more valuable to a buyer?

That’s a tough one. The detail page that comes from the broker has valuable listing information. The normal Zillow page has the zestimate which many might think is valuable as well– but that page does not have listing information. As a buyer, I’d say: “Show me both pages”. Transparency, the Zillow mantra, says show the buyer both.

3. Are the 2 home detail pages connected?

In Bizarro Zillow there appears to be no way to link to the Zillow page from the broker listing page and vice versa — so the buyer does not see both pages and transparency be damned. A link between the 2 pages would seem like a good solution–a buyer would see both the listing info and the zestimate. Do you think linking the 2 pages is a good idea David G? (I’m trying be constructive here)

Benefits of Bizarro Zillow : A Second Home Detail Page & Access to More Buyers

4. Is there an advantage or disadvantage to the listing broker in Bizarro Zillow?

IMO it’s a definite advantage to the listing broker to be in Bizarro Zillow. Here’s why: By sending in a feed without addresses you, in effect, get an EXTRA PAGE on Zillow.com for each house without an address: Those extra pages contains your listing information and NO zestimates. Not a bad, deal, I’d say, especially if you, or your client, don’t want zestimates on your listings.

And there’s another benefit: Access to more buyers. So, whether a buyer browses for listings as David G says most do, via mapped or address search– and goes to the Zillow page— or searches the way many others do (as I did, via zip code)– and goes to your feed listing with your listing info and no annoying zestimate— the home can be found by all buyers, regardless how they search on Zillow.com.

Update: I see all these added benefits by leaving out the house number on a listing:

1. the ability to have a second page for the home on Zillow.com
2. the ability to add listing data (which the normal Zillow page lacks)
3. the ability to reach all buyers on Zillow, regardless of how they search
4. choice to avoid displaying an inaccurate zestimate which might turn away buyers.
5. ability to STILL APPEAR ON THE MAP browse

Creating Your Own Zestimate Opt-Out Via Your Feed

If brokers send feeds to Zillow without addresses that second detail page will NOT have a zestimate. This is may be preferable in those cases where the zestimate is really bizarre and you think buyers will be turned away from the listing. It’s as close to an opt-out as you can get right now. (Of course, folks who find the Zillow page will see the zestimate.)

Note: If you think you want to keep the street address, just leave out the street numbers. The result should be the same: no zestimates on your feed listings.

Curiously, the reason Zillow gives for no zestimate on a broker feed without address is “County transactional data for this home is insufficient” — now that’s not necessarily true and may be a bit misleading– it should properly say “this home may have a zestimate (on a separate Zillow home details page) but because the agent did not disclose an address we can’t say.” (That’s a bug, right David?)

The Secret Memo Behind Bizarro Zillow

In my investigation and research on how this Bizarro World came to exist, I uncovered this secret memo :

(no, David, it is not a real memo, it’s a joke.)

UPDATE: In his comment, David G claims most people use map search and that homes without addresses will not appear on a map. So, I went to add a home listing and put in the street name but not the house number. Zillow produced a map and a home icon I could move to a location on a street, indicating that yes, indeed, the house would be on the map.