Spencer's Blog

Here's a fascinating video speech on how to motivate in an organization. It reminds us that people want to work for companies that they feel are contributing to a higher purpose, rather than just maximizing profit. At Zillow, we strive to provide homeowners, buyers, sellers an agents with "an edg...

One of my favorite annual technology conferences is coming up next month in San Francisco, Inman Connect.  This year the featured speakers are from companies like: Reddit, Microsoft, Wall Street Journal Digital, Realogy, SimpleGeo and everyone's favorite- Craigslist.  Inman is trying something ne...

As I evaluate where my advertising dollars and time have been effective through the first part of this year, I was reminded to ask myself again why am I spending money each month at Realtor.com. There are several parts to this whole thought process.  Clicks When the websites are attempting to sel...

I had a great day at Raincamp Bellingham today. There was a lot of fascinating content about SEO, social media, facebook and internet marketing. Zillow is very pleased to be a partner of Active Rain's in their production of the Raincamps. We were a sponsor of today's Raincamp, as we have been thr...

Photos.  Hands down the number one thing people want to see in online real estate, that isn't a secret to the real estate industry.  There are all sorts of statistics that say the amount of traffic a listing receives can be incrementally tied to the number of photos displayed.  One interesting ti...

I'm really looking forward to Thursday's Raincampin Bellingham, WA. This will be my second Raincamp.  I wasn't fully prepared for the storm of information covered in the first one I attended 6 months ago in New York, but this time I'll be ready!  While I am sure Raincamp has evolved over the last...

First Quarter of 2010 Brings Mixed Results for Home Values Nationally, But Some Positive News in California By: Stan Humphries, Chief Economist | May 9, 2010 This quarter brought a mixed bag of results, with some slightly disappointing numbers on a national basis, but some bright spots in several...

I've kept mostly silent on this blog about a very important issue affecting the housing market -- strategic defaults. This is the phenomenon where a homeowner, so deeply underwater on their home, decides to stop paying the mortgage and let the bank foreclose upon the home. Some estimates say that...

The two big reasons I've heard agents market properties this way is 1) a marketing tactic to generate more calls and 2) at a seller's request for privacy or fear of theft.  There is now data to support that you will actually get more contacts if you do show the address.  Hopefully this data will ...