Zillow Now Has DMs, and They Might Actually Be Useful
I’m going to say it: there are too many messaging apps. There’s WhatsApp, Messenger, Snapchat, Discord, Signal, Telegram, and iMessage (if you’re on iPhone), and that’s it. dedicated chat apps. You may need to track new posts on Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and even Spotify. If I install an additional application with a messaging function, I go out of the network.
It turns out that another chat-free app joins this list. Tuesday, Zillow—yes, Zillow– announced that its app will now also support messaging. Starting today, you can message people in the app you use to check out homes you’ll probably never buy. We live in interesting times indeed.
Of course, Zillow’s goal is not to become the next WhatsApp. In fact, you can only choose to chat with one other person on Zillow, at least that’s the case for now. The idea of Zillow messaging is strictly to discuss listings you find through the app, without needing to leave Zillow to do so. The goal of most app developers is to keep users on the platform for as long as possible. So there’s a cynical argument to be made here for Zillow to trap its users in the app. If you don’t switch to another chat app to talk about a listing, you’re more likely to interact with additional homes on the app.
But I actually see the logic here: If you’re in a real estate market with lots of listings, you’re probably sending out a number of them every day to interested parties, namely the person you’re buying the house with. Keeping these conversations in the same app as these listings could be a smart way to keep track of all these homes, instead of the usual routine of “wait, which house was that? I can’t find the text you sent me.” And the fact that Zillow currently limits this experience to a single chat partner means you’re not going to be texting a number of people about homes in your area. This seems designed so that people trying to buy a home together will do so with a little more convenience.
How to try Zillow messaging
This functionality is available from this article. To get started, open Zillow on your smartphone or in your web browser. On the app, tap “Inbox”; On the web, click your profile at the top right, then choose “Inbox.”
What do you think of it so far?
To start a conversation, you must invite the other person to join you. To do this, choose “Invite Now,” which will bring up a pop-up about the feature. This screen explains that the invite link is valid for 24 hours and that you can only invite one person at this time.
Credit: Lifehacker
Choose “Share Invitation” and Zillow will let you share it wherever you want. You can copy the link and paste it into another chat app, or choose a destination where Zillow will share the link directly.
