Zillow vs. Realtor.com

Written by Jim the Realtor

March 24, 2015

Have you seen or heard the realtor.com ads?

I heard this 30-second ad on sports-talk radio and thought it was standard fare:

http://www.realtor.org/audio/consumer-advertising-campaign-real-people-2015-radio-ad

Then I saw this ad today on the C.A.R. website:

move ad

This claim is from the National Association of REALTORS®, Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers, Addendum Questions, 2014, so I guess they can say it’s legit.

But isn’t it too early for realtor.com to be saying they are better than Zillow at anything? It could be a regional thing, but I never hear any consumers talking about using realtor.com, so to me it all sounds far-fetched.

Meanwhile, Zillow is crushing it with their TV ads, and probably pulling ahead:

Realtor.com needs to be producing better advertising than Zillow if they think they are going to catch up.

5 Comments

  1. elbarcosr

    The Zillow ads are good. Only way realtor.com has any chance is if they can figure out how to turn the information spigot to Zillow off; methinks that cow not only left the barn, but has been cooked up at a bbq.

  2. Susie

    JtR – As a widow, the Zillow ad got me right in the heart–especially the last line. It’s almost exactly the words I used when I walked into my new house back in 2010 which featured extraordinary finish details. I always go to Zillow first…

  3. Joe Spake

    Zillow ads are about people and feelings. Realtor.com ads are about hiring real estate agents.

  4. Jim the Realtor

    Thanks for the basic definitions Joe. Which is doing a better job of engaging the consumer?

  5. Ellen Wolpert

    It looks to me like Zillow does comps to arrive at its Zestimates while the other real estate sites simply take the last sale price and adjust it for (observed or perceived) percentage changes in the market since the sale date. Has anyone else observed this to be true?

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