Letter to MR. Rich Barton, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Zillow Group Inc. - Disposition Plans for Properties

Letter

Dear Mr. Barton:

We write to request information and raise serious concerns about Zillow's disposition plans for properties in its current portfolio. According to numerous reports, Zillow is in the process of winding down its home buying division--Zillow Offers. As Zillow exits its iBuyer business, the company is reportedly in discussions to sell 7,000 properties for approximately $2.8billion to institutional investors. These large-scale property sales have the potential to destabilize local real estate markets and leave local buyers with few affordable options for buying a home. Troublingly, these types of sales have the ability to concentrate property ownership in the hands of a few, corporate-driven, out-of-town landlords with little meaningful connection to communities.

In recent years, a number of large companies, often with private equity backing, have acquired single-family homes and converted them into rental properties. According to reports, Zillow is in "advanced talks" to sell some or all of its portfolio to Pretium Partners--a private equity company that follows this model and has a troubling track record. Numerous tenants haveraised concerns about Pretium and its affiliates' property management. Residents have reported serious flooding issues, vermin infestations, and other unsafe conditions in homes managed by Pretium's property arms. Additionally, they have reported that Pretium's managers are often unresponsive, and that tenants frequently face payment difficulties or seemingly predatory billingpractices. While Pretium has pledged to address some of these issues, many residents continue to report significant concerns. We also note that in at least some areas of the country, these harms have been concentrated in communities of color, exacerbating longstanding inequities andlimiting homebuying opportunities.

Testimony at a recent hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee suggests that such practices and impacts are widespread among institutional investor rental companies and local markets in which they have a significant footprint. In light of these concerns and to better understand Zillow's disposition plans for its properties, we request responses to the following questions no later than November 19, 2021:

1.As of the date of this letter, please provide the number of iBuyer properties Zillowintends to sell. In your response, please list where each property is located and the price Zillow paid to acquire the property.
2.Please describe what steps, if any, Zillow has taken to sell its remaining iBuyer properties to individual buyers or community-focused non-profits.
3.Since January 1, 2020 to the present, how many properties has Zillow's iBuyer program sold to individual buyers, community-focused non-profits, and institutional investors? In your response, please provide a detailed accounting of the number of units sold to each.
4.Does Zillow intend to allow local buyers a "first look" opportunity to buy properties, similar to first look programs offered by the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac?

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

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