How Zillow views, saves and shares impact home price and sale speed

by Zillow | Apr 14, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Every agent knows that early interest in a listing is key to a successful sale. But how can you measure whether your listing is generating the right level of engagement? Zillow’s latest analysis of views, saves and shares provides clear benchmarks that indicate how quickly a home is likely to sell — and whether it will go for top dollar.

When buyers show interest in a listing on Zillow, it’s a strong signal that the home is likely to sell quickly. High engagement means more competition, helping sellers secure the best possible offers. For agents, these real-time insights offer a valuable pulse on market demand, allowing them to guide their clients with confidence.

Key benchmarks for agents

Since Spring 2023, the median home listed on Zillow went pending in 15 days and sold for 98 percent of the initial list price.

• 250+ views per day → Typically under contract in one week; 75 percent go pending in two weeks.
• 500+ views per day → Often sells above list price.
• 5+ saves per day → Likely under contract in a week.
• 10+ saves per day → Strong indicator of a sale above list price.
• 10+ shares per day → Majority go pending in a week.
• 20+ shares per day → Often sells over asking.

These numbers give agents a real-time feedback loop. If a listing isn’t hitting these benchmarks, it’s a signal to adjust pricing, positioning or marketing efforts.

Why broad market exposure matters

The data reinforces a key truth: Listings that reach the widest audience attract stronger offers and sell faster. Publicly listed homes on top consumer platforms like Zillow drive more engagement, helping sellers secure the best possible outcome.

How agents can maximize listing engagement

To ensure your listings reach these engagement benchmarks, consider these best practices:

• Craft compelling listing descriptions. Zillow research shows homes with features like outdoor TVs, soapstone countertops and outdoor showers often sell at a premium, while homes with frameless showers and terrazzo flooring tend to sell faster than expected. 
• Use high-quality visuals. Professional photography and 3D tours increase buyer engagement, leading to more saves and shares. Most sellers say they are more likely to hire an agent who includes virtual tours and/or interactive floor plans in their services (71 percent). For example, active Zillow Showcase listings drove 81 percent more page views, 80 percent more saves, 90 percent more shares, compared to similar nearby non-Showcase listings on Zillow.
• Monitor and adapt. If engagement is lower than expected, consider adjusting pricing or refreshing the listing details to drive renewed interest. Zillow’s Housing Market Predictions for 2025 indicate that buyers will have more time to consider their options and more leverage in negotiations, suggesting that sellers need to be flexible and responsive to market conditions to maintain interest in their listings.

The takeaway for agents

Transparent listings aren’t just good for buyers and sellers — they’re good for business. When listings are publicly available and widely marketed, they generate more engagement, attract stronger offers and sell faster. By using engagement data and ensuring listings receive maximum exposure from day one, agents can better serve their clients, close deals faster and build a reputation for results.

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You’re not behind: Mindset and strategies needed for success

by Jimmy Burgess | Apr 13, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the power of the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

Have you ever felt like your business has stalled and everybody around you seems to be having success? We all feel that way at certain times in our business, but you’re probably further along than you think.

If you’re feeling discouraged, please understand that odds are you’re not behind. In this article I’ll be sharing a few truths and strategies top agents embrace that lead to their success. 

Don’t judge a book by its cover

The first thing to understand is that the posts on social media you see from other agents are their highlight reel and not the full picture of their business or life. They don’t share about their friend who listed with another agent. They don’t post about the low appraisal that blew up the deal they really needed to close. They have many of the same struggles you have; they just don’t post about those things. The cover of the book never tells the whole story.

According to Redfin, 71 percent of real estate agents didn’t close a single transaction last year. Based on this statistic, if you simply sold one home last year, then you outperformed over 70 percent of your competitors. It’s been a tough couple of years, and social media shows us there are many agents hoping they can fake it until they make it. Don’t fall into this trap. 

My grandfather once told me that if I treated everybody like they were hurting, I would be right about 90 percent of the time. We all have things going on in our lives. We all have struggles and difficulties. Don’t let the highlight reel of social media distract you from your journey and your progression.

Don’t compare your 2nd chapter with their 10th chapter

Success is a process. It wouldn’t be fair to compare yourself with your two years of experience in a very challenging market to someone who’s been in the business for 10 years. That’s eight additional years they had to build relationships. Eight more years they’ve had to hone their skills and refine their processes. 

The challenges you may be facing now were likely the same challenges they faced at some point along their road to success. I’ve never met a successful agent who didn’t have seasons of struggle and discouragement. Keep moving forward, and some day you’ll be the agent others compare themselves to.

Who you spend time with controls the speed with which you grow

One of the best ways to accelerate your learning curve is to ask questions of people who have done what you want to do. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to always be asking the highest-producing agent you know. Many times, it is the agent who is just a few steps in front of your production level that can provide fresh insight since they were more recently in your shoes.

Whether you want to learn from top-producing agents or ones that are just ahead of your production, the process is the same. How you approach them can make a huge difference in how they respond. No one, especially a busy agent, gets excited when another agent asks if they can take them to lunch to “pick their brain.”

Instead, ask yourself if there is an area where you can give them value in exchange for asking them a few questions. Maybe you could help them with their social media, marketing a listing of theirs, or providing free headshots if you have some talent as a photographer. The key is to lead with offering to do something for them in exchange for some time to get their opinion on your business and what you can do to grow.

The key is that when you get the opportunity to ask them questions, be prepared. These are a few questions I might ask.

• What do you wish you had known or done when you were at my level in the business?
• Was there a time when you felt like you really built momentum in your business, and what did you do to build that momentum?
• If you had more time, which I do, what is one strategy or thing you would focus on or do more of right now?

By asking the right questions and taking action on the experience of others, momentum will build for you.

Be who you are

I’ve watched so many agents, myself included, try to emulate someone or something that simply isn’t in line with who they are. When I first started in the business, I really admired a top-producing agent I met at a conference. I asked him some of the questions above, and he told me all of his success came from FSBOs. He even gave me his scripts, and I was excited because I felt like he had given me the golden ticket for success.

Turns out I hated working with FSBOs, and the prospects could tell. Yes, I had some successes, but I was miserable. The lesson I learned was that just because something is successful for others, it isn’t necessarily what I should be doing in my business.

Your ideal client wants and needs you. They don’t want the version of you that is trying to be like someone else. Embrace who you are and amplify it through your marketing. The riches truly are in the niches, and when you show up authentically, your ideal clients are naturally attracted to your business.

Become the agent you want to be

What would your ideal business look like in one, three, or five years from now? What type of clients would you be working with? Would they be buyers, sellers, builders, or investors? Once you can clearly identify who your ideal client is, we can begin the process of becoming the agent that attracts those types of clients.

Yes, you were created with a certain skill set. A certain personality. A certain group that you naturally have influence over. But there are traits and skills that your ideal client wants and needs in their ideal agent. When you focus on becoming their ideal agent, they will absolutely be drawn to you.

Don’t be discouraged. You are exactly where you are supposed to be at this point in your career, even if it doesn’t feel like it. You’re developing grit that you will carry with you for the rest of your career. 

Do your best not to compare yourself to others. Focus on learning from agents you admire. Surround yourself with the best mentors, coaches, and agents you can. Be authentic and develop the skills you need to become the agent you want to become.

If you’ll do these things, the best is truly yet to come!

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Zillow pushes back against private listings: The Download

by Christy Murdock | Apr 12, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

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The AI shortcut: 9 ways ChatGPT can simplify your listing process

by Drew Thompson | Apr 12, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the power of the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

Let’s be brutally honest — listings are eating your week alive.

You’re drowning in running comps, hand-holding sellers, crafting social posts that don’t suck and trying to write listing descriptions that actually stand out from the beige parade. 

Meanwhile, your lead gen is gathering dust because, well, listings don’t magically market themselves, and clients get antsy. 

Sound familiar?

But what if you had a silent partner, a machine that worked tirelessly behind the scenes, 24/7, freeing you up to actually run your business?

I’m talking about ChatGPT. And no, this isn’t some airy-fairy “AI is the future” spiel. This is about reclaiming a solid six to eight hours per listing, starting right now.

Here’s how top-producing agents are quietly leveraging ChatGPT to streamline the nine most soul-crushing parts of their listing workflow — before the sign goes in the yard, while it’s active, and even after the closing bell.

Before the listing goes live

1. Craft killer listing descriptions in seconds (no more generic)

Forget those yawn-inducing descriptions that all blur together. You can actually train ChatGPT with your specific tone, your deep market insights and that unique selling proposition you bring to the table.

Create a version for your luxury properties and another for your first-time buyer gems — boom, done. Just drop in the property specifics, and out pops a compelling, on-brand description that’s MLS-ready and perfect for all your marketing.

2. Build a CMA that actually tells a story

Pricing isn’t just about numbers; it’s about painting a picture of value. While ChatGPT can’t pull MLS data (yet!), it’s a powerhouse for analysis and explanation. Upload your comps and your notes, and it will help you weave a narrative that your sellers will not only understand but truly trust.

Bonus Tip: Record a quick, personalized CMA breakdown using NotebookLM, and send it to your client as their own private market podcast. Talk about high-touch!

3. Get instant staging insights (and say goodbye to staging delays)

AI has eyes now! Upload photos of any room, and ChatGPT (especially when paired with multimodal tools) will deliver design and staging ideas instantly. No more endless email chains with a stager or second-guessing your gut. It’s like having a seasoned designer on speed dial, right in your pocket.

While the listing is live

4. Generate engaging marketing and social media content that stops the scroll

Stop staring at a blank screen wondering what to post. ChatGPT can analyze current trends, brainstorm attention-grabbing hooks, and even draft entire carousel captions or video scripts that sound authentically you — not some robotic imitation. Think of it as your always-on marketing assistant, minus the need for constant direction (or coffee breaks).

5. Master buyer objections before they even arise

Feeling a little shaky about that potentially tough buyer conversation? Practice it with ChatGPT. You can simulate a range of objections, rehearse your responses, and sharpen your negotiation skills before you ever pick up the phone or meet face-to-face. Confidence: unlocked.

6. Keep sellers in the loop (without sounding like a broken record)

Imagine training ChatGPT on your past communication style with a particular seller. It can then draft personalized updates, summarize feedback from showings and even remind you when a follow-up is due — all without you having to dig through endless emails or scattered notes. High-touch service, delivered with a fraction of the effort.

After the listing sells

7. Keep your brand top-of-mind with fresh, engaging content

Just because the deal closed doesn’t mean the marketing stops. Use ChatGPT to analyze the performance data of your sold listing and generate new headline ideas or content angles that keep your brand visible and attract future sellers who are watching your every move.

8. Create compelling video scripts in a flash

Want to shoot a quick “Just Sold” video that actually grabs attention? Give ChatGPT the key highlights of the listing and tell it to write the script in the style of a witty late-night host or a sophisticated luxury agent — whatever aligns with your brand. It’ll deliver multiple engaging hooks in seconds.

9. Turn one sold listing into a pipeline of new leads

Take the leads you generated from that listing, drop them into ChatGPT, and let it help you qualify who’s genuinely interested, who’s just browsing, and what your next conversation should be. You set the criteria; it does the heavy lifting of sorting and suggesting. More deals, less CRM chaos.

Ready to reclaim your time?

Here’s your immediate action step:

Open ChatGPT (make sure you’re using the Advanced Reasoning model) and type this in:

“Here’s a brief overview of my current listing process: [Insert a quick summary of your steps]. How can I make this simpler, faster, and more scalable using the tools available to me?”

Start there. Pick one area to focus on and build one system at a time. This is precisely how overwhelmed agents transform into the consistently overbooked.

AI won’t replace the heart and expertise of a great real estate agent — but great agents who strategically leverage AI? They’ll be operating on a whole other level, leaving the competition wondering what happened.

Drew Thompson is the head of agent performance and head coach at Real. Connect with him on Instagram and LinkedIn.

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Tariff fears sour consumer sentiment, push mortgage rates up

by Matt Carter | Apr 11, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the power of the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!

Fears of a tariff-fueled trade war are dragging consumer sentiment down to near all-time lows, while inflation worries continue to drive up mortgage rates as investors who back most home loans demand higher yields.

The University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment fell 11 percent from March to April and is down 31 percent from December, according to preliminary data released Friday.

At 50.8 in April, the Index of Consumer Sentiment is in territory not seen since the height of the pandemic, when it hit an all-time low of 50 in June 2022.

“Consumers report multiple warning signs that raise the risk of recession,” survey Director Joanne Hsu said in a statement. Consumer expectations for business conditions, personal finances, incomes, inflation and labor markets “all continued to deteriorate this month.”

Consumer sentiment near all-time low

Source: University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers.

The index — benchmarked at 100 back in 1966 — is now lower than at any point during the Great Recession of 2007-2009, when it dropped into the mid-50s. Before that, the Index of Consumer Sentiment’s lowest reading was 51.7, registered in 1980 when the nation was in the grips of a recession and grappling with double-digit inflation.

“Consumers have spiraled from anxious to petrified,” Pantheon Macroeconomics Chief U.S. Economist Samuel Tombs said in a note to clients.

Samuel Tombs

But many real-time indicators of consumers’ spending show no sign of a slowdown, Tombs said, and forecasters at Pantheon Macroeconomics “remain comfortable with our base case that households’ real spending stagnates in Q2 and Q3, rather than drops outright.”

Consumers surveyed by the University of Michigan between March 25 and April 8 said they expect inflation will climb to 6.7 percent in the year ahead — the highest reading since 1981.

“People probably are even more downbeat now,” Tombs said, given that some responses were collected before the April 2 tariff announcement and the plunge in stock prices that followed.

While Democrats are more pessimistic than Republicans about the economy and the prospect of higher inflation, sentiment among all three political groups (Democrats, Republicans and Independents) has deteriorated this year.

Joanne Hsu

That demonstrates declines in national estimates “are not being driven by disproportionate declines among Democrats alone following the election of a Republican president,” Hsu said in a separate report.

Consumer Price Index data released Thursday showed inflation dropped closer to the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target for the second month in a row in March.

But tariff-driven price increases aren’t likely to show up in the data until May, and Federal Reserve policymakers say they expect tariffs implemented by the Trump administration so far could have an inflationary impact on prices while also slowing economic growth.

John Williams

New York Fed President John Williams said Friday that he expects the combination of reduced immigration, tariffs and uncertainty will slow annual U.S. economic growth to less than 1 percent and drive unemployment up from 4.2 percent to as high as 5 percent over the next year.

“I expect increased tariffs to boost inflation this year to somewhere between 3-1/2 and 4 percent,” Williams said in prepared remarks to the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce.

Alberto Musalem

Addressing the Arkansas Bankers Association on Friday, St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said declining consumer confidence, higher prices and lower real incomes associated with tariffs, and diminished wealth resulting from lower equity prices are all “notable actual or potential headwinds.”

Musalem noted that even before the recent tariff announcements, “surveys indicated consumer confidence had declined, which poses downside risk to household spending and the overall pace of economic activity going forward.”

Susan Collins

Susan Collins, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, told Yahoo Finance she expects tariffs will slow economic growth and push inflation well above 3 percent this year, which might mean the Fed waits longer to cut interest rates this year.

Williams, Musalem and Collins are all voting members of the Fed’s rate-setting policy team, the Federal Open Market Committee, which meets next on May 6-7. Futures markets tracked by the CME FedWatch tool show investors don’t expect the Fed to cut rates until June and that the odds of a June rate cut have dropped from 94 percent on April 4 to 76 percent Friday.

Worries about the impacts of tariffs have hammered the stock market, which initially helped bring mortgage rates and yields on government bonds down as investors moved money out of stocks and into bonds in a flight to safety.

But in recent days, bond yields and mortgage rates have been headed back up, as the Trump administration moved forward with a 145 percent tariff on goods from China and a 10 percent baseline tariff that applied to most other U.S. trading partners.

China — America’s third-largest trading partner — has vowed to fight tariffs “until the end,” initially ratcheting up retaliatory duties on U.S. goods to 84 percent and then to 125 percent on Friday.

Mortgage rates bounce back

After retreating to a 2025 low of 6.48 percent on April 8, rates on 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgages bounced back to 6.82 percent this week, according to rate lock data tracked by Optimal Blue. Rates on jumbo mortgages exceeding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s $806,500 conforming loan limit in most markets hit 6.93 percent Wednesday.

Yields on 10-year Treasurys — a barometer for mortgage rates that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said is also a key metric for the Trump administration — have also climbed from a 2025 low of 3.89 percent on April 4 to 4.49 percent a week later.

In announcing a 90-day pause on country-specific “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners on April 9, Trump indicated that he’d been watching bond yields rise, noting “people were getting a little queasy.”

“The Treasury market freaked everyone out this week,” when yields climbed even as the stock market tanked — the opposite of the usual flight to safety reaction, Wall Street Journal columnist Jon Sindreu noted Friday.

Sindreu explored several theories that have been floated for the lack of demand for government bonds that’s been pushing rates up.

A leading theory is that hedge funds that buy bonds and sell futures contracts against them have been forced to unwind such “Treasury cash-futures basis trades” by selling government bonds — an issue that sent rates soaring in March 2020.

Others have speculated that China has been paring down its $800 billion in U.S. debt holdings — a move “that would have caused far more havoc than actually occurred,” Sindreau concluded.

To Sindreau, the simplest explanation is that investors are worried that a trade war will upend global trade, which is making them “less confident in holding U.S. financial assets. The ultimate outlet for this is the dollar, which keeps plummeting against major developed currencies, and may have much lower to go.”

Optimal Blue data lags by a day, but rates tracked by Mortgage News Daily (MND) showed rates on 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgages climbing again Friday by 10 basis points. Most U.S. home loans are funded by mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that are viewed by investors as comparable to 10-year Treasury notes.

“As with much of this week’s drama, today’s move didn’t have one distinct motivation,” MND Chief Operating Officer Matthew Graham wrote. “The weakness speaks to a broad shift in the outlook for U.S. Treasury demand. Digging any deeper would require esoteric explanations of underlying market structures. The bottom line is that investors are rattled by rapid changes in policy, as well as uncertainty about how those changes will ultimately settle and impact the market.”

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Email Matt Carter

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Jeff Bezos sells Seattle-area estate for recording-breaking $63M

by Richelle Hammiel | Apr 11, 2025 | Industry, News Feed

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