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Zillow buries the zestimate

Back in 2006 when home values were all the rage at cocktail parties or church socials, Zillow made its debut with the zestimate, an automated valuation tool that was pretty much off by thousands of dollars but it really didn't matter much, it was just for fun. Same with "make me move" where you could put a ridiculous price on your home and hope somebody didn't care about reality and bought it anyway.

Fast forward to today and Zillow has evolved to a highly viewed real estate and mortgage search site that now sells advertising to generate leads to real estate agents and mortgage lenders even if their listings aren't as accurate as what you would find searching the Charleston MLS through a Charleston real estate agent's IDX feed on their website.

So if you want to be a "lead", go ahead and search there and deal with the inaccuracies but you really don't want to be a lead, do you.  

Here's a screen shot of the new home page:

zillow 

Published Monday, April 11, 2011 7:19 AM by Howard Arnoff

Comments

# re: Zillow buries the zestimate

Good one, Howard! That nails it. Consumers aren't GETTING value (or even accurate info) using sites like Zillow or Trulia . . . they are GIVING value to become a lead. And so are the agents who pay to be on those sites.

Monday, April 11, 2011 8:07 AM by Candice in AZ!

# re: Zillow buries the zestimate

thanks Candice, good to hear from you, I hope all is well.

Monday, April 11, 2011 9:28 AM by Howard Arnoff
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