Zillow launches home-buying hub

Zillow launched a hub that guides buyers through four milestones — setting a budget, finding a home, making an offer and closing — pulling goals, finances, tasks, documents and a buyer’s agent and lender into one place that updates automatically.

The hub displays BuyAbility (a real-time affordability tool updated with live mortgage rates), local market insights and the buyer’s agent and loan officer team. It’s live on iOS and Android, coming soon to Zillow.com.

Three additional features round out the launch. Zillow Preview lets soon-to-be sellers show listings to the full Zillow audience before going to market, through more than 1,200 participating brokers. Verified Pre-approval from Zillow Home Loans factors taxes, insurance, HOA fees and closing costs into what a buyer can afford. A shared collection feature gives buying partners one workspace to save and compare homes.

“Zillow has spent 20 years turning on the lights in real estate, giving buyers and sellers access to information they’d never had before. The next frontier is the journey itself: the financing, the coordination, the offer, the closing. For the first time, every home shopper on Zillow has a single place that brings it all together, so instead of wondering what comes next, they always know exactly where they are and what to do.” – Zillow CEO, Jeremy Wacksman.

As a side note, Zillow’s renters insurance is sold through Zillow Insurance Services (ZIS). Policies are underwritten and issued by Homesite .