Ektra Announces a Key Partnership With Zillow

I am, and will always be, a HUGE proponent of providing maximum exposure for my clients who have entrusted me to sell their home. It doesn't take a doctoral thesis to understand that if a seller wants to get the best possible price and terms for their home, their listing needs to get in front of as many buyers as possible. Ironically, many mega-brokerages are actually going the opposite direction by hoarding their clients' homes within their own Private Listing Networks so that only their agents have visibility to them. The logic behind this move is absolutely baffling.

That's why I'm thrilled to announce a strategic partnership between Ektra Real Estate and Zillow, the undisputed leader of real estate portals. This multi-faceted agreement will provide Ektra's sellers with boosted and preferential visibility on Zillow's site and mobile app, thus further increasing the exposure of their listings.

Why Zillow? According to online stats, “Zillow is the dominant leader in U.S. online real estate, with over 75 million average monthly unique visitors and 44% of search traffic. As the top real estate site, Zillow boasts roughly 33 million monthly organic visits—far outpacing all of its competitors combined“.

In other words, if you want to go fishing, go where the fish are.

There are two key components to this strategic agreement:

#1. Zillow Preview

Zillow recently unveiled a new, exciting feature called Zillow Preview. Zillow Preview is a new way to bring pre-market and coming soon listings to the general public by making them publicly visible on their site, rather than limiting them to closed systems or hidden in private networks. In other words, the entire world is aware that your home is going to hit the market before it actually hits the market.

Why is this important?

In a hot market like we've been in for the past two decades, so many homes sell within the first week of being listed. That short period of time is challenging for even the most focused buyer who is in town and on task to buy a home. But many home buyers are extremely busy with work, and many end up being on travel when their dream home hits the public market.

Having that “advance notice” that a home is going to hit the market gives buyers valuable advance notice that the home is about to hit the market, and they can plan accordingly. For sellers, it provides them with a pre-market runway to expose their home without accumulating days on the market.

This is the polar opposite of a Private Listing Network, where nobody in the general public is aware of the listing before it hits the market. With Zillow Preview, everyone sees it — buyers and agents alike.

This key advantage is not available through the other local mega brokerages – not Compass, not Christies, not Sothebys, nor Coldwell Banker. But you can get that advantage working with Ektra.

#2. Zillow Showcase

Once the coming-soon period is over and your listing is active on the MLS, it normally just gets exported to the hundreds of other real estate portals, only to be lost in the sea of thousands of other listings. Zillow has created a feature called Zillow Showcase, where your listing gets preferential exposure on their site over other listings in the general area.

According to Zillow data, Showcase listings outperform similar non-Showcase listings with 79% more page views, 76% more saves and 91% more shares, compared to similar nearby non-Showcase listings on Zillow. This additional exposure means higher sales prices and faster sales for sellers.

How would this work for you? When a buyer searches on Zillow for homes in San Carlos, your listing would automatically be bumped to the top of the stack, with enhanced branding and prioritized placement in search and map results. It also enables targeted alerts that bring active shoppers to your listing, and other exclusive features designed to make your home stand out over all of the other listings.

How Much Does This Cost You?

Nothing! When you list your home with Ektra Real Estate, you get the best of both worlds: Hyper-local market expertise and world-class exposure to the market. And it doesn't cost you a penny more. It's just another benefit of working with a brokerage that puts your needs first.

Interested in learning more? Just reach out to me for more details.