Social media is so prevalent and effective in today’s day and age that a myriad of niche sites have inevitably sprung up for any number of different demographics and uses. Long gone are the days where advertisers or real estate agents simply posted on the massive melting pot that is Facebook in the hopes that their property would be noticed. Just as those sharing videos are more likely to attract interest on YouTube or Vimeo or advertisers looking to gain popularity among younger clientele have lately made use of TikTok, real estate agents, sellers, and buyers have a type of one-stop-shop network of sorts in Zillow, the largest and most popular real estate tech marketplace in America. Zillow is a worldwide online database where sellers or agents can list properties for sale, and allow anyone to look up properties around the world, research pertinent information, estimated values, sales history, and more.

How to create your Zillow account

Joining Zillow is easy, whether you’re a prospective buyer or seller or in the real estate industry. Real estate agents have the option of signing up for a ‘premier’ account with expanded services and statistics, but a basic account is free for anyone. While it is true that there is a seemingly endless bevy of networks out there and the question does arise regarding which networks really are useful or worth your time, Zillow is an incredibly useful tool for anyone in the real estate or mortgage industries. To begin, follow this link, enter your email, and choose a password. It will ask if you are “a landlord or industry professional”. By clicking this box, the site will take you to the Zillow Agent Hub.

Please note - to proceed with filling out a Zillow profile page, you will first need to enter your personal NMLS ID. If an existing page using that NMLS ID has been created, you may need to contact Zillow directly to regain access to an old account or mark use of the NMLS ID as fraudulent.

From there, you can click on ‘Profile’ and begin building your Zillow page by adding a profile photo and your professional information, including contact info, licenses, and social media accounts. You can include company information and promote your personal brand in the ‘About Me’ section.

How to regain access to your account

As is the case with any other social media account, there can be several reasons that you may not be able to access your Zillow account. If you’ve lost your password, you can visit the Zillow Sign In page and click ‘Don’t Know Your Password?’. Once you provide the email address you used to sign up, Zillow will send a password reset link to that email with instructions on how to update your password. If you have forgotten which email account you used to sign up as well, you will need to contact Zillow customer service or the Zillow help desk directly for assistance.

If you believe your Zillow account may be compromised or if your email and password information has been stolen or hacked, you should contact Zillow customer service immediately. You can help protect yourself by logging into Zillow, clicking the Zillow icon, and selecting ‘My Zillow’. From there, you can choose ‘Settings,’ ‘My Account Settings,’ and finally ‘Edit Email’. There you can change your preferred email & password and render your old login information obsolete and unusable for any fraudulent criminal elements.

How to edit your account

You’ve created your Zillow account and built your page by adding your licenses, contact info, and so on. But what if you need to change or update some of the information that prospective clients or industry peers can see? No problem - editing your profile page is very easy! All you need to do is log in to Zillow, click on your profile photo, find the category that you need to edit, and change the information there.

Editing the listings that you’ve posted on your page may be a little trickier. These are not actually managed or editable on Zillow itself. If the email address that you use for Zillow matches the email address used for your listing feed, Zillow automatically syncs your listings from your MLS or brokerage and lists them on your Zillow page. Any time your listing is updated, the updates automatically show on your Zillow page after several minutes. However, if a listing needs updating, that must be handled at the source, not Zillow.

How to delete your account

If you decide that Zillow is not going to work for you, Zillow does have a deactivation option. Log into Zillow, click your profile photo, and select ‘Account Settings.’ Click ‘Profile’ and then ‘Deactivate Account’. Zillow will ask you to choose the reason you are deactivating your account - for internal purposes - from a drop-down menu. Once you select a reason, click ‘Deactivate Account’ again to make your request official.

Deactivating any Zillow account is reversible and the account can be reactivated at any time if you choose to rejoin Zillow in the future. If you are concerned about online privacy and desire a more permanent solution when it comes to erasing your Zillow digital footprint, you can instead choose to delete your data. This can only be accomplished through contacting the Zillow Privacy Help Center. After verifying your email and confirming that you wish to permanently delete your Zillow data, the Help Center will begin the deletion process, which may take up to 45 days to complete.

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With over 230 million monthly users, Zillow is an enormously powerful tool that can help anyone buy, sell, list, and research properties around the world. For homeowners looking to sell or rent your property, families moving across the country looking for a home to buy, agents wanting to post listings in a high traffic site, or loan officers researching a property for a mortgage loan, there are oodles of options available by a click of a mouse on Zillow. Its easily-navigable and user-friendly interface, along with the sheer volume of data points and useful tools, have made it the most popular real estate website on Earth. If you’re an LO needing clear and concise property information fast and easy, there’s no better place to start than Zillow.