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In 2024, Zillow cofounder Rich Barton declared the portal had accomplished its mission of creating an innovative home search platform — and signaled a new challenge: untangling the chaos of a “multi-party, multi-partner, multistage” buying experience.
“Less than half of our company’s revenue now comes from buyers’ agents, lead generation or our original business model,” Barton said at Inman Connect New York before handing over the reins to current Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman in August. “Our growth and opportunity as a company now comes from investing in this array of digital workflow, tools and technologies for the industry as a whole.”
“ShowingTime has been a big success for us. Follow Up Boss, Listing Showcase dotloop, Aryeo … we’ve been putting together these products, building and putting together these products for quite some time,” he added. “We did not build, invest in and integrate these products to keep them inside the walled garden. We did it to make them broadly available and to power your businesses.”
A year later, Barton’s words still ring in the heads of SVP of Agent Software and Advertising Cynthia Taylor and SVP of Zillow Rentals Michael Sherman. The two newly promoted leaders said all of their decisions center on Zillow’s mission to leverage technology to create a “delightful” experience for consumers and agents, despite the inherent stress that comes with the biggest purchase of most people’s lives.
“This is what my team thinks about day in and day out,” Taylor said. “My team is building products for all agents, and when you build for all agents across the entire industry, you have to build solutions that meet agent needs no matter how they work … We’re helping agents be able to tie it all together and provide these elevated client experiences that integrate the workflows that have to happen for the real estate transaction to go well.”
Cynthia Taylor
Taylor, who joined Zillow Group in 2015 as Trulia’s product management director, is focused on strengthening the portal’s portfolio of products including Zillow Showcase, ShowingTime, and Follow Up Boss. Taylor is most proud of Zillow Showcase, which has been a key part of Zillow’s strategy to expand its value proposition with agents. Showcase is geared toward helping listing agents win more clients and sell their homes faster through AI-powered floor plans, 3D home tours, and other immersive media.
“Many people think Zillow is just about buyer leads, but we build so much more,” she said.
In the company’s fourth-quarter earnings, company leaders said Zillow Showcase was key to boosting residential revenue, as 1.7 percent of all listings on Zillow now use Showcase. In Q1 2024, Zillow said agents using Showcase won 20 percent more listings; however, by Q4 that advantage has grown to 30 percent — signaling that agents are better learning to leverage the platform.
“Zillow Showcase takes these AI-backed media experiences and takes them to the next level. Showcase has features like Group by Room. You can explore all of the media for a particular space, like the living space or the kitchen altogether,” she said. “It just comes together to give consumers a truth of the home, and the reason it’s so important for agents is because listing agents can use Zillow Showcase to help their sellers stand out and help themselves stand out. Listing agents are prominently featured on Showcase listings, and they get to show prospective future clients what they might be able to do for them.”
“This journey here with agent software is really about building products for all agents, no matter how they work,” she added. “It’s not just about buyer leads. So, so much more.”
Michael Sherman
While Taylor is focused on the residential side, Sherman, who’s been with Zillow since 2011, is focused on helping the portal become the preeminent platform for property owners and renters. Zillow Rentals took the spotlight in Zillow’s latest earnings, as the rentals segment outpaced the residential segment in terms of percentage growth for Q4 and the full year 2024.
The platform has organically grown to 1.9 million active rental listings, a number that will grow due to exclusive rental syndication partnerships with competitors Realtor.com and Redfin. Zillow Rentals’ audience has grown to 29 million average unique monthly visitors, per Comscore, putting it ahead of the closest multifamily competitor in terms of audience. That growth stems from improved rental tech and features; a streamlined rental application, rent payment and rental insurance process for renters; and an amplified advertising and listing platform for individual and corporate landlords.
“Renters have historically had to navigate multiple platforms due to the lack of an MLS-like system in rentals, which creates just a ton of inefficiency and frustration,” he said. “Zillow saw this clear opportunity to streamline the renting process by aggregating inventory into a single platform.”
“Having successfully built the largest online marketplace on the for-sales side, bringing that same expertise to rental listings,” he added. “And we’re focused now on advancing and enhancing the existing solutions that we have in the market, especially within the multifamily segment.”
Sherman said Zillow Rentals has “a ton of runway” for growth, as there are three times more renters than homebuyers looking for their next abode. Providing an easy, streamlined experience for renters has immediate and long-term benefits for the company, as a portion of those renters will choose to stay within the Zillow ecosystem when they’re ready to buy.
“Overall, Zillow’s mission is to help people get home. And that can be done through the rental shopping journey, as well as the for sale shopping journey,” he said. “There is a great opportunity to connect renters who are prepared and ready to buy, to handhold them into that experience, as well as homeowners who are looking to sell and move into a rental. It’s really [about] building a holistic ecosystem on Zillow that serves all rental and all homeshopper needs.”
As Zillow pushes into its next era, which hinges on the portal’s ever-evolving Housing Super App, Taylor and Sherman said they’re focused on advancing a mission that pushes the industry — not just Zillow — forward. Taylor said her team has a slate of new products and features coming in the “not-too-distant future” while Sherman said his team is blazing forward on growing its audience and listing share with three goals in mind: coordination, digitization and integration.
“When we focus on the consumer, everybody wins. So everything that we do is to help the consumer succeed. Agents are working with clients,” Taylor said. “Agents are constantly seeking ways to do better for their clients. Zillow is constantly focused on improving consumer outcomes and consumer experiences throughout the entire experience. So our core beliefs as a company, as Zillow, have not wavered.”
“We believe in creating a more transparent, fair, consumer-focused real estate market. That’s just fundamental to how we operate,” she added. “… It’s about coordination, digitization and integration across both professional and consumer experiences.”
Email Marian McPherson
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