What Is Zillow Unlock?

The Zillow Flex Program

The Flex Program is a broker-to-broker scheme where agents agree to pay kickbacks to get your information. Broker commissions are subject to hidden kickbacks and pay-to-play steering, and will always be overpaid by consumers. Federal antitrust laws prohibit consumer allocation and blanket referral agreements.

If you allow your information to be sold as a lead to a broker, they will pay you huge commission kickbacks from your future home sale or purchase. Real estate agents can pay one another referral fees if they wish, but only if they allow individual agents to refer business to other agents outside their service area. Despite being registered as a broker, Zillow does not perform real estate services, it simply sends leads to specific agents within its network and uses a real estate license to collect a back-loaded referral fee.

Referral fee revenue is 32x that of regular advertisement revenue because it results in an economic process called reverse competition, where consumers suffer from elevated costs and lower service as a result. A referral network is not free. Consumers should avoid the Zillow Flex Program and never give their phone number, email or name to the Zillow Group if they are looking to work with a real estate agent.

A note on a background report

Double-checking the renter's name and current address is one way to start. It would be helpful to try a previous address. The addresses and phone numbers entered need to be US addresses.

Have they entered their social security number? Are they in the US? If they are outside the US, they will either have to use a PureVPN to complete the screening reports section or wait until they return to the US.

They may be able to get help from a credit-reporting agency to understand what is preventing them from completing their application. The background report is unavailable when the person does not have a social security number. If your renter has a social security number but has not added it to their application, you should request that they withdraw their application before sending them a new invitation to apply.

Real Estate Price Comparison on Zillow

You can compare real estate prices on the site and make plans to meet with local real estate professionals for an evaluation of the property. Most of the home values on the site are estimates and should be taken at face value. Losing access to your account can cause you grief if you want to sell your property.

If you can't access your account, it makes it harder for potential buyers to get an accurate estimate of your property, as you can't input more information the website. If you suspect that your account has been compromised by fraudulent sources, you should immediately report it to the customer care of the company. You should change your email address and password to keep someone from seeing it.

The Real Estate Market in 2015

There is a lot going for the housing market in 2015. The market has emerged from the worst of the housing crisis. Negative equity has declined as well.

The housing market is becoming more stable even though the recovery is incomplete. Consumers are optimistic. The housing market can no longer depend on the rebound effect.

The market depends on the basics like job growth, household formation and demographic data, which point to a slow and even recovery as the market gets closer to normal. Young adults are less likely to be employed than before the recession, and household formation is still struggling to recover as many of them are still living with their parents. Affordability is an urgent worry in many markets.