Questions about home photos hold the dubious distinction of being one of Zillow Advice’s most over-asked popular questions. Whether you want to delete, enhance or just critique them, knowing how Zillow manages your home photos can save you a lot of trouble.
How Zillow Gets Photos – We receive photos of properties from two sources: brokers/agents, who send them to us automatically with their listings feeds; and from you, the homeowner, who bravely uploads them to Zillow. We at Zillow do not gather them ourselves. We do not have a robot that searches the Internet for them.
How To Add Photos Yourself – The simplest way for the average user to add photos to their home details page is to log in and claim their home (if they haven’t already). Then, on the home details page click the [Add|Edit Photos] button on the “Bird’s Eye View” bar (See Fig. 1). If there are already photos there, the bar will read “Photos”. Either way, click and upload away. When you’re done, don’t forget to mark the box where you promise you’re the owner before you click “Save Changes!”
Who Exactly Can Add Photos? – Short answer: only you the homeowner/home seller, or your agent. Strangers or random people are not allowed to post photos of someone else’s home. An individual who pretends to be someone else, claims a home and uploads photos is seriously violating Zillow’s Terms of Use, and is in for trouble.
… Lies. How’d That Photo Get There, Then? – Err… the long answer is that sometimes a property has old photos from a prior owner, or another agent who listed that home on Zillow. You can delete your own photos, but for the time being, you can’t delete someone else’s old photos. You need to flag the photo so our staff can get rid of it for you. Flag it by clicking the little Flag button under the photo.
Finally, How Do I Rearrange and Delete My Photos? – Click [ADD|EDIT PHOTOS], then click/drag the photos around to rearrange their order. You can also click “Remove” on any photos you’d like to kill off. Do so carefully: officially, Zillow can’t restore them. And as always, don’t forget to check the “… ownership” box and click “Save Changes!”