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Zillow adds FaceTime SharePlay to browse homes with friends
Zillow has updated its iOS 15 iPhone and iPad apps with SharePlay support, letting you browse homes with other people on Facetime.
Zillow makes it easier to rent an apartment while social distancing
Prospective apartment renters can tour properties, apply for a lease, and conduct all paperwork and payments online.
Zillow's new search tool helps find housing for those in need
Escaping homelessness is an enormous undertaking, not least because so many landlords and property managers have strict criteria for new tenants. Those that have been homeless are often unable to provide rental histories or sizeable deposits, for example. Now though, property platform Zillow is teaming up with a housing company in Washington to help tackle the problem.
Zillow's 3D home tours are available across North America
You might have an easier time getting a feel for a home the next time you're looking for a new place to live. Zillow has finally made its 3D home tours available across the US and Canada, letting real estate agents spice up their listings through an iOS app. The basic concept remains the same -- sellers create 360-degree panoramas of rooms (either with an iPhone or though a Ricoh Theta V or Z1 camera) and let the app stitch them together to create a "seamless" tour. It's not a VR tour, but it could help you save the in-person visits for the homes that truly catch your eye.
Zillow will flip houses on its own internet marketplace
Zillow is no longer just a real estate marketplace that can help you find your next home -- the company has decided to become an active participant in the field. In an announcement today, Zillow has revealed that it'll flip houses in Phoenix and Las Vegas starting this spring. The company has teamed up with local brokerages in those areas to offer sellers money for their homes. If they accept, Zillow will make repairs and then list those houses on its own marketplace as quickly as possible.
Zillow is adding 3D tours to its real estate listings
Zillow is working on an app that will allow those hunting for homes on its site to get a 3D tour of houses they're interested in buying or renting. The company says that 44 percent of home buyers and 47 percent of renters look for a new home outside of the region where they currently live, making it really important to have access to as much information as possible online.
'OK Google, Shazam this song'
Siri started handling song queries when iOS 8 arrived, and now Google's voice commands recognize Shazam as a prompt to do the same on Android. That's right, Android devices now recognize the "Shazam" command, in addition to "recognize" or "name" for "track," "song" or "tune" identification. It's not the only one either, as a few other apps like NPR One, TuneIn, Zillow, Flixster and TripAdvisor (a complete list is here) are also enjoying early access to the Custom Voice Actions feature. Previously you could search apps that way, but with this access developers can get more specific. It seems like the perfect kind of feature to use along with something like Android Auto, just when your phone is slightly out of reach.
The science of language, community, and MMORPGs
Back in August, Massively wrote a little post about Swedish research on MMOs and language learning. That article provoked me, a gamer and teacher of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), to hunt down the original research and talk directly to the researchers, Dr. Liss Kerstin Sylvén from the University of Gothenburg and Dr. Pia Sundqvist from Karlstad University, to better understand their research and findings. Note that we'll be talking here about games and language learning specifically, not other forms of game-related education. Also, Sylvén and Sundqvist don't consider themselves "gamers." Sundqvist remembers Pac-Man as her first game, both admit to playing Angry Birds on their cell phones, and Sundqvist is "allowed" to sometimes watch her 17-year-old son play League of Legends. I find this interesting because they are non-gamers who seriously consider games capable of being educational without specifically being developed to do so. This isn't a simple merger of a hobby with work; this is work in a field of interest that's still being explored.
Zillow's app can now help you buy a house instead of just look for one
Zillow has been the most popular real estate app since it was released for iOS in April of 2009. It helps you find a house, providing real estate details, pricing, and photos. Today, the Zillow Mortgage and Real Estate apps on iOS are being updated, and these new versions enable home shoppers to get pre-approval on their loan in just a few minutes. That feature is particularly useful on the Zillow Real Estate app. Shoppers start by filling out a simple questionnaire online using the app. Once they receive initial quotes from lenders, the user can elect to have the lender pull their credit report information. If the home shoppers meet guidelines, they will receive a mortgage pre-approval letter directly on their mobile device, which they can save, print, email or share with their agent and home sellers. "Home buying can be extremely competitive today due to inventory shortages. Having the ability to get a pre-approval letter instantly can make the difference between getting the home or losing it to a buyer who is better prepared," said Erin Lantz, vice president of mortgages for Zillow. "With this tool, we are able to streamline the pre-approval process from days to minutes. Securing pre-approval shows real estate agents that a buyer is serious, and it provides our users an enormous advantage when searching for a home." The company says it has had 83 million unique visitors last month to its mobile apps and website. More than two-thirds of Zillow visits come through the mobile apps the company provides. The Zillow apps require iOS 6 or later and they are universal.
Zillow Mobile appraises real estate on the go
Say you're passing by, oh, Pharrell Williams' house and you're just dying to know what that puppy's worth. You know Zillow's got your hookup, but normally, you'd have to make a note of the address and run back to your PC or fumble around with their website on your phone's mini-browser. A new project by the company, Zillow Mobile, lets you simply fire off a text message with the address and get back the home's value and vital stats in real time. Zillow says the system is still a side-project for the moment and may not be rock solid, but we think this'll be a neat tool for serious use and entertainment value nonetheless.
