Surf Points 84

What is Zillow.com?

Zillow.com is an online real estate service dedicated to helping you get an edge in real estate by providing you with valuable tools and information.
In the beginning...

In early 2005, Zillow founders Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink were fresh from the success of bringing travel to the Internet at Expedia.com. While brainstorming ideas for their next business venture, they were drawn to the idea of real estate. Rich had actually started obsessing about bringing real estate online as early as 1989 when his mom decided to become a real estate agent after she packed her last child off to college. He even wrote a plan for a consumer real estate service, but the idea was shelved in favor of the dreaded "steady job." However, his enthusiasm for it never completely disappeared...

Fast forward 15 years. Both Rich and Lloyd were separately involved in buying houses, while jointly looking for new business opportunities. Lloyd spent hours finding information on the house he wanted, putting data into a spreadsheet, and doing complex calculations to determine a home's worth. The idea crossed his mind that someone shouldn't have to be a computer programmer to determine what a house is really worth. He figured he wasn't alone — there must be millions of people struggling with the same problem.

Then the idea struck them: Why not help consumers by giving them access to the same kinds of information and tools agents use? Why not equip consumers with information about what is their most important investment — their home? So Zillow was born, with the goal of helping people make smarter real estate decisions.
Why "Zillow"?

Once they hatched their idea, they needed a name. "Zillow" evolved from the desire to make zillions of data points for homes accessible to everyone. But a home is about more than data - it is where you lay your head to rest at night, like a pillow. Thus, "Zillow" was born. They knew they had a winning name when employees began talking in Z-language and newly-minted words starting with "Z" popped up everywhere (e.g., Zestimate®, Zindex®).