Jay Thompson

Networking is the art and science of meeting people and building relationships that can benefit your business or career. Real estate networking might include meeting fellow real estate professionals or potential clients, or people who are completely…

Back in May, we announced the launch of Zillow Instant Offers. We’re now almost three months in, and we’ve learned a lot. Earlier today, we announced that Instant Offers is expanding into a third market: Phoenix, AZ. We’ll dig into the Phoenix…

As I talk to real estate agents and brokers the same basic question comes up fairly regularly: What is Zillow’s mission? What exactly is the end game? What is it that Zillow Group is trying to do? Fundamentally, the answers to all of these questions…

At Zillow Group, the consumer drives everything we do. We spend countless hours researching and analyzing real estate consumer trends to understand their needs and demands and help them make more informed decisions. That’s been a core mission of…

Real estate agent teams have been around for a long time. Recently, however, the growth of agent teams has accelerated — and there is little reason to believe this growth will slow. In order to help team leaders direct the flow of real estate…

I speak to successful real estate agents who use Zillow Group’s Premier Agent program on an almost daily basis. (Side note: To be perfectly clear, I’m defining “success” in this case as converting contacts to closings.) Invariably, these agents will…

Updated June 17, 2020 You’re always working to advance your career as a real estate agent — and that means developing skills or learning about topics that often go beyond industry knowledge: accounting, entrepreneurship, economics, finance, selling…

Lead cultivation and lead generation can ultimately result in lead conversion — but only if you’re using a good contact management system (CRM) to maintain and manage your contacts, prospects and clients. Converting contacts from leads to clients…

CRM stands for customer relationship management, but it can mean many different things: Some agents regard it as software designed to help manage clients, some consider CRM to be a business philosophy and others view CRM as a process that involves…

You’ve been working with a buyer client for months. You’ve shown them 83 houses. Finally, FINALLY, they found their dream home and the closing is mere moments away. “Don’t forget about that five-star review we’ve been talking about since house #1!”…

Today we are excited to announce two new initiatives designed to connect China-based buyers with local real estate agents who can help them with their U.S. home purchase. Why China? As CNBC reported back in October of 2015, Chinese buyers are now the…

Your real estate agent profiles — those pages scattered about the Internet that invariably include your photo, an “About Me” section and maybe areas to display your listings and past sales — are often the first places potential buyers or sellers will…

We’re very excited to officially launch the Premier Agent App, a new mobile application for real estate agents that helps you leverage the power of Zillow and Trulia. The app is now live in the iOS and Android app stores. Designed to increase your…

We are very excited today to announce that Zillow Group has renewed its agreement with RE/MAX, one of the nation’s largest real estate franchisors. This newly expanded agreement features a first-of-its-kind integration of two of the Zillow Tech…

You should start a team! How do I find a buyer’s agent? Should I hire an assistant? My broker loves my team. My broker hates the team concept. If you spend much time discussing real estate with anyone who’s been in the business for more than a couple…

Many have asked for it, and now you have it! We’re pleased to welcome Contactually to the growing list of over 60 CRM and real estate marketing companies that have joined the Zillow Tech Connect: Leads program. What is Tech Connect: Leads? Zillow…

You’ve just delivered the best listing presentation of your life. You nailed it. Every question, every objection — done. The prospective client is reaching for the pen to sign the listing agreement. They pause. “I have one more…

Ever read an email from someone in the real estate business and seen a signature like this at the bottom? This particular signature may be an exaggeration, but my point is that including lots of information isn’t always better. As a real estate…

If you browse through real estate forums or social media sites, you’ve probably encountered this question more than a few times: Why does Zillow allow FSBO (For Sale By Owner) properties to be displayed on their site? When this question is posed,…

Licensed in 1987, Cindy Knight has seen a lot of changes over the past 28 years. “Back in the day,” Cindy recalls having one computer in an office of 30 agents — and you had to sign up to use it to access MLS listings. In 1991, when the Internet as…