ZILLOW: HERE WE GO AGAIN?: It was just 18 months ago that Zillow announced it was shutting down its home-flipping business, which had posted a cumulative $880 million loss. Now Zillow is piloting another housing innovation by offering to let home buyers make a downpayment of just 1%. Zillow Home Loans will contribute an additional 2% to the downpayment. The pilot program is just being offered in Arizona to first-time homebuyers who make no more than 80% of the area’s median income of about $70,000 in Phoenix for a family of four. Will it have a meaningful impact on homeownership? Color me skeptical.
An iffy new offering from Zillow
By Thomas K. Brown,
ZILLOW: HERE WE GO AGAIN?: It was just 18 months ago that Zillow announced it was shutting down its home-flipping business, which had posted a cumulative $880 million loss. Now Zillow is piloting another housing innovation by offering to let home buyers make a downpayment of just 1%. Zillow Home Loans will contribute an additional 2% to the downpayment. The pilot program is just being offered in Arizona to first-time homebuyers who make no more than 80% of the area’s median income of about $70,000 in Phoenix for a family of four. Will it have a meaningful impact on homeownership? Color me skeptical.