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If You Can't Beat Them ...

Did you know blog posts about Zillow contain tryptophan? Yet we seem to gorge ourselves on the big Z just as we do on the big Thanksgiving turkey every year ...

Which camp did you fall into yesterday ...

Those who believe Zillow just changed our industry, potentially ending Realtor life as we know it?
Those who believe Zillow did not change our industry, and that life will continue?
Those who (historically) couldn't care less what Zillow may do.

And now, which action are you planning are take going forward?

Tilt at the Zillow windmill, pointing out the flaws inherent in the AVM?
Using Zillow's leverage to your own advantage, like a martial arts student using an attacker's momentum against them?
Continue to ignore Zillow and hope it goes away.

(There's also a special category for best effort to get the FTC to contact you about your views on competition.)

I'm not here to either attack or defend Zillow's property estimates. I've seen estimates that were dead on and others that were completely off base, generally because of the quality or lack thereof of the data. But I will say continuing to question the value of the AVM is energy wasted for one simple reason ...

MORE PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT ZILLOW THAN KNOW ABOUT ANY ONE OF US!!

Even if it's all just an illusion, people are coming again and again to see the show. Maybe they're looking for confirmation of their home's (possibly inflated) worth. Or maybe they just need a little aggravation to start their day. In either case, there are more people looking at Zillow than reading our blogs or talking to us. Sad but true.

And so we can continue to beat the drum against Zillow -- It's Inaccurate! It's Misleading! It's Silly! -- or we can take advantage of Zillow's own momentum for our means. And this stretches well beyond simply listing homes that you have for sale on the site (though I'll happily take the exposure as long as it's free ... and possibly longer if they're able to offer better value than Realtor.Com provides.)

Has anyone ever had trouble getting a seller to price their home realistically? Might that task be easier if even Zillow agreed the sellers' idea of value was out of whack? "Thousands of people are going to see this figure, Mr. and Mrs. Seller ... do you think we'll convince all of them you're right?"

People have become numb to the phrase "below appraisal" - at least locally - because it's difficult to sell many houses at appraised value in this market. Would "below Zillow estimates" work better? (Keep in mind, I'm not doing that myself as I'm a coward ... but I still ask.) What about a sign rider ... Zee it on Zillow? (Maybe I've had too much Chick-Fil-A sweet tea this morning.)

We all have only a limited amount of time and energy to expend. In Tobey's case, it's about eight minutes a day unless there is cheese involved. My two cents ... invest wisely and search for the leverage you can use to boost your own business.

Posted by Jonathan Dalton on 12/08/2006 10:37 AM

Comments (33)

zillow, valuation, mls

33 Comments on If You Can't Beat Them ...

DEC

2006

If the professionals are going to continue to fret about the magilla gorilla out there, it becomes the 800 pound version. Zillow is quite capable of blowing their horn without our assistance.

Life will go on - things are ALWAYS changing.

No big deal.

Jon,

I have actually used Zillow as another source for my CMA's. Sometimes, it really helps the Seller with a reality check. True, their comps go too far back, we never pass the 6 month point.

I think, just like FSBO's now are on the MLS (which we pay for), this site is no worse. It is another cost opinion search engine. The more the merrier. As the market changes, Realtors with skills, education and experience will remain strong, no matter what other tools may be available, face to face is the best tool there is.

Zillow as Thanksgiving Dinner?

Viral Marketing is indeed working and we are helping it work. The issue isn't one of stopping the process, it's more probable that the success stories will be those that decide to do the same thing for themselves

The Zillows have been coming and going for 11 years now. I plan to

1. Out think them
2. Out work them.
If all else fails, I'll
3. Out live them.

I very happily posted my listings on Zillow the more exposure for my listings the better. The values posted by zillow don't mattter to me I have an appraisal background and know doing an appraisal is not pure science. What I like is the traffic to my listings.

Pricing is an art not a science. I could care less.

Yesterday I was commenting that I won't blog about Zillow anymore because I think I will generate more leads by just writing about my local market.

Maureen McCabe pointed out that zillow is a good bait word along with the local market key words to generate leads.

As long as Zillow is off limits to folks that use the Safari browser, I will be forced to not use it regularly! I am a Mac user and rarely do I boot up in Windows mode so... they have kept me (and other Mac users) in the dark about how they are progressing.

Good post.

It may be Zillow that changes the industry. It may be another company. Disruptive technologies are notoriously difficult to predict (I wrote a post about this on my Real Estate Investors blog). But one thing for sure: industries evolve.

Many of the arguments that real estate agents are making against Zillow.com right now are remarkably similar to the ones made by stokbrokers against E*Trade and travel agents against Expedia.com and Travelocity.com. These industries didn't disappear, but a lot of travel agents and stockbrokers did - they were the ones that couldn't adapt.

I respectfully disagree with Lenn (above) ..no one outlives an evolving market.

It will not displace us. It will never do what we do. It is merely a tool. I plan to include all listings on it for the benefit of my selling clients.

Zillow has raised $57 million dollars in venture capital. So, they have some money to play with. Our website vendor, Diverse Solutions (http://www.diversesolutions.com/) created a product using the Zillow API and featured our website on the Zillow Blog at http://www.zillowblog.com/zillow_blog/api/index.html

...which is giving us a some more traffic...which is kind of nice.

I think when it comes down to the nuts and bolts...people are going to want to deal with people...there are many people that are turned off from the Internet and/or have no interest in it.

Scott

We can use zillow as another tool in our own arsenal. Take advantage of the exposure they can give to us!

I put some of my listings on Zillow today. Most of the listings, looked at least within some sort of round about of their zestimate. But I did post one, and then took it down right away, when zillow zestimate said $150,000 on a property that the list price was $375,000. It was too large of a disaparity for the average person on the internet, without the understanding, to get over. The property had a shack on it, which was demolished and then a $375,000 new construction home was put in it's place. All in 2006. So zillow's data never picked that "new" part up. Anybody looking at the house around here, should just know that $150000 is absolutely wrong, considering you can't even buy a townhouse for that money out here.

Anyhow, I say use it when it is what you believe is accurate. Don't use it when it is detremental. It is a good tool, that just needs a lot of improvement. I just looked up some random newer, but occupied, construction homes by us, and the one week change of value to this houses were about (-$23,000). If people take every thing zillow says to heart, more people would be proverbally "jumping off the nearest bridge."

I say we use it to our advantage how and whenever we can. It's all about how you position it. It won't go away simply because we have issues with it.

Ahh hell, Technology is constantly evolving. embrace folks, embrace. I think I'm going to promot Zillow on my website for crying out loud. Zillow isn't going knock me out of the loop, that's foor sure. I'll ride that bby for all she's worth!

Zillow or no Zillow - we'll continue to be Realtors working with Real People who want the kind of customer service that only real people can provide who work in their industry of "expertise". We may be evolving in history but Robots haven't succeeded in replacing Humans just yet. Hopefully by the time they do, we'll be too old to be selling Real Estate. Until then, we'll continue to be as knowledgeable about our industry as possible and offer the best service our customer's money can buy. To that end I say zillow is just something to be aware of. Thanks for the post though - good reading......

Lisa

For my comment...See Lenn Harley's Comment. :) TLW...ROAR!

Christopher - Lenn will outlast all of us, evolving market or no ...

Maureen - there's a zillow group? You had me at hello and the post has been added

Scott - if people are turned off by the Internet, they're going to hate my marketing plan. I rely on it.

Mitchell - pricing is less art than science when inventories are high and homes look remarkably alike in multiple areas. Real estate is local.

In general, I can't worry too much about whether Zillow will end up with a link from me ... not even I am vain enough to believe what I say or don't say will influence the behemoth in any shape or form. But I'll be happy to go along for the ride ...

Jonathan - Nice promotion via the link in your post! How long did it take to enter the listing information into Zillow?

Jonathan,

First of all, thanks for the link to just changed our industry. Our blog traffic just shot up a few clicks. The operative word in my post is may change the real estate landscape forever. The industry is ripe for change and many are attacking the status quo. The old and stodgy industry types are getting a wake up call. Zillow, Google and the rest are sounding the alarm. Real estate consumers are tired and confused (my opinion) and would welcome something different, easier to understand and value priced. I do not believe innovation will displace agents. It will cause us to think differently and modify our approach to delivering valuable services at a value price with complete transparency. The new generation of consumers are smart, tech savvy and demand explanation of what they get for the price they pay.

The industry is about to experience an "inflection point" - defined as a critical point at which a different direction is established. Zillow just may be the catalyst for change. It may cause realtor.com, brokers large and small and MLS's to awake from a deep sleep and determine they must compete or become irrelevant.

Buyer agency was an industry inflection point (I wasn't a participant at the time but conclude from all my reading that most accepted it kicking and screaming and it took a while to become universally embraced).

I welcome change and the challenge innovators hand us on a silver platter.

I am taking a wait and see attitude about the Z. As of now, I am not a fan or a participant.

I think we have a lot of tryptophanatics out there. Oh, I guess I am one of them since you linked to me. The feeding has certainly begun.

I just don't see Zillow having any impact on a already slowed down market in an urban area like Chicago. Seems to me that as long as Realtors are involved on the buy-side, the impact will have the same weak effect as discount brokerage has--and I've made the same comment elsewhere..."Good luck to anyone attempting to sell a house on their own much less to someone who is represented by an experienced negotiator. And that "Make Me Move" widget...yeah, right.

Ok... so I am a mortgage broker commenting on this one. Yes, Zillow has been beaten to death more times than we want to know, but this new news about them is intriguing to say the least. Free listing service... I am sure there is a catch, but with all the traffic that the site gets (despite its bad rep), why not? I would say go for it and try.

I did see a theme. Does pricing matter.??? Jason....question. Why do some people give things for free? The company is just so so.... but then offer something up?

Possibly because they need to keep those in check...in line.

I remember my first MLS meeting 15 years ago. A long time Realtor got up and said" we need to keep outside and out of town agents out of our MLS". Gee, I thought my job was going to be to do my best to get my seller's home sold. She is still her selling about two houses a year.

DEC

2006

Jonathan,

I like cheese......

Zillow Rocks, Use it Embrace it. How does it Go Prepare to be asimalated Resistance is futile. If you disagree then show your client why zillow is inacurate or better yet ( in case your clients value is accurate ) show them how without the guidance of a true professional ( like yourself ) how zillow is accurate for some and not for others. Therefore A profesional should guide you through the process to guarantee the outcome.

And of course Seller could we please price your property so it will sell and not just languish on the market ? Pretty Please ?

Jonathan,

Zillow may have many many, many faults, but their marketing is not one of them. The started with a buzz about their management, hosted discussions with Inman and even had a competition amount all of us to guidess what their service offering would actually be. As a marketer I view them as an example of how to get attention fast and create buzz.

Barrett at 4MySales.com

Why be afraid of Zillow? Use it to your ADVANTAGE!

Zillow and other AVMs can actually HELP the astute real estate agent.

Poo-poo Zillow all you want, but you can not deny their marketing is absolutely *brilliant**

Jonathan, Thanks for the post. Zillow is not to be ignored or feared. They simply represent another tool with which we can use to get exposure for our portfolio of slow moving properties, in this market. I'm going along for the free ride with the expectation of getting leads, that I otherwise would not have had.

Turkey anyone? First the feast - then the nap - and all down to tryptophan! Jonathan - great post!

MAR

2007

If you can't beat them......."let them bleed". I will be there to pick up the spoils!!! I love FSBO's!!

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