Zillow Talk: Rewriting the Rules of Real Estate

Spencer Rascoff · Stan Humphries

Jan 2015 · Sold by Grand Central Publishing

About this ebook

How do you spot an area poised for gentrification? Is spring or winter the best time to put your house on the market? Will a house on Swamp Road sell for less than one on Gingerbread Lane? The fact is that the rules of real estate have changed drastically over the past five years. To understand real estate in our fast-paced, technology-driven world, we need to toss out all of the outdated truisms and embrace today's brand new information. But how?

Enter Zillow, the nation's #1 real estate website and mobile app. Thanks to its treasure trove of proprietary data and army of statisticians and data scientists, led by chief economist Stan Humphries, Zillow has been able to spot the trends and truths of today's housing market while acknowledging that a home is more than an economic asset. In Zillow Talk, Humphries and CEO Spencer Rascoff explain the science behind where and how we live now and reveal practical, data-driven insights about buying, selling, renting and financing real estate. Read this book to find out why:

It's better to remodel your bathroom than your kitchen
Putting the word "cute" in your listing could cost you thousands of dollars
You shouldn't buy the worst house in the best neighborhood
You should never list your house for $444,000
You shouldn't list your house for sale before March Madness or after the Masters

Densely packed with entertaining anecdotes and invaluable how-to advice, Zillow Talk is poised to be the real estate almanac for the next generation.

Ratings and reviews

The book was well written using data analysis with a small amount of snark opinion included. Highly recommended.

Some useful knowledge but not enough to be a strong real estate agent.

About the author

Zillow's CEO Spencer Rascoff was listed as one of America's most powerful CEOs under 40 by both Fortune and Forbes. He graduated cum laude from Harvard University and is an alumnus of Goldman Sachs and TPG Capital. He founded Hotwire, which he sold to Expedia at age 24, and was one of the founders of Zillow in 2005. He currently lives in Seattle with his wife (a pediatrician), three young children, and their dog, Fido.

Stan Humphries is Zillow's chief economist and the creator of the Zestimate. Stan has built out the industry-leading economics and analytical team at Zillow and is a frequent commentator on housing trends for CNBC, Bloomberg TV, and Fox Business News. Stan has a B.A. from Davidson College, a Masters of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in government from the University of Virginia. Prior to joining Zillow, he worked with NASA and the Peace Corps.