Zillow offloading dozens of homes in Jacksonville; what this means for homeowners

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Real estate giant Zillow is offloading dozens of homes in the Jacksonville area.

This comes after the company announced it is no longer buying and flipping houses.

Action News Jax counted 58 Zillow-owned Jacksonville-area homes up for sale on the company’s website.

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“That was a Zillow home, and now this is a Zillow home,” David Shilby said, pointing to two houses on his cul-de-sac off Kernan Boulevard.

Shilby said one of his neighbors sold to Zillow and “got a great deal.”

The company had entered the iBuying business, making offers on houses using an algorithm to predict the home’s value and what it could sell for.

As it turns out, Zillow’s home-flipping business flopped.

While Shilby doesn’t think the influx of Zillow homes hitting the market is a bad thing, his neighbor, Janet DiPalma, worries about property value.

“It’s a very quick flip, they replaced the carpet, went on the market real fast, it’s sat there for quite a while now,” she said.

DiPalma says the Zillow home on her street has sat empty for four months. She worries if it stays unsold any longer, its price will drop -- ultimately bringing down the property value of her home.

“You wonder who’s gonna be moving in,” she added.

Broker Kevin Noel and realtor Lindsey Denmark don’t think Zillow will release the homes at a low price to resell them. The team says the houses could actually increase neighbors’ property values.

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“Zillow came in, purchased the home, fixed it up, and now they’re taking care of it, so in a sense they could be only increasing the property values surrounding the homes,” Noel said.

As for Shilby and DiPalma, they’re both hoping for the best.

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