Zillow adds user generated house data
Magnus (The Believer)Found a post on Techcrunch about Zillow starting to add user generated data to its Zestimate on Wednesday morning (I assume that is Seattle time, so another 6-8 hours). Actually they are providing two zestimates; one based on public records and one on user generated data.
As put by Michael at Techcrunch "I would expect people to be aggressive about updating Zillow information when they put their home up for sale".
So situations like the one "about a seller who immediately pulled his home off the market after a prospective buyer confronted him with a Zestimate $500,000 below his assessed value. His conclusion is that Zillow.com has made his home unmarketable." Read more here at BloodHoundBlog.
Update at 9 a.m. CET
Just after completing the post above Drew (active blogger at DrewMeyersInsights and Zillow employee) found me being online over Skype and we started chatting. Drew told me that the new release (called z2) has been launched (a few hours before deadline). Zillow's Chairman and CEO Rich Barton has posted an entry on their blog about their thoughts.
Here you found how the update process is executed. You first has to prove that you are the legal owner. There are three ways of doing it, including faxing(!) legal documents to Zillow. Could be quite an effort for Zillow to handle internally if millions of homeowners prefer this method. Finally, I guess all brokers will put some "pressure" on the seller to update their home at Zillow before putting the house on the market.
Update at 8.30 p.m. CET
US has waken and so has the Real Estate blogosphere. One know what was going to happen... Zillow does something and quite a few people have very strong feelings about it.
The non-believers;
Bloodhoundrealty (you have to give him credit for his consistency)
Sellsius
Charlottesville
The believers;
Robbie at Seattle's Rain City Guide
AnyGeo
RealEstateCoach
My call? Believer to 100%.
If I were moving to US, I would indeed be using Zillow. Should I take the Zestimates for granted? No, but it is for sure a better starting point then nothing moving to a new place. Especially by comparing different suburbs to each other (the heat-maps are brilliant).
It seams that some people take credit of the new functionality added on Zillow (see the comments on the techcrunch post). Please, don't underestimate the people at Zillow. I don't know about their product roadmap but I'm absolute convinced that this has been on their horizon from the start. I also believe Ardell at Seattle Rain City Guide is on to the next step in her comment to this post...
Reader Comments (5)
http://blog.sellsiusrealestate.com/?p=1708
We are not the only ones who believe in unzillowables
http://blog.sellsiusrealestate.com/?p=2000
So, for us, it is not a question of believer or non-believer. It's what's better? Zillow or a professional with fresh complete & accurate data? We respect anyone's right to choose zillow as better.
I appreciate the link. I have to agree with those at Sellsius. My problem with Zillow is that it is claiming to do something that it cannot, namely, accurately and consistently value homes. Adding owner comments and input doesn't really help the problem, and could expose the whole system to possible fraud. Their valuation model falls short, and their solution could make the problem worse.
BTW-- I am going to add your site to my blog roll. Nothing like some real estate input from across the pond!
However, my opinion is that you both underestimate the users of Zillow.
I believe the users know that there is a better way to get a good value. That is to bring in one (or even better, three different) appriasials to evalute their building. (well, that is next best to put it the house on the market).
But guess what, they maybe don't have the interest in doing that.
Instead they are more interested to do their research themselves. Which is normaly done by running around to collect your own comps, visiting house on sold and so on. Then starting to create your own Excel spreadsheets solutions to get a grip of the market (like the founders of zillow did.)
It is this type of analysis that I believe that Zillow will be helping me to do better. For example by creating My Zillow pages.
It will not be as good as an apprisial but if I've just started to plan for a move to a new city it's good enough for me. The day I'll purchase a house there I maybe will use both an agent and a apprisial, but not right now.
BUT the problems still remain vis-a-vis the accuracy, completeness and freshness of THAT PUBLIC DATA. It needs to be checked by real people.
Computers can't self-verify the public data as accurate, complete or fresh. You must realize this major point.
Now that owners can adjust, is an admission of these flaws. So what are you to surmise for homes where owners did not adjust?---are they correct or not? No way to know unless you go to the home.
Consider that zillow will not have the number of beds & baths on a property but nonetheless give you a zestimate---totally worthless in my opinion. If I gave you a value & left out the beds & baths I suspect you would call me inept. But you excuse the computer to be inaccurate simply because it's free & easy. That is the problem--easy & free should not excuse inaccuracy in an area where accuracy is prized. Do not accept a higher degree of error just because it's free---BTW, the professional CMA is also free. You get a real person to explain the unzillowables, like the current market conditions & market pool or upcoming events. Does zillow know whether the home is in the path of newly proposed highway to run right past the front door. Of course not. But guess who does? The local broker.
Besides the inability to ascertain public data accuracy, completenss & freshness just by looking at your computer screen, the many & varied Unzillowables are not factored in & they can be HUGE. Get a pro to point them out.
The zestimates are at best general ballpark figures but certianly no one I know buys property based on ballpark figures.