12/16/09

Zillow just added rental properties to its real estate listing site - or, more accurately Zillow has now sanctioned, organized (we hope) and added features to rental listings that had already been creeping onto the site unsanctioned. For quite some time it's been the case that in a search for property without a minimum price chosen you'd inevitably end up with homes for sale whose prices showed as $600 or $800 or perhaps $2500. These turned out to be rentals, or sometimes timeshares. Nothing on the listing indicated that, but when you called the realtor - yep, it was for rent.

Now rentals have their own place, and their own search, for things such as pet-friendly communities and assigned parking. There's also a nice sale/rental crossover in its comparison calculator. A consumer can look at rentals and homes for sale in the same neighborhood and then calculate the cost of renting versus owning. There's a Q&A feature so you can ask questions of the owner or property manager, as well as information on the schools, crime and such for the neighborhood you're considering, in case you're relocating and don't know the area. When looking for a rental, the user can save her or his favorites and set up e-mail alerts when new listings are added that meet chosen criteria.

Zillow has also added a property manager directory, and a discussion forum. Featured rental listings are $9.95 for 180 days.

Accessing the rentals is no different than house hunting on Zillow. You simply check the rental box, and choose whether you want single family, condo or townhome, modular, or all three. You can also check the for sale box as well, for the comparison. There aren't many rentals right now, and the ones there have only been up for two days. We found no listings yet in Phoenix or Philadelphia but one in Los Angeles.

The question now is whether Zillow will go back, find the rental properties listed as sale properties, and insist they re-classify correctly.

Here's the press release, with a few more details.