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This Zillow update makes home shopping easier
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This was a rough year for Zillow. The company wanted to flip homes to make big cash, so its algorithm bought up properties like hotcakes — but the whole affair flopped.
On Nov. 2, Zillow reported a third-quarter net loss of $328 million. On the bright side, that means many of its homes are selling for low prices. Tap or click here for Kim’s guide to home shopping.
If you’re looking to buy a new home, you may want to get some other opinions. Thanks to a new Apple update, you can browse homes with other people over FaceTime. Here’s how to get started.
It’s super easy
On Oct. 25, Apple dropped a major Mac update called macOS Monterey. It came with a ton of high-tech features, including SharePlay, which lets you listen to music, watch movies and share apps over FaceTime.
Thanks to Zillow’s decision to add SharePlay support to its iPhone and iPad apps, you can now browse home listings with your friends from afar. (Try saying that three times fast.) This might seem like a strange feature to add, but it makes sense when you consider home buyers’ browsing habits.
Zillow says 86% of its users like to browse listings with roommates, spouses and friends. This new feature makes it easier to do, since you can look at homes with someone even if they’re far away.
Here’s how it works:
- Make sure you’re running the latest software (currently iOS 15.2 or iPadOS 15.2) by tapping Settings > General > Software Update
- Tap or click here to download the Zillow app from the App Store
- Start a FaceTime call
- Swipe up from the bottom edge, look for the Zillow app
- Tap SharePlay
Once connected, you can search together, explore maps and view galleries in sync. Just make sure your friends or family members are also running the latest iOS/iPadOS and have the Zillow app downloaded.