• darkstar@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I don't know if you recall, but Zillow was found to be price fixing as well a few years back. They were buying up real estate, then pumping the Zestimate of any houses they owned. I remember seeing people compiling data on Reddit, tracking home values before the house sold to Zillow, and after. Zillow is just as shitty, and just as much of a middle man. So, yes, Zillow can do a lot of what the Realtor does, but I'd argue we deserve better.

    • watty@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      "Zillow was found to be price fixing", you say this as if there was some legal investigation. There wasnt. There were a bunch of salty realtors cherry picking data and confusing correlation for causation. The fact of the matter is, Zillow overpaid and underpaid for houses, and eventually lost millions of dollars during COVID era market swings, recognized the risk of the business and shut it down after only 3 years.

      The ibuyer business was intended to take on all of the burden of buying and selling houses to make it easier for consumers to move.