As a real estate agent using StreetEasy®, it’s important to keep your account secure at all times. StreetEasy and Zillow® take the security of your account seriously and do everything we can to keep your information safe, but there are additional steps you can take to prevent malicious activity. We encourage you to apply the actions and best practices outlined below.

Password Best Practices

Protecting your account starts with maintaining a secure password. Always follow these password best practices:

  • Create a strong password. A strong password is long (at least 12 characters) and uses a mix of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. It shouldn’t contain any references to personal information (e.g. your birthday, dog’s name) or common words, patterns, or sequences (password, abcd, 1234, qwerty, etc.). 
  • Make sure your password is unique. In addition to being strong, your password should be unique. Choose a password you’ve never used before, and are not currently using for any other account (especially the email associated with your StreetEasy account). Make sure it’s not a derivative of any of your other passwords, too. Once created, don’t use the password anywhere else.
  • Never share your password. You should be the only person who knows your password. Don’t share it with anyone — including members of your team.
  • Change your password every three months.

Fraudsters and other bad actors commonly use a tactic known as phishing, in which they send emails or messages pretending to be from a reputable source and dupe users into revealing sensitive personal information. There are ways to recognize phishing attempts and avoid falling prey to one. Practice the following in regards to emails, messages, or other communications you receive from (or through) StreetEasy:

  • Check all emails you receive from StreetEasy and verify that it’s really us. The best way to confirm is by checking the sender’s email address: it should have streeteasy.com in the domain.

    If you’re using Gmail or Yahoo Mail on desktop, look for the blue checkmark shown below:
  • Look out for any suspicious communications. Phishing attempts can occur over email, but may also come in the form of messages or listing inquiries sent through the StreetEasy platform. Keep an eye out for anything that seems “off”: excessive typos, unusual formatting, strange wording, suspicious links (see next bullet), or requests for sensitive personal or financial information.
  • Check the URL before clicking on a link. Without clicking, hover your cursor over any links contained in StreetEasy communications, and look at the lower left corner of your browser or email client to see the link’s URL. (On mobile, you can hold down the link to preview it, which will show its URL). Check the URL for anything suspicious before clicking. Official StreetEasy website URLs will always contain streeteasy.com. Check for any variations of the domain suffix, too, which should always be .com. Be cautious of external links to something other than the StreetEasy website.

Limit the Amount of Personal Information You Share

Inevitably, you may need to share some personal information — your email address or phone number, for example — in your communications with StreetEasy, or with prospective buyers or renters. However, keep it to a minimum: the more you share, the more risk of fraudsters attempting to use it for malicious purposes. Never share sensitive personal or financial information such as your SSN, date of birth, or bank account numbers. Practice common sense and use your best judgment.

The security of your account, information, and data is important to us, and we take reports of suspicious activity seriously. You can report such activity by emailing [email protected]. Furthermore, our teams monitor activity in several different ways to actively screen for suspicious content, and anything found to be in violation of the StreetEasy Advertising Terms of Service or Zillow Terms of Use is removed from our sites as quickly as possible.