Zillow (Wake county) facts and figures...

[Chris Martin]

Zillow started operating (buying) in Wake county in 2019Q1, specifically on 3/14/19 with a $312,000 purchase. Since Zillow doesn't hold property in their own name, and the holding company names that are disclosed by Zillow don't match the county records, I missed the initial Zillow buys/sells. My calculations are based on Zillow's holding entities, which I believe are correct since the address matches Zillow's offices in SEC documents. 

Zillow, at the end of 2019Q2, owns 51 properties compared to 226 owned by Opendoor. Zillow ownership is in two different LLLPs. The graphs show that Zillow purchases on average are newer than Opendoor's and are larger in heated square footage. Opendoor counts in BLUE, Zillow in RED. 

The ranges of the above graph are as in the last post (on Opendoor). Because of the large number, percentage wise, of Zillow acquisitions over 3000 sq.ft., I expanded the graph:

The average square footage for an Opendoor property is 2,068 and for Zillow is 2,589. The average acquisition price for their current holdings (end of second quarter, 2019) is $266,396 for Opendoor and $338,167 for Zillow. Historic Sales total for Zillow: 28. Opendoor: 801. Zillow bought 82 properties in 2019Q2 vs 225 for Opendoor. Inventory for Zillow, based on recorded transfer price, is $16.2M and for Opendoor is $60.2M. 

I looked at Zillow's 4 acquired properties over 4000 sq.ft. To me, they look like mistakes, in that the properties are larger than the overall neighborhood and the price paid seems too high.  Not enough data points yet, but it's a start. 

square feet - price - acquisition date
4,779  $477,000     05/15/19
4,382  $500,000     03/11/19
5,322  $535,000     02/14/19
4,148  $480,000     02/15/19

Upshots:

• Zillow is now an active institutional flipper in Wake county
• Zillow's average acquisition price is higher than Opendoor's, and properties Zillow acquires are newer
• Opendoor has substantially more acquisitions and sales at the moment, by count and dollar value

Disclosures: same as last post