Zillow Changes

[Kassandra RPM Alaska]

My fear has arrived! 

The writing was on the wall that Craigslist and Zillow will soon start charging.  Craigslist is now charging for listing in heavy spam areas like the eastern USA. This week, Zillow announced nationwide they are now charging for each rental ad and their "free" version if very very restrictive and almost non-existent.  It is possible that Zillow will soon only allow paid programs to advertise their listing on their site.  So the "free" landlord programs will be ineffective soon.

 Some good news is that a large portion of leads for Alaska tenants due come from craigslist. Also, Facebook is starting to grow on the list, but the ads are hard to manage and it is very personal. Anyways, as long as Craigslist doesn't charge, we shouldn't see too much of this cost passing onto us landlords. We will need to work together as a group to help fight spam. Spam is what makes craigslist trigger starting fees per property ad. 

We gotta remember that back in the 80's we all posted flyers on community boards and paid for the newspaper. Now, we all post online, but it is starting to charge fees to post ads now.   I should know more about Zillow in the next coming months to share with the group.

@Frank at RPM Everett FYI