THE CASE AGAINST ZESTIMATES--CASE CLOSED??
I know this is an emotional issue, at least it is to me and everyone else out there who have been harmed by the Zestimates put out there as valid assessment of value on a piece of real estate.
The public is up in arms--as much as they can be with so little knowledge about what Z has really done and is doing with information about their properties they are trying to sell! The article here, by Geekwire tells the whole story.
If you want to be informed you MUST read this: JUDGE DISMISSES CASE AGAINST ZESTIMATE IN ILLINOIS
The case was brought forward again, and again it was dismissed--Turns out Z has a huge lobby in Washington!
Some of you may remember my posts early on as I went through my own struggle with these 2 websites.
As a frame of reference for my outspoken posts against the Z platform, I want to tell you about my own experience with them.
In 2009 I decided I had to sell my home here in the Village of Southampton. After listing the house on our in-house listing system I found out that it was appearing on Z and T and the information was inaccurate....They were using my rental price as a sale price!! I had cars lined up in front of my house all day--looking and wondering how this house, so near the ocean was under $100k!!
This went on for months and there was no way to correct the problem--to take the listing down in other words, even by removing it from their system! They (Z and T) had the property information incorrect as it was and that was it.
So,I was forced to go on to the websites as the owner and correct the information. That is exactly what they wanted!
GOTCHA!! That is how it works--I was tricked into going on their site and giving them my data--ALL ORIGINAL CONTENT about my property!! See how cunning they are?
The next thing I knew, they were showing the price correctly but right under the real price was what was called a "Zestimate" and the price shown was way off the real value!
I tried to again fix the pricing problem ---nothing! I fought them tooth and nail and they never did adjust the zestimate to anywhere close to the real value of my property.
I ended up taking a whole lot less than the real market price of the property when it did sell in 2013--because of the crazy, inaccurate and damaging "Zestimate". The buyers who contacted me or other local agents were all informed and fore-armed with the Zestimate price as a tool to pay the "real price"!!
SUM AND SUBSTANCE
So that is where this started with me--I have never forgotten the battle I fought, as a homeowner!! As far as I am concerned these tech companies are out to just raid the homeowners property data, take money from the greedy agents who do not want to do the real work to get their own leads and to break the back of all brokerages in the country! All to eventually sell their brand and platform to some other firm and clean up by selling OUR content for BILLIONS to another entity who will, in turn do even more to destroy the real estate brokerage business, using our own content to do it!--
Just watch!!
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