This story has been edited to correct the spelling of Tim Merideth's name.

Inman News reports the real estate platform Zillow is stopping, at least temporarily, its iBuying program.

Tim Merideth

Zillow's home-flipping business, Zillow Offers, will stop signing new contracts as "the company addresses a backlog of its properties still in the renovation pipeline," a Zillow spokesman said Oct. 18.

Tim Merideth, broker/owner of Century 21 Ashland and Century 21 Premiere brokerages in Cape Girardeau and Sikeston, said Friday the news "is a bit of a relief," adding Zillow's iBuying program felt like another step in the online real estate marketplace company's effort to "control" the overall market.

Zillow, which launched in 2006, did an estimated $2.7 billion in revenue in 2019, the last revenue figure available.

Merideth added a home buyer or seller is better off with a local real estate agent.

"A real estate transaction for a consumer is a complex and infrequent transaction," Merideth said. "Having a local set of eyes who is competent in the market, knows what local values are and an area's unique set of circumstances provides a degree of comfort and certainly saves time for buyers and sellers."

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