A Bavarian-style castle in Texas. A two-story house built around a rocky cliffside in Colorado. A cozy California cottage that could pass for the home of a hobbit.

From imposing historic mansions to whimsical bungalows, with interiors ranging from quirky to spartan to delightfully over the top, each of these homes is part of Zillow Gone Wild, a social media phenomenon founded by 2005 University of Oklahoma alumnus Samir Mezrahi. 

Mezrahi, who launched the account on Instagram in 2020 as a curated selection of the most click-worthy homes listed on popular real estate website Zillow.com, says he knew right away he had hit on something big. With over 2 million followers, the account is now so successful it has inspired a reality show spinoff on HGTV currently filming its second season. Mezrahi serves as executive producer and licensed the show’s name through Zillow.

“I think Zillow Gone Wild taps into people who might not even know they enjoy real estate. It’s voyeurism about how people live,” says Mezrahi, who crowdsources most of the homes he features from follower submissions. “Often, when I post a home, someone will comment, ‘Oh, I’ve always seen this house and I wanted to know what it looked like inside.’ ” 

Mezrahi started the account when many people were working from home and considering a move due to the uncertainty of the pandemic. At that time, he says, there wasn’t much real estate content on social media. Mezrahi says he knew his idea had traction when Saturday Night Live aired a sketch underscoring the apparent fascination many people have with browsing homes on Zillow. Today, successful real estate brokers have even become media celebrities.

Mezrahi receives up to 100 submissions a day, many of them from real estate afficionados who have a finger on the pulse of their local markets. He develops his content calendar based on a few categories—Mansion Mondays, Mid-Century Modern Wednesdays and Castle Fridays—and the standard for being featured is high. 

“It can’t just be a mansion for the sake of being a mansion; it should be a mansion with a basketball court and a hockey rink,” Mezrahi says by way of example. “If it’s a mid-century modern, it should be well-kept, maybe a Frank Lloyd Wright house, something that makes it stand out.”

Mezrahi has been surprised by the breadth and scale of the U.S. real estate market. 

 “I didn’t realize how many castles people had built in America, ranging from $100,000 to a $30 million castle in Connecticut that’s been on the market for years,” he says. 

A Tulsa, Okla., native who studied accounting and supply chain management at the Price College of Business before moving to New York City to work for an accounting firm, Mezrahi eventually found his niche in social media and content creation. For the next decade, he worked at famed digital news and entertainment media company Buzzfeed, including as social media director, and says time there sharpened his instinct for spotting viral trends. Mezrahi left Buzzfeed in 2023 to focus exclusively on managing and growing the Zillow Gone Wild brand, which also includes TikTok, Facebook, X and YouTube channels and a newsletter.

Lately, he has been trying to scale the business, including by filming videos of real estate properties for his YouTube channel, but says the travel involved is costly and time-consuming. Despite the success of his social media accounts and HGTV spinoff, Mezrahi says monetizing the content—which includes paid partnerships—remains a challenge. 

“Pricing is crazy in the brand deals world,” he says. “A job could be one price and another job could be 10 times more. Trying to figure out budgets and how to get the most for what you’re doing is always an interesting game.”

In November 2023, Mezrahi enjoyed returning to OU to speak about his career and shared insights with students and faculty members during an event jointly hosted by Price College and the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. He encouraged students to aim high and take chances. 

“You just need to work hard and not be afraid to fail,” Mezrahi says. “People don’t know about the social media accounts I started that didn’t work. You have to keep trying, keep tweaking what you’re trying, keep adjusting until something takes off.”

Mezrahi says one aspect of Zillow Gone Wild content creation is especially important to him: Fostering a positive environment on the internet. His audience has taken notice.

“ ‘I come to your page to laugh and see wild homes, things I’ve never seen before,’ ” he recalls readers commenting. “They say I’ve helped them get through tough times.” 

You can follow Samir Mezrahi on social media at @zillowgonewild and @samir.

Alice Popovici is a freelance writer currently living in Bucharest, Romania.

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