Analysis Of The State Of The Real Estate Market With Zillow

Zillow's strategy for online real estate market domination

All the stakeholders from different sectors of the economy including bankers, reporters, government officials, think tankers, lawmakers and other sundry wonks met in downtown Washington at the Ronald Reagan Building to brainstorm ways to reform the housing finance system.

The faces were familiar as most of the major players in the industry were present, but the sponsor of the event was a newcomer in the District's policy circles. Zillow is a real estate listings website. The firm organized the agenda and supplied branded information booklets and notepads. At the end of the day, the attendees would leave with much more than proposals on how to fix Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. They would also leave knowing the value of the Zillow Home Value Index and Zestimate for analyzing the state of the market. Zillow has been in existence for eight years, but it has no office in the nation's capital. The single lobbyist on retainer has managed to build relationships and put Zillow at the center of all conversations about the Washington housing market. Zillow is at the same time taking on media companies, real estate agents and companies that publish housing data. This is not a bad strategy if you are trying to dominate the market.

Established in 2005, Zillow is one of the earliest tech companies. It has now grown to become a multi-million dollar company with over 60 million users and over 800 employees. The firm's quarterly revenue was significantly higher than Trulia, its closest rival.