Zillow Expands Zillow Offers To LA, Orange County

Zillow Offers launched in Los Angeles and Orange County on Monday (Dec. 9), its second-largest housing market in the nation, GeekWire reported.

San Diego and the Inland Empire areas already had Zillow Offers, and the company’s LA expansion covers much of Southern California. Available in 22 markets, Zillow is planning 2020 expansions to Cincinnati, Ohio; Jacksonville, Florida; Oklahoma City and Tucson, Arizona.

This Zillow Offers expansion “is notable because crosstown rival Redfin kicked off its own home sales business in Southern California,” according to the report.

After about two days of filling out a short questionnaire and sending in photos, Zillow users are presented with an offer and an agent with which to work. Zillow sends a revised offer after seeing the house. As long as both sides are happy, the seller will digitally sign the forms and pick a closing date.

Zillow contractors will make minor renovations to prepare the home for sale. Zillow then takes over and works with local agents to list and sell the homes. Sellers are charged a service fee in exchange for “avoiding the hassle, time commitment and uncertainty” of selling a house.

In February, Zillow started buying and selling properties through Zillow Offers. The company has forecasted revenue of $20 billion on home sales in three to five years. Zillow earned $1.3 billion in total revenue last year.

Housing sales made up most of Zillow’s business for the first time last quarter, with its “Homes” segment bringing in $384.6 million in revenue in the third quarter, which was 51.6 percent of the company’s total revenue of $745 million. Zillow sold 1,211 homes and purchased 2,291 in the quarter, despite the segment recording a net loss of $87.9 million. Zillow ended the period with 2,822 homes on its balance sheet.

Zillow is working hard to juggle tight anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) security with easy onboarding, knowing that if it is successful, it will secure a reputation as a safe and convenient site for customers.