🏠 Zillow ROI Chrome Extension – Help Guide

Welcome to the Zillow ROI Chrome Extension, your smart assistant for analyzing real estate investments directly on Zillow! This guide walks you through all features, how to use them, and tips for maximizing value.

🔍 What Does the Extension Do?

The Zillow ROI Extension enhances your Zillow browsing experience by:

📊 Calculating ROI (Return on Investment) for listings

💡 Estimating Rental Income using rent factor or custom rent

📁 Exporting Data to CSV or Google Sheets

📈 Sorting by ROI to find the best deals

⏳ Auto-scrolling & Scraping multiple listings

🧠 "Smart ROI" Insights based on actual expenses

🔔 Alerts & Notifications when scraping is done

✅ Skipped Listings Report with reasons (e.g., missing price)

🧭 How to Use the Extension

1. Install and Pin the Extension

• Install from the Chrome Web Store

• Pin it by clicking the puzzle piece (🔧) and selecting the pin next to Zillow ROI
  
  
  

2. Navigate to Zillow

• Go to https://www.zillow.com and search your desired area and apply any filters.
  
  
  

3. Click the Extension Icon

• Open the extension from the toolbar

• You’ll see the popup interface with scraping and export options
  
  

⚙️ Features & Settings

• ✅ Start Full Scrape

• Automatically scrolls through all results and gathers data

• Scrapes key info: address, price, taxes, HOA, rent estimate, and more
  
  
  

🔝 Top 10 ROI

• Sorts all results by ROI and shows you only the top 10 best investments
  
  
  

💰 Set Custom Rent or Rent Factor

• Choose between:

• Rent Factor: Multiply property price by a % (e.g., 0.8%)

• Manual Rent: Enter your own expected monthly rent
  
  
  

🧮 Estimated vs Actual ROI

• ROI is calculated using:

• Estimated Rent

• Expenses: Mortgage, Taxes, Insurance, HOA

• Adjust inputs to refine ROI accuracy
  
  
  

📤 Export Options

• CSV Download: Save results to a local CSV file

• Google Sheets Export: Log in and send the data to your own Sheet

• Each file includes:

• Address, Price, ROI, Rent Used, Skip Reason (if any), etc.
  
  
  

⏳ Progress Indicator

• Shows real-time status of scraping

• Spinner and message update as listings are processed
  
  
  

⚠️ Skipped Listings Report

• If listings are skipped due to missing price or bad data, they are logged separately

• Download skipped report with timestamp to review issues
  
  
  

🛠️ Common Questions

• Q: Why do some listings get skipped?

• A: Usually due to:

• Missing price, rent, or tax info

• Zillow HTML structure errors

• Listings that are ads or promoted
  
  Q: Can I update values after scraping?

• A: Not yet, but editing results in Google Sheets is easy after export.

🧩 Planned Features (Coming Soon)

• 📍 Heatmaps for best ROI areas

• 🧠 AI rent prediction from similar comps

• 🗓️ Scheduling automatic scrapes

• 📊 Visual ROI charts in the popup

• 🧾 PDF report generation for properties
  
  

📊 How Auto-Calculate Rent & Expenses Works

The Zillow ROI extension can automatically estimate monthly rent and property expenses based on available Zillow listing data. Here's how each part works:

💸 Auto-Calculated Rent (Estimate)

By default, the extension estimates rent using Zillow’s Rent Zestimate (Rent Zest) if available on the listing.

• ✅ If Rent Zest is available:
  We extract it directly and use it as your monthly rent.
  
  

❌ If Rent Zest is missing:
We fall back to using a rent factor:

Estimated Rent = Property Price × Rent Factor

•  Example: A $250,000 property with a rent factor of 0.8% →
  $250,000 × 0.008 = $2,000/month
  
  
  

You can customize the rent factor or override the rent manually in the settings.

🧾 Auto-Calculated Expenses

The extension estimates common ownership costs based on Zillow listing data:

🏦 Mortgage - Based on listing price, 30-year loan, user-specified interest rate (default 7%)

🏠 Property Taxes - Extracted directly from Zillow’s “Tax History” or “Monthly Cost” section

🧾 Insurance- Flat user-defined monthly value (default: $100–$150)

🏢 HOA Fees - Pulled from Zillow’s HOA field (if listed); $0 if not present

💰 Total Monthly Expenses - Mortgage + Taxes + Insurance + HOA

📈 Final ROI Formula

ROI = (Annual Rent – Annual Expenses) ÷ Purchase Price

Where:

• Annual Rent = Monthly Rent × 12

• Annual Expenses = Total Monthly Expenses × 12

• Purchase Price = Extracted Zillow list price
  
  

📌 Example

Let’s say a home is listed at $300,000, with:

• Rent Zest = $2,100/month

• Taxes = $3,000/year

• HOA = $50/month

• Insurance = $100/month

• Mortgage at 7% interest

The extension would calculate:

• Annual Rent = $2,100 × 12 = $25,200
  
  

• Annual Expenses ≈ Mortgage ($22,000) + Tax ($3,000) + HOA ($600) + Insurance ($1,200) = $26,800
  
  

• ROI = (25,200 – 26,800) ÷ 300,000 = -0.0053 = -0.53%
  
  

In this case, the ROI would be negative, indicating an unprofitable investment — which helps users quickly weed out bad deals.

📐 Manual Calculation Using Rent & Expense Factors

Monthly rent and expense factors — a simplified method for deal screening.

📊 What Are Rent & Expense Factors?

Rent Factor - A % of the purchase price used to estimate monthly rent

Expense Factor - A % of the monthly rent used to estimate monthly expenses

These let you skip Zillow estimates and manually input your assumptions, like:

• Rent = Purchase Price × Rent Factor

• Expenses = Rent × Expense Factor
  
  

🧮 Formula Using Factors

1. Monthly Rent =
   Purchase Price × Rent Factor

2. Monthly Expenses =
   Monthly Rent × Expense Factor

3. Monthly Cash Flow =
   Monthly Rent – Monthly Expenses

4. Annual ROI =
   (Monthly Cash Flow × 12) ÷ Purchase Price
   
   

Step-by-step:

• Monthly Rent = $250,000 × 0.008 = $2,000

• Monthly Expenses = $2,000 × 0.5 = $1,000

• Cash Flow = $2,000 – $1,000 = $1,000

• Annual ROI = ($1,000 × 12) ÷ $250,000 = 4.8%
  
  

🎛️ Where to Set Factors in the Extension

1. Open the extension popup

2. Choose “Rent Factor Mode”

3. Enter your:

   • Rent Factor (e.g., 0.75%)

   • Expense Factor (e.g., 45%)
     
     

4. These will apply to all listings unless overridden manually
   
   

🧠 Why Use Factor-Based Estimation?

• Fastest way to screen hundreds of deals

• Great for “rule of thumb” analysis

• Avoids Zillow data inaccuracies

• Makes your ROI model consistent across markets
  
  

📄 How to Export to Your Own Google Sheet

You can export your Zillow ROI data directly into your own Google Sheet. Just pick the sheet and tab from a dropdown in the extension popup.

🧾 Step-by-Step: Export to Google Sheets

✅ Step 1: Create a Google Sheet

Go to https://sheets.google.com

Click Blank to create a new spreadsheet

Give it a name like Zillow ROI Tracker

🔓 Step 2: Share the Sheet

Click the Share button in the top-right

Under “General access,” select:

🔄 Anyone with the link → Editor

Then click Copy link (optional — only needed if auto-detect fails)

📋 Step 3: Use the Extension

1. Open the Zillow ROI extension popup

2. Click Login with Google (if not already signed in)

3. The extension will automatically load your Google Sheets and display a dropdown

4. Select the desired Spreadsheet and Tab

5. Scrape data and click Upload to Google Sheets
   
   

✔️ The data will be written to the selected tab.

🔐 Privacy Note

Your Google Sheet ID and tab selection are stored only in your browser using Chrome’s secure local storage. They are never sent to any external server.

🚫 Common Issues & Fixes

❌ Export fails: Make sure the sheet is shared with “Anyone with the link can edit”

❌ Permission denied: Click “Login with Google” in the extension to ensure you’re authenticated

❌ Data doesn’t appear: Confirm you selected the correct tab and that it’s not hidden

❌ Still using old version?: Reload the extension and enable permissions if prompted

💬 Found a Bug?

Email us at: info@lillyleotech.com
Website: www.lillyleotech.com
Twitter: @lillyleodoodle