Zillow - It's Alive!
Yes, It's Alive! And after previewing Beta Version 1.0, I have discovered that much like Dr. Frankenstein and his little science project, the Zillow crew definitely has their work cut out for them.
Zillow has gone online as of today with the stated goal of trying to place a value (called a “Zestimate” in Zillowspeak) on every house in the country, and making that valuation information freely and openly available to consumers without any registration requirements. Zillow's business model will be advertising based, generating its revenues from ads on the site.
Zillow claims to have found data and information on 60 million homes around the country, with enough data and information to enable its statisticians and engineers to algorithmically make a Zestimate on 40 million of those homes, with a reported margin of error of 7.2%.
I found the available data for Michigan to be spotty at best. The first property I looked at was in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, which according to Zillow is located in Washtenaw, rather than Wayne County. Oh well, I guess the two counties are pretty close to each other. When looking at the Zestimate, comparable sales were pulled from Southfield, Michigan, which for anyone unfamiliar with Metro Detroit is like comparing Beverly Hills with El Segundo.
The Zillow crew has definitely undertaken an ambitious project, and openly acknowledges that with a database exceeding 2 terabytes in size, there will undoubtedly be errors. The major challenge for Zillow will be obtaining accurate tax assessment and property sale information to populate their database. It sounds like Zillow may be joining local MLSs to try and obtain property and property sale information datafeeds. Zillow will undoubtedly have an awesome commodity on their hands once their nationwide property information database has been compiled. Hopefully we will all still be alive by the time that database is complete enough to actually provide us with reliable property valuations nationwide.
We’re Live! Zillow.com, the Beta, Launches! [Zillow Blog]
Zillow has gone online as of today with the stated goal of trying to place a value (called a “Zestimate” in Zillowspeak) on every house in the country, and making that valuation information freely and openly available to consumers without any registration requirements. Zillow's business model will be advertising based, generating its revenues from ads on the site.
Zillow claims to have found data and information on 60 million homes around the country, with enough data and information to enable its statisticians and engineers to algorithmically make a Zestimate on 40 million of those homes, with a reported margin of error of 7.2%.
I found the available data for Michigan to be spotty at best. The first property I looked at was in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, which according to Zillow is located in Washtenaw, rather than Wayne County. Oh well, I guess the two counties are pretty close to each other. When looking at the Zestimate, comparable sales were pulled from Southfield, Michigan, which for anyone unfamiliar with Metro Detroit is like comparing Beverly Hills with El Segundo.
The Zillow crew has definitely undertaken an ambitious project, and openly acknowledges that with a database exceeding 2 terabytes in size, there will undoubtedly be errors. The major challenge for Zillow will be obtaining accurate tax assessment and property sale information to populate their database. It sounds like Zillow may be joining local MLSs to try and obtain property and property sale information datafeeds. Zillow will undoubtedly have an awesome commodity on their hands once their nationwide property information database has been compiled. Hopefully we will all still be alive by the time that database is complete enough to actually provide us with reliable property valuations nationwide.
We’re Live! Zillow.com, the Beta, Launches! [Zillow Blog]
posted by Stefan J. Scholl, J.D. - Exclusive Buyer Agent at 2/08/2006 11:05:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home