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Zillow now allows homeowners to modify data

This morning I received an email from Drew Meyers over at Zillow about a pretty substantial update to their site or as they call it "Z2". I'm sure the hope was that I'd blog about it on ActiveRain and contribute to Zillow's Internet buzz, it worked. Whether you like Zillow or hate them it's an interesting enough piece of news that I thought it was worth mentioning, and getting the reaction...

This morning Zillow announced on their blog that they now allow homeowners to modify data about their home, as well as make comments and provide their own estimate of value. There are 3 different ways a homeowner can verify that they actually own the home depending on what data Zillow has that range from simply selecting the legal owners name from a list, to emailing in a copy of the deed, title, or mortgage statement.

Homeowners may modify the basic data about their home such as bedrooms, bathrooms, sq. feet, etc if it is incorrect. They then allow homeowners to create a customized estimate of their homes value by specifying any upgrades/downgrades that have been made to their home along with an estimate of value. This customized estimate may be displayed along with the Zestimate and homeowners can also add comments about the home.

I think the hope is that this new feature set will start to improve the accuracy of their "Zestimates" and also make their site much more sticky for the consumer (target audience). At the same time, it's surely going to further alienate the real estate professionals that already see Zillow as trying to cut into their services. In fact I noticed this quote going through the tutorial, "Real estate agents dazzle clients by pulling comps for their homes. Well, guess what? Now you can too!"

It will be interesting to see the reaction from the real estate community, but I'm sure the consumers are going to love it...

Update: There is a great post over at the Sellsius real estate blog talking about the can of worms Zillow may have opened up with this feature. One thing Zillow is great at, that is getting everyone talking :)

Posted by Matt Heaton on 09/20/2006 12:45 PM

Comments (23)

zillow, real estate technology, real estate news, web 20

23 Comments on Zillow now allows homeowners to modify data

SEP

2006

The majority opinion here is that most agents would like to Kill-ow Zillow. Most encounters with consumers who have accessed and used their data typically come away with an inflated perceived value of their home compared to actual market value. And now that they themselves can subjectively manipulate data that is suspect to begin with, how can they hope to have meaningful, accurate information?

Things sure are getting interesting....

Rich Jacobson, www.KitsapLife.com

Zillow is still bogus in my opinion. Values are unrealistic. With these new changes it will get even worse.

Seems to me that the Zillow results will even be more suspect if homeowners can provide their own estimates of value. How many of you have had well-informed FSBOs and sellers who knew the market well enough to spout out an accurate value estimate. And with the changes in so many markets, can this actually make it better or will Zillow be even more confusing and erroneous.

Zillow is a great concept, but I agree with the other comments that the values just aren't accurate enough.

Hopefully some of the new implementations will help move things in the right direction. But consumers still need to be educated that a true value can only be placed on a property be a licensed professional. There are just too many factors to consider...

Zillow has helped me! After someone checked the value of their home they called me and I told them it was worth more and got the listing which sold quickly. Thanks for the inaccuracies zillow! Keep it Up!

Okay, so we go to a doctor. We have symptoms that concern us and we're looking for a diagnosis. We'll rely on this diagnosis to choose the proper treatment. Said physician, placing his clasped hands on the desk that separates us, says, "or you can modify the data and come up with your own diagnosis." He smiles. Fade to black.

I think not!

I read this on Sellsius° Blog this AM, and the blog Sellsius° Blog heard about it from... and now on Zillow...

Zillows data should reflect the reality of the homes. If it's got three baths the seller should be able to correct that on Zillow. If there's been an addition to a home Zillow should reflect that and if it doesn't a seller should be able to correct it.

What will be fun is the seller who wants to believe the square footage of their home is more than it is. The owner who wants to include basement square footage in a market where the square footage quoted does not reflect finished square footage below grade and those owners who just get real creative with square footage.. if that is something that can be changed with the changes in Zillow.

I've looked at Zillow values on a lot of homes that are on the market, and those that have just sold... the thing is the beds, baths, square footage in most cases seem fine but the homes sell much higher or much lower than the values that Zillow establishes.

It is the UnZillowable (see Sellsius° Blog for a definition) things that seem to have the value Zillow sets not match the reality of the sale price of a home. Read Sellsius° Blog for the things that make a home Unzillowable, busy streets, noise, colors, smells, history, celebrity, competition, being the "est" house on the street... any of the ests.. biggest, nicest, smallest, ugliest that render a home Unzillowable.

I think it will be a fun place for consumers to play on the internet and the new changes will keep more sellers from being "Zillowed" in the sense that the Realty Times Article referenced a few weeks ago.

Checked out the new features and it still is inadequate at best. Good luck FSBOs.

Zillow makes my job easier. All I have to do is give the clients a couple of examples of Zillow's inaccuracies and the client easily comes to the desired conclusion, yes, we DO provide a valuable service.

Great, another on of those guys. Our hope is to see Zillow go billie up. I do not see why these companies do not get it. Too many hands sends the accuracy out the window.

I dont' know if my comment will help because i see Zillow in the same light as most of you seem to.. I have looked up everyone on my block, my family and friends. I haven't run into one place that was correct on price or size, rooms, bath, etc.. Seems like all they are is the county assessors website with lots a colors and graphics.

I knew this post would kinda be flame bait if you will :) You see I need to propel myself up the blog rankings and needed lots of comments to do it... Just joking...

My opinion is Zillow provides service right now that is more of a game to consumers than a really truly useful tool. Changes like this will definetly help to draw more consumer eyeballs to their site, but do I really think it will help make their valutions more accurate or useful, not really.

As a consumer I like Zillow, it's fun to play with, but I also know enough about real estate to know to rely on their information for decision making.

Unless Zillow has some big future plans outside of simply home valuation tools, I don't see much hope of satisfying their investors.

I don't seem to have a problem with Zillow like a lot of agents do. I don't think they'll ever take the place of human-generated home valuations. I kind like freedom of information on the net.

I've actually "Zestimates" to my advantage. In a listing presentation, one seller said, "But according to Zillow, my house is worth X!"

I was able to show him what Zillow couldn't. Gave me a chance to display both internet and real estate "savvyness" to our new client.

Zillow, Zillow, Zillow. Still trying to get it right. Thank yous are in order to this company that has so badly got it wrong they are now asking the homeowners to help!!

Example - Home listed this spring for $60,000 more than Zillow said it was worth. Sold full price. 2 months later this home was still off base. Now the same home Zillow says is worth $20,000 more than it actually is!!

Unrepresented sellers, REALtors have REAL value.

Fear not fellow realtors. This company will be their own undoing.

Guess I wasn't logged in when I posted this earlier. Bear with me!

Corrina Westermann www.iknowhomes.com

I agree with most of the above. Property appraisal at best - is subjective and, at worst - mechanistically assembled without subjective interpretation. We will not be replaced by Zillow, but by another agent who is willing to take the time to do a thorough, detailed and professional assessment of a property. Too many agents do a perfunctory search of a subdivision, find 2 or 3 properties somewhat similar or the same model as the subject property, guess at upgrades and/or differences, recommend a price a couple of thousand higher than the last one sold and then wonder why it doesn't sell right away.

Whatever it is good or bad, but it's definitely off...... a lot. I've just sold a home in one community that was about $40,000 off from what Zillow said.

hmmm, I used to think of Zillow like a horoscope. Fun to read, evern more fun if it seems true, but I wouldn't make a major life decision based on it. Now to be able to use that analogy I have to be able to re-write my own horoscope. I guess it would be just as accurate as those silly Zestimates or a weather forecast.

SEP

2006

http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/Scripts/Coverpage.dll/index

The city of New York has every property record on their public website. Type in an address get the sale price, and copies of every document associated with that property. The real deal.

Most areas of Ohio have very accesible public records, the "real deal" as Mitchell calls it. Public access to public records. Much of the country has that, except the states that have laws against it...

Zillow is more than sale info... you can find Zillow's estimate of value on something that has not sold in four decades. It is more than tax records that are publicly accessibe too.

Zillow is not accurate but it is a lot of infomation.

Many home owners and FSBO's are self proclaimed real estate experts as it is. Allowing them to "fluff" their property descriptions is just going to increase the inaccuracies. IMO

SEP

2006

Is anyone aware of the exact number of FSBO related lawsuits in the courts right now?? I'm thinking it's not a low number, especially compared to agent assisted transactions... oh! And what about the fact that if there is a lawsuit and a real estate agent is involved, normally The AGENT is going to be the one (unfortunate for the agent) being sued, not the seller! (Just a thought)

This article states it quite nicely:

http://realtytimes.com/rtnews/rtcpages/19990802_fsbo.htm

SEP

2006

Zillow is a fun site to look at, and it's exciting to learn about your neighborhood, but frankly, the numbers are innaccurate, and allowing under-informed homeowners to modify already innaccurate numbers makes the site more of a joke than a reality. But I did look up my own neighborhood :)

OCT

2006

Why fight zillow. I think the new CMA that they have developed is fantastic-and it's real time.

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