Here’s Why Everyone Is Getting Into the Home-Flipping Business

Earlier this month, real-estate listings portal Zillow Group Inc. announced it would start buying and reselling homes in Las Vegas and Phoenix. With Instant Offers, sellers who upload information about their home can get a bid from the company in as little as two days.

Here at last was a whiff of real disruption in the residential real-estate market. Over the past two decades, selling stuff in your attic, finding odd jobs, even listing a used car online has all become as easy as pointing and clicking. Almost alone, selling a house has remained stubbornly analog. You hire a real-estate agent, spend time repainting the walls and clearing out on weekends for buyer tours, then pay 5 percent to 6 percent of the sale price and try to recover from the most stressful transaction in your life.