Zillow info doesn’t “pass the smell test”

"Zillow info doesn’t “pass the smell test”  is a quote from a Denver real estate site, InsideRealEstateNews.com about the recent Forbes.com article that used Zillow's info to deduce there were 42,000 listings on the market in Denver Colorado in January 2010, which in part made Denver end up on a Forbes.com list that says Denver is the number two worst selling housing markets in America.  Or that's how people are reading the Forbes.com article with accompanying slide show.... think Forbes says.

Let's get this one out first... Yes Zillow Zestimates Zuck!  This is about Zillow but not about Zestimates.  Thanks.

Kristal Kraft  a Denver Colorado real estate broker said early on the Forbes.com report is "horse pucky."   Kristal's "Zillow Sucks and Forbes Sucks It Up" is a good read.

The Forbes.com writer / reporter / data gatherer now says the story called 'America's worst selling housing markets' does NOT say that Denver is the second worst housing market in America.  I don't know if if does NOT say Denver has the second - worst housing market in the country.  It seems to, to me, it does.

The Denver story is being redone because of local outcry over the garbled facts... it seems the "Zillow info doesn’t “pass the smell test”  but Zillow info  was used because it is for the MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area.)   Isn't it  a fact that the Zillow info included in the Forbes article did not say what Francesca Levy of Forbes thought it said.  John Rebchook writes on InsideRealEstateNewscom writes:

"Levy told me that the article didn’t say that Denver had the second-worst housing market in the country, and she did not mean to imply that, although she could see how people were reaching the conclusion. She said it was based on  a “‘very narrow ” metric.  And that is the rub. She used data from Zillow.com, a large, giant aggregator of real estate information across the country.  Using information on Zillow’s Web site, she found more than 42,000 houses in a 10-county are listed for sale. That is more than double the number of homes listed for sale by Metrolist."

I could be wrong but I think Levy of Forbes.com thought the Zillow info was the number of listings for the whole MSA (MSA is Metropolitan Statistical Area I believe):

All MLS.  All FSBOs.  All Foreclosures.   

Or maybe Levy just thought it was "lots" of  MLS.  And  "lots" of  FSBOs.   And "lots" of Foreclosure because lets face it 42,000 homes is "lots" of homes.  Really "lots" of homes.  There were less than 19,000 on Metrolist (the Denver MLS.)

Zillow does not have all or even necessarily "lots" of  the real estate in a given market but somehow  they added it all together and got 42,000... I think now if I understand it correctly what Zillow is telling the nation about an individual MSA is

"We Zillow in January 2009 had X number of homes on our site.

Today January 10, 2010 we, Zillow have Y number of homes on our site. 

The inventory of homes ON OUR SITE has gone up, down, sideways..."  

Zillow stands by their numbers...   Who cares? That particular  Zillow info really doesn’t “pass the smell test”

America's Absolute worst selling housing markets or maybe not

Image Credit:  Curious   http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/ / CC BY 2.0

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This post provided by Maureen McCabe HER Realtors*

Contact Maureen McCabe of HER Realtors* - 614.388.8249

HER Realtors  Maureen McCabe

Search Columbus mls

email: MaureenatMaureenMcCabe.com  at = @

*Real Living HER

Information is deemed to be accurate but should be verified to your satisfaction.  Information provided herein is supplied by several sources and is subject to change without notice.  Opinions expressed are solely those of Maureen McCabe.