Now, everyone knows that professional Realtors cannot lie about a house.  Sure, we can make it sound pretty attractive when, in fact, it's not all that pretty. We can say "some TLC needed" when you really need FHA 203(k) and a good contractor but we really can't lie.  It's against our Code of Ethics.

Home sellers, on the other hand, are not bound by the Code of Ethics.  They are bound by their own, personal moral and ethical code of behavior. That might be stricter or quite a bit more, er, flexible.  Or, as some would say, "situational".  In the case of someone wnating to sell their home the situation demands, er, flexibility.

Enter Zillow and the "claimed by owner" tag for listings that Zillow grabs from our local MLS.

It seems that I entered into a Listing Agreement with a client and dutifully took photos and entered data into the MLS.  Now, in the case of this particular home, I really didn't need to "puff" it up too much.  It's in good shape with lots of nice upgrades.  However, the Seller went into Zillow and "claimed" the listing and proceeded to edit some of the details.  I didn't realize this until a potential buyer started asking me about this and that and the other and I was, like, "huh?".

The bottom line, here, is that we, as professionals (and me, in particular) really need to keep on top of sites where the home seller has access to make changes to the marketing of the house. 

Yes, I know. Their hearts are in the right place and, really, all they want to do is sell their home.

To the genreal home buying public: don't believe everything you read.  Not the nice things in the "claimed by owner" listings and certainly not the "Zestimate".