Blog

December 13, 2019

House Trade-Ins are a Thing Now

We’ve written before about prefab construction, a technique being put to use in Chicago that looks more like manufacturing a car than building a multi-family home. Now another convention from the automotive world has made its way into the housing market: trade-ins. 

That’s thanks to Zillow, the leading online real estate and rental marketplace, and their new Zillow Offers™ program, which aims to provide “a home-selling option for homeowners who want a certain and predictable sale on their timeline.”

In short, Zillow Offers makes selling your old home and buying a new one just as simple as trading in your old wheels. Here’s how it works and where it’s available. 

How Zillow Offers Works

At its heart, Zillow is trying to solve one of the most common dilemmas facing homebuyers and sellers: Not having closed on a new house before their existing home is sold or selling their home quickly before closing on a new home. In worst case scenarios, many people end up paying two mortgages. 

With Zillow Offers, sellers can request a cash offer from Zillow in a few simple steps. The home is never listed, so there’s no need for showings, open houses or prep. If they take the offer Zillow provides, the sellers enjoy an extremely flexible closing time, anywhere from a week to eight months, until they find a new home. In the meantime, Zillow takes care of the repairs, prep work, showings, etc. while the home is listed. 

So what’s the catch? The seller pays a fee of roughly 7 percent of the home’s sale price for the streamlined transaction. 

Is Zillow Offers a Threat to Agents? 

Zillow Offers will appeal to a very specific segment of real estate agent’s target market: people who want to sell fast and are willing to pay a premium to do so. Similar services like Offerpad and Opendoor have received criticism for charging homeowners exorbitant fees and giving sellers below market-value offers. 

What agents can take away from Zillow Offers? A more digital, self-service form real estate is coming sooner or later, and now is the time to prepare and strategize on how to compete. 

Where is Zillow Offers Available?

With the recent announcement that Zillow Offers had been introduced to Orange County and Los Angeles County, one of the nation’s largest housing markets, the platform is now available in 22 markets:

  • Atlanta, GA 
  • Austin, TX 
  • Charlotte, NC 
  • Colorado Springs, CO 
  • Dallas, TX 
  • Denver, CO 
  • Fort Collins, CO 
  • Houston, TX 
  • Las Vegas, NV 
  • Los Angeles, CA 
  • Miami, FL 
  • Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN 
  • Nashville, TN 
  • Orlando, FL 
  • Phoenix, AZ 
  • Portland, OR 
  • Raleigh, NC 
  • Riverside, CA/Inland Empire 
  • Sacramento, CA 
  • San Antonio, TX 
  • San Diego, CA 
  • Tampa, FL

Plans have been announced to launch Zillow Offers in Cincinnati, OH; Jacksonville, FL;  Oklahoma City, OK; and Tucson, AZ early next year. 

Partner with Lincoln Abstract & Settlement Services 

At Lincoln Abstract & Settlement Services, we use the latest technology to keep you on schedule and to ensure your closings are streamlined and worry-free. We also keep ourselves on schedule by proactively identifying and resolving title issues before they cause delays. 

To learn more about our many services, please visit our homepage today!