Nothing feels more intimate than seeing the inside of someone’s home. From the architectural features to relaxing bedroom decoreach house provides an insight into the life and personality of those who live there. And Zillow, an app designed to help renters, buyers and real estate professionals, has become the ultimate tool to satisfy this voyeuristic curiosity without ever stepping foot.
Whether I’m snooping around a friend’s new home or reveling in the details of a multimillion-dollar house I pass on the street, Zillow tells me everything I need to know about a person: how much money they have, whether they’re home gym people, or if they have an affinity for West Elm rugs.
“People who stalk Zillow are often looking for a glimpse into someone else’s world,” says psychologist Reena B. Patel. “They might be curious about what someone else’s house looks like and how they live, or they’re just curious about how much they paid for the house.”
Of course, on Zillow I satisfy my obvious curiosity to know everything about everyone around me. But the universal experience of being a “Zillow peeper” goes even deeper than that.
Experts featured in this article
Reena B. Patel is a psychologist and board-certified behavior analyst.
Why do people love to crawl on Zillow?
People use Zillow for many reasons, and to be honest, it’s rarely because they really want to rent, buy or sell. “One of the main reasons people find themselves sneaking onto Zillow may be to compare their own life to someone else’s,” says Patel.
For the same reason I crawl on other social media platforms, Zillow gives me unlimited access to a lot of information about someone that I wouldn’t otherwise have. If I want to see what my ex is up to, I can feel better about myself when I see the grungy townhome he shares with six other brothers. If I want to check how much my neighbor’s house is selling for, I can do that too. And for my ultra-competitive cousin, I can see how much she spent on her apartment – purely out of curiosity, of course. . . and maybe so I can bring her up for Thanksgiving this year.
Zillow has become the ultimate tool for satisfying this voyeuristic curiosity without ever stepping foot.
On a deeper level, browsing through homes on Zillow also allows me to explore lifestyles other than my own. On Zillow, I don’t live in a house with my boyfriend in a suburb of Kansas City. Instead, I explore what it would be like to live in a beachside villa in South Carolina or a high-rise apartment in New York.
To imagine my life as one coastal grandmother on Zillow sometimes inspires me to make it my reality. It makes waking up to my work day a little more worth it. But in other cases, scrolling through Zillow is just a relaxing form of daydreaming — a compilation of “wow, what if?” moments I have over and over again.
Peeping isn’t just a thing for me. It is truly a universal experience. On an episode of Bravo’s “The Valley,” Janet Caperna shared her love of looking at Zillow, saying, “Obviously, I’ve looked up my friends’ houses on Zillow. Every time I get an address, the first thing I do is go into Zillow and give a little tour of the house myself.” Honestly, relatable. And also TikTok influencers Tinx admitted that he did it as a check before the first date.
That said, don’t be ashamed of your desire to sneak around on Zillow, even if it makes you feel like you’re on a non-consensual virtual tour. “It’s a normal feeling to be curious and have a desire to know more about someone,” says Patel.
That said, if your Zillow-watching starts to feel like an “obsession” or something that “occupies your mind,” that’s when it might not be so healthy anymore, Patel says. Then it might be best to talk to a mental health therapist about your underlying motives and feelings.
Ultimately, whether out of curiosity, comparison, escapism, or inspiration, using Zillow to crawl might just be the most underrated form of self-care of all time. Who needs Instagram, Facebook or Venmo, when I can see who chooses to sleep under popcorn ceilings?
Taylor Andrews is a Balance Editor at PS specializing in topics related to sex, relationships, dating, sexual health, mental health and more. During her six years as an editor, she has written about how sperm is digested, why after-sex care is a step, and how the overturning of Roe killed situations.
