Popularized in a hilarious Saturday Night Live skit, the act of scrolling through listings like a dating app on a Friday night — Zillow surfing, to the uninitiated — has continued despite the end of stay-at-home orders.
The act of escapism that is visually rifling through a stranger’s home and imagining how your furniture would fit actually grew by unbelievable amounts. According to Zillow, the website that uses MLS data to market to home buyers had more than 9 billion visits to the website and app in 2020.
Taking it Past The Screen
Zillow says that 75 percent of their survey respondents have Zillow surfed or used Zillow specifically to find unique, odd, or luxurious homes (you know, House Porn).
Overall, 83 percent surfed Zillow just to look around, with no plans to even get a pre-approval letter. Some Zillow surfers have taken their lookie-loo tendencies past the screen: Approximately 45 percent have actually toured a home in person with no plans to even humor the agent with an offer.
House Porn Addiction?
Surely, you’d think that these people would run out of things to see or get too bored, but nope! More than half of respondents said they use Zillow on a weekly basis. On average, these folks are hanging out and staring into people’s homes two hours at a time. And surprising to absolutely no one, 62 percent of respondents said that — oops! — they lost track of time while swiping through listings.
Zillow Dreaming And Zillow Snooping
Of course, Zillow surfing naturally leads to “Zillow dreaming,” which I imagine is like daydreaming but with House Porn.
More than a quarter of respondents (28 percent) admit that they have ignored what their partner was saying when they were Zillow surfing and 26 percent admit having chosen Zillow surfing over intimacy or sex.
Now, in Texas, the sales price of a home is not disclosed. However, 62 percent of Zillow’s respondents said that they looked up a friend’s home on Zillow to see what their purchase price was. And 62 percent of respondents said they looked up a neighbor’s home on Zillow to see what the house looked like inside.
Even more interesting? Thirty-nine percent of respondents said they snooped on their boss or manager’s home via Zillow.
Are you still Zillow surfing or are you on the Open House circuit? Tell us in the comments!
