Zillow is already one of the primary real estate portals for consumers.  Though there are rumblings from realtors about mounting a challenge, it’s unlikely that anything will topple the Z-brand in the short-term.

As a result, we increased our Zillow advertising this month.

Not only do we expect that more consumers will be using the tools there – but it also seems inevitable that Zillow will develop additional ways to promote their agent-customers too.

I’m not a big believer in anecdotal evidence in the real estate business.  There are too many random events – and sales – created out of dumb luck that you can ever draw many definitive conclusions.

But after not getting any new Zillow inquiries during the previous 3-4 days, I received THREE buyer inquiries on Christmas Day!

There has to be pent-up demand in the marketplace.  It doesn’t guarantee that buyers will pay higher prices, or even buy at all.  But I’m guessing that the streets will be full of lookers in the coming weeks.  On Wednesday – just two days before Christmas – I ran into the second 4-offer bidding war of the week!

I think the heightened activity will cause sellers to add even more icing on the cake – leaving a beleaguered buyer pool with tough choices.  Either bite the bullet and pay the highest price ever, or wait and see.

It will show up differently in different areas.

In neighborhoods where we see a surge of still-somewhat-reasonably-priced listings, the market will look like it’s on fire as waiting buyers gobble them up.  Other areas will look more stagnant than ever (like RSF, which has 25% of the NSDCC active inventory but only 8% of the closed sales over the last 30 days).

My advice to buyers and sellers?

Don’t over-think it – get in, get out, and get on with life!  Don’t let the desire of grinding out the last couple of percentage points get in the way of moving.