Zillow boss says its Offers program is just the beginning

Zillow Offers has been a stepping stone for the further growth of the homebuying experience, says Zillow CEO, Richard Barton.

“We dream one day of you having an almost trade-in experience with your house,” Barton said in an interview that ran on “Closing Bell”.

Zillow’s ambitions stem from the fact that all industries have been ensnared in the ongoing technological disruption, Barton said, altering the expectations that consumers have when it comes to purchasing a home.

“They’re demanding that e-commerce actually come to the real estate market and transform the transaction,” said Barton, who Co-Founded the company and took over again as CEO in February. “So Zillow 2.0 is about revolutionizing that transaction.”

Zillow’s expansion from being an online marketplace for home listings has been met with much skepticism from investors and market commentators alike. “Big Short” investor Steve Eisman has also criticized Zillow, arguing in August that it doesn’t fully understand the “massive” risks of buying and selling houses.

Shares of Zillow are up about 25% year to date, including a strong performance in the last month after it posted better-than-expected third-quarter revenues, spurred by its home-flipping segment Zillow Offers. Revenue checked in at $745.2 million, up 117% compared with the same quarter last year.

Zillow Offers, which is active in 21 markets, has so far transacted on about 2,500 homes overall, “which actually is not that many units, but the revenues are big,” Barton said.

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