Zillow has been around for a while now, steadily chipping away at the dominance of Realtor.com in the online home search market.  You’ve got to hand it to them – they’ve been remarkably successful at selling their vision of “one property record for any property in the country” and offering robust listing data with compelling community features.  Despite the inherent failings of the “zestimate” system which are a regular bugaboo for real estate agents to explain to consumers, Zillow has largely got it right.  And last week they made an announcement that they have expanded their services to include homes for rent…

The addition of rental properties is a masterstroke, in my opinion.  In many market across the nation, Craigslist has been the preferred method of getting a rental out there by landlords.   While the online classified is free, fraudulent postings and misuse of legitimate data by crooks has significantly dampened user’s enthusiam for Craigslist.  Also, an inherent weakness in the site’s architecture is that listings, once entered, quickly disappear from the front page and the search function is bare-bones, leaving many opportunities for searchers to miss listings.

Zillow has solved all that by simple incorporating the rental listing concept into it’s existing setup.  One catch – the listing will cost you $9.95 (but not $10) for 180 days.  Probably well worth it once the database grows to respectable proportions, which may take a while as the word gets out.

Here’s a sample screenshot of Lancaster PA rental homes highlighting the new rental search option:

One of the biggest hurdles to Zillow’s getting this search built up is the lack of reliable data feeds to draw from – there is no standard for “listing” a rental (as contrasted to the MLS for sales).  In my opinion, they should waive the $10 fee for the first six months to attract landlords to the service…

Many of us have varying opinions of Zillow and it’s impact on the real estate marketplace, but I think the addition of rental home listings will be a major long-term success for the online venture.