Zillow.com Sued
For the past year or so, many real estate agents, residential buyers and sellers have talked to me about Zillow.com, an online house-pricing service. They have told me that they no longer require a formal Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). They simply look up house prices on Zillow.com and use them.
I have looked at Zillow.com on several occasions but never found the information to be as accurate as the pricing guidelines developed when I completed a formal CMA. I've told many people that I did not trust the Zillow.com information platform, found data to be out of date, and have advised them not to use the service whenever accurate pricing is required. I know of no professional appraisers or mortgage companies who rely on or allow Zillow.com pricing data.
On October 30th, a non-profit group filed a complaint with the United States Federal Trade Commission against Zillow.com. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) says Zillow.com is misleading consumers, lenders and real estate professionals.
NCRC says Zillow.com is accurate less than 30 percent of the time and that this causes "substantial injury to consumers nationwide when they consider selling their home." Zillow.com provides online data on the value of about 68-million American homes.
Moreover, the NCRC feels that Zillow.com is more prone to underestimating the value of homes in low to moderate income areas than in more expensive neighborhoods.
Zillow.com said the complaint is groundless. Zillow said its web-based service is designed merely as a "starting point" for those who want to learn more about house values.
I would point out to the professional real estate agents and brokers who read this blogsite that we are not hired to give data on house values as a "starting point". Our opinions on matters involving real property can be considered the opinions of an expert, and as such the public is allowed to rely and act on our opinions. Since Zillow.com, by their own admission, offers only a starting point in property valuation, I would advise professionals to use the figures with extreme caution and to continue the good practice of preparing in-depth CMA's as a way to accurately advise your clients and protect the interests of the public in general.
For more information on real estate in the Tampa Bay area, visit my website at www.TheStPeteRealEstateSite.com.
I have looked at Zillow.com on several occasions but never found the information to be as accurate as the pricing guidelines developed when I completed a formal CMA. I've told many people that I did not trust the Zillow.com information platform, found data to be out of date, and have advised them not to use the service whenever accurate pricing is required. I know of no professional appraisers or mortgage companies who rely on or allow Zillow.com pricing data.
On October 30th, a non-profit group filed a complaint with the United States Federal Trade Commission against Zillow.com. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) says Zillow.com is misleading consumers, lenders and real estate professionals.
NCRC says Zillow.com is accurate less than 30 percent of the time and that this causes "substantial injury to consumers nationwide when they consider selling their home." Zillow.com provides online data on the value of about 68-million American homes.
Moreover, the NCRC feels that Zillow.com is more prone to underestimating the value of homes in low to moderate income areas than in more expensive neighborhoods.
Zillow.com said the complaint is groundless. Zillow said its web-based service is designed merely as a "starting point" for those who want to learn more about house values.
I would point out to the professional real estate agents and brokers who read this blogsite that we are not hired to give data on house values as a "starting point". Our opinions on matters involving real property can be considered the opinions of an expert, and as such the public is allowed to rely and act on our opinions. Since Zillow.com, by their own admission, offers only a starting point in property valuation, I would advise professionals to use the figures with extreme caution and to continue the good practice of preparing in-depth CMA's as a way to accurately advise your clients and protect the interests of the public in general.
For more information on real estate in the Tampa Bay area, visit my website at www.TheStPeteRealEstateSite.com.
-30-
posted by Terry Ward at 3:44 AM
1 Comments:
Hi Terry, it's David G from Zillow.com.
I just wanted to point out that Zillow has not been sued -- the NCRC merely sent a letter of complaint to the FTC whose decision it is whether to act on the complaint. As you'll read on our blog, this group had not contacted Zillow with their concerns. We have subsequently called the NCRC and are scheduled to discuss their concerns sometime soon.
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