The New Zillow
Now, when homeowners find mistaken information in their listings, they can make updates, and have their information appear immediately adjacent to the public listing information.
Zillow Chairman and CEO Rich Barton was the first person to put it to use. He explains:
The "new" Zillow is excellent in theory. Flawless? No. I'm concerned sellers might have a natural tendency to, intentionally or unintentionally, overstate renovations and house details. Is there a way for Zillow to put in some sort of policing system allowing viewers of property to report accuracy of information? I imagine that's in the works. May help keep sellers more accurate about disclosure of such information. Bravo to Zillow though for making efforts to increase their data and accuracy of information, thereby improving the service that they are providing to the consumer. I'm liking it more and more and truly believe that the team at Zillow has every intention of creating an information product that becomes a leading resource for buyers, sellers, and agents in pricing and trading residential real estate.
Written By:Delilah Boyd
On September 22, 2006 11:44 AM
Zillow Chairman and CEO Rich Barton was the first person to put it to use. He explains:
In my case the public records say that my house has 2.25 bathrooms, when there are really 3.5. Zillow now presents my facts side-by-side with the public record facts. Additionally, I was able to publish My Estimate of my home’s value letting any prospective buyers know that we remodeled 2 bathrooms, added a home office and a laundry room, and did a basement remodel including a wine cellar. I also picked what I think are the most appropriate comparable home sales for calculating the value of my house. I chose to make this estimate public and now Zillow presents My Estimate right next to Zillow’s Zestimate.As some of you know, I have both criticized and praised Zillow on True Gotham and today I have mostly more praise and a tiny bit of criticism for "team Zillow." They are obviously working diligently to improve their product by creating ways to imporve the accuracy of their information.
The "new" Zillow is excellent in theory. Flawless? No. I'm concerned sellers might have a natural tendency to, intentionally or unintentionally, overstate renovations and house details. Is there a way for Zillow to put in some sort of policing system allowing viewers of property to report accuracy of information? I imagine that's in the works. May help keep sellers more accurate about disclosure of such information. Bravo to Zillow though for making efforts to increase their data and accuracy of information, thereby improving the service that they are providing to the consumer. I'm liking it more and more and truly believe that the team at Zillow has every intention of creating an information product that becomes a leading resource for buyers, sellers, and agents in pricing and trading residential real estate.
Good point about sellers inflating their "improvements."
My biggest problem with ads today is the constant "compare recent comps" crap.
Note about unintended consequences:
Owners should think twice about updating their data to increase their home value because of the risk that tax assessors will troll zillow to find these owners & send them a higher tax bill. And what's an owner to do since the owner upped the value & provided the info.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/285883_zillow21.html