Zillow - How Inaccurate Data Could Harm Your Homes Value

Zillow recently announced that they will be listing homes for sale on their web site.

On October 26, 2006 Zillow came under fire by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). NCRC publicly filed a consumer protection complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. They are alleging the, “Internet financial services and real estate provider Zillow.com is misleading consumers, real estate professionals and financial service providers in on-line home valuations. ” You can view the NCRC’s complaint on their web site (www.ncrc.org). It was a bit comical that this filing stirred so much attention and controversy. Real estate agents have long known that Zillows estimates (which they call, “Zestimates”) are often inaccurate and should not be used to asses the value of a property.

On December 7, 2006 Zillow announced an upgrade to their site. This upgrade includes a posting feature that allows for individuals and agents to post real estate listings on the site. As Business 2.0’s blog indicates Zillow is, “stepping squarely onto Trulia’s turf.” Trulia along with Craigslist, Google Base, Vast, PropSmart, Edgeio, Oodle and others are all currently fighting for being the predominant internet search tool for real estate listings.
As a Realtor who worked in advertising prior to becoming an agent, I find that a seller looking to put their home on the market should have their agent submit their property to many of these real estate search tools. I usually live by the expression, “the more exposure your property gets the better.” Yet, in terms of Zillow’s new listing search tool, I think posters should proceed with caution. Zillow is now marrying listings with its inaccurate estimate data. This inaccurate data may have a negative impact on a sellers listing.

Real estate agents need to keep on top of new advertising avenues for their clients. It is our responsibility to generate the maximum positive exposure for the listings we promote. I currently utilize many of the new services for advertising a listing online. I track the traffic that comes from each service and I use this data to better serve my clients.