Does Zillow Actually Stand for Zero Income Leads, Lots Of Wasted Time?
After the last few months at our office, we are fairly convinced the answer is yes. And before anyone comes for me in the comments, I say this with genuine love and respect for every Realtor in this market. This business is hard. But we need to talk about what is happening out there with Zillow leads, because it has gotten to a level that is equal parts frustrating and almost impressively creative.
Let me paint you a picture. A Realtor reaches out to schedule a showing on one of our luxury listings. My assistant Denita, who at this point has seen more fake proof of funds documents than a federal fraud investigator, politely asks if the buyer is pre-qualified. The Realtor goes silent for a moment, and then confidently responds with one of the following. And I promise you, every single one of these is completely real.
Option one. They send a screenshot of a bank account from their buyer's iPhone showing $10,000,000 sitting in a checking account. Sir. Nobody with ten million dollars in a checking account found their dream home on Zillow at 11:47pm on a Tuesday. Nobody. That is not how generational wealth works. That is not how any of this works.
Option two. They send a bank statement with the buyer's name completely blacked out. So what you have sent us is a document that proves absolutely nothing except that someone in your client's life owns a black marker. Congratulations. That does not get us to closing.
Option three. They send a statement from an overseas bank that appears to have been founded sometime last Thursday, with no verifiable phone number, no physical address, and a logo that looks like it was designed in Microsoft Paint by someone who had never seen a bank before in their life. We are not saying it is fake. We are just saying we cannot verify it, which means it might as well be.
Option four. They send a cryptocurrency wallet screenshot. We truly appreciate the enthusiasm for Web3 and the decentralized financial future. We do. But our seller needs to close by the end of the month, not wait for the market to recover, the blockchain to confirm, or Bitcoin to have a good week.
And then there is the absolute classic. Our personal favorite. The one that never gets old no matter how many times we hear it. The Realtor who calls and when Denita asks for proof of funds responds with complete and total confidence, "Oh my buyer is paying cash so they don't need to provide anything." That is not how any of this works. Cash buyers are actually the ones we verify most carefully, because literally anyone can say they are paying cash. My seven year old could say he is paying cash. The words "my buyer is paying cash" are not proof of funds. They are four words. Four very enthusiastic, completely unverified words.
Here is what a Zillow lead actually is. It is a person who could not sleep at two in the morning, picked up their phone, clicked on a beautiful listing, and filled out a contact form with approximately the same level of financial commitment as adding something to an Amazon wish list. That click does not make them a buyer. It makes them a person who liked what they saw. Our sellers are real people who clean their homes, rearrange their work schedules, arrange childcare, and put their lives on hold to accommodate showings. They deserve better than a Zillow lead with a blacked-out bank statement and a crypto wallet as collateral.
So before you call Denita, and trust us she has seen absolutely everything at this point and remains somehow still cheerful about it, please have a real conversation with your buyer first. Get an actual pre-qualification letter from a legitimate lender, or a proof of funds document on official bank letterhead with a real name, a real account number, and a phone number that actually rings at an actual bank. That is the entire ask. One simple step that protects your buyer, our seller, and everyone's time including your own.
We are always going to be your best partner in a transaction and we mean that with everything we have. We just ask that you bring a real buyer to the table before you bring them through the front door. Now let's go sell some homes the right way and leave the Zillow screenshots exactly where they belong, in the trash folder, right next to the blacked-out bank statements and the Microsoft Paint overseas banking documents.
Wyatt Poindexter | Managing Partner | The Agency Oklahoma City & Tulsa | 405-417-5466 | www.OKLuxuryHomes.com | 31 years of selling Oklahoma's finest estates and homes | Elite Guild Member of The Institute of Luxury Home Marketing | One of the top 5 luxury realtors in all of Oklahoma for over 15 years | #1 Realtor in Oklahoma by Volume
