Putting Zillow to The Test: My $948.60+ Adventure - Day 18 - Update
Alright, peeps. So I'm at day 18 with my ticket on the Zillow-coaster.
Here is my activity listed on Zillow:
If you look at my stats, it shows that I've had eight contacts. One of those was before I became a premiere agent (Contact #3), and it was an inquiry for one of my listings (not in the zip code I have paid for).
Here are my contacts thus far:
Contact #1 - Another realtor wanting me to come to his open house
Contact #2 - Same realtor wanting me to come to his open house
Contact #3 - A prospect wanting a showing on my Goodbee St. listing - non-responsive to date
Contact #4 - A prospect wanting a showing on an REO property in my Zillow paid zip code (Yes!)
Contact #5 - Zillow Executive asking me how I was doing so far (I'm flattered!)
Contact #6 - A prospect who clicked through to telephone me to inquire about the same REO property in #4. We were doing great until I informed him I was not the listing agent, and he became somewhat dis-interested at that point.
Contact #7 - A prospect who emailed me to schedule a showing for a property in my Zillow zip code - non-responsive thus far.
Contact #8 - A prospect that emailed me to schedule a showing for a property outside of my premiere paid zip code (hmm?)
Well, I actually did end up showing another property to contact #8 because the one they had originally inquired about was an REO that had just gone into escrow. So I found another REO that was comparable in the neighborhood.
Yes, I did show property to this contact, but I truly feel that they are not a qualified buyer. He was going to try and get an equity line of credit as down payment on the 2nd property. I asked him if he was going to live in his present house and rent out the new one or vice-versa. He said he didn't know and I informed him that it will matter due to the interest rate being slightly higher on a loan for investment property. And in general, I kind of got that "Lookey-Loo" sort of feeling.
However, Contact #4 continues to be the best lead so far. I actually went out on a 2nd showing with this couple and showed them 3 more properties. The wife is working on getting a pre-approval from their credit union, and the husband took what appears to be quite some time to draw an elaborate map of the places in the valley that they are most and least interested in buying, and color coded it! That shows me that there is some effort here, and the cool part is they see that I have a good working knowledge of not only the area, but of standard sales, REO's and short sales. This 2nd time around we actually had a few laughs. Good times.
So they are on an Alaskan cruise this week and we will hit the pavement when they return.
I have added more listings to my Zillow account since day 8. 2 more listings of my own and 2 more from a couple of agents in my office who have allowed me to advertise their listings on Zillow cooperatively.
Let's see how I end up with Contact #4. Is there an escrow on the horizon?
If you would like to join our consumer advocate group to track my results, click here: Putting Zillow To The Test
