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My Zillow Offers Experience

I thought some of y'all would find my experience with Zillow interesting since their public failure has been in the news and many people have wondered what would happen to the buyers under contract when the company announced they were shutting down their buying program.

When I started the process of deciding to move, my realtor told me they were making stupid offers well over actual values, and that I should try them out before listing with him. I had actually requested a Zillow offer 2 years ago, And the offer we received was well below market value, and we weren't really in a rush to move at that time, so we let it go. This time, however, they came in at a hard to refuse price.

My agent and I had planned to list at $385,000 with the hope of starting a bidding war to get an offer in the low-mid $390s. Zillow offered me $400,000, and roughly the same closing costs that using an agent would be. So, since my agent was super gracious and it was likely the best offer we'd see, we took it. This was in mid October, and I pushed the closing back as far as they allowed (90 days) to give myself time to find a new home.

About a week after going under contract, the news broke that they were shutting down the division. Of course, they claimed they would honor all contracts, but my contract stated that I had no recourse if they backed out other than the $1k earnest money. However, I heard that they were offering cash to back out to some sellers, and I was intrigued. I told my wife I wouldn't walk for less than $5k plus earnest money, as that's about how far I figured they were over market value.

Well, the call came, and they offered me $15k to cancel. I accepted and immediately got my home ready to list. Within a week, we had a new contract for $395,000, and I actually closed a day earlier than I would have if I stuck with Zillow. It was a lot of extra work to get there, but absolutely worth the extra cash and peace of mind.

Now that it's all done, I think Zillow probably would have closed on my home if I stayed, based on other stories I've seen. But I'm glad I walked. Zillow overestimated their position on both sides of my deal with them, and their bad math won me a new living room set and tv.

Tldr: Zillow offered me too much for my home, and then too much again to cancel

submitted by /u/DJDJMusic
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/rm8kl5/my_zillow_offers_experience/
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