“JB” says, ZILLOW SUCKS!

Received this email yesterday:

Now I often get the occasional email or comment from a raving fan. More often than that I get an email or comment from a raving nut case. But I don't think JB is a nut case. I think JB is simply confused, and perhaps ignorant of Zillow, AVMs in general and certainly my opinion of both. I can't speak for Greg Swann — who also was intended to receive this email – though I suspect he'd say roughly what I'm about to, perhaps with some Latin thrown in the mix. (Updated: See Greg's take here.)

Before I go further — and to quash any potential nut case who wants to chastise me for posting a personal email with someone's email address — please be advised that I asked JB if I could respond to his email on the blog. He emailed me back and said, "Sure, why not?".

Indulge me for a moment while I respond to JB…

Dear JB –

Yes, I am a real estate agent. I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm "supportive" of Zillow. I simply do not fear Zillow, and have actually found it a useful tool, especially in listing presentations when a seller says, "But what about what Zillow says my home is worth?"

What the AZ Board of Appraisals is trying to do to Zillow (chiefly, shut it down) is patently absurd. Zillow does not offer appraisals. And they (unlike some other AVMs) even say that on their site (granted, it should be more prominently displayed).

No, I can't see that Zillow is trying to "drive agents out of business". Zillow offers estimates of home values. Real estate agents do significantly more than that. Zillow (or any piece of software) would have a difficult time showing a home, explaining a contract, setting up an escrow account, negotiating price, terms, and conditions of sale, or just about anything else a good agent does.

Furthermore, you can't compare buying a home to buying a plane ticket. All I care about when I buy a plane ticket is getting from Point A to Point B when I want to, as cheaply as possible. And chunks of code are very good as sifting through data and finding me just that.

A home is something just a tad bit more personal than an airline ticket. People tend to want to see a house they plan on living in (yeah yeah, I've sold a few homes to investors sight unseen, but that's an exception). I have no idea exactly why, but people also want to go through their potential home and flush toilets, flip light switches and open kitchen drawers. It's hard to do that kind of stuff through a modem.

For the record, I do not have a "Zillow.com ROCKS!" sign on my car. Heck, I don't even have a Zillow t-shirt (though if I *did* have one, I'd wear it… *cough* *hint* *wink*). I only have two website related items displayed on my car…

Finally, I may indeed be full of hot air at times (I'm not about to link to all of those posts!). And I do find that as I age, I need to hold reading material further and further away. Why just the other night at our anniversary dinner, I told my lovely bride that I was concerned that my arms were soon not going to be long enough to allow me to read. None of this of course is the fault of Zillow. It just is what it is.

Pretty much like Zillow. It just is what it is.

Hopefully that clears things up a little JB… Thanks for emailing!

[tags]Zillow, disintermediation, Arizona Board of Appraisal[/tags]

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Greg Swann

Thanks for posting this. JB got my email address wrong, so it will sit in the spamcatcher on my server until I show up to kill it.

I'll do something on this, too. I've been meaning to do it, but I haven't figured out how to approach it.

Christoph Schweiger

The world of real estate is changing. Buyers and Sellers are more informed. Brokers and agents must be more sensitive to their client’s needs and wants in order to stay competitive. But, like in many industries, the old ways of doing business die hard for some professionals.

Well, I have news for JB:

Zillow will drive agents out of business – the ones who won’t embrace change, the ones who cannot accept the fact that information is readily available on the internet and are not willing to adapt to this reality…..

Morgan

I agree with you and Greg. It is clear that (1) Zillow's Zestimate is not an appraisal and (2) Zillow doesn't sell homes.

The Arizona Board of Appraisal is foolish in trying to make a consumer-oriented AVM out to be an appraisal - and to require Zillow to have an Arizona Appraiser's license to provide Arizona Zestimates. If this precedent was set any mortgage bank worth its salt would be required to hold an Arizona appaiser's license as we all run AVMs on a large majority of properties to support or refute appraised value. It would squash one of the major risk scoring tools lenders across the country use today.

Real estate agents afraid of Zillow are also foolish. Zillow is not going to sell homes. Zillow is going to keep real estate in the conversation more than anything else. It is going to keep more people interested in our industry. What better thing is there to ask for than that? I would love it if everyone spent their time talking about what they saw on Zillow - it would mean they're thinking of us.

P. from Weston MA

Hahahah! What a hilarious email, I love the Internet so much.

Seriously though, Zillow is awesome.

John Lockwood

Jay, thanks for posting JB's comments. It's nice to hear from an industry-friendly consumer.

I have to agree I'm with JB on this one. One of the features about the RE.net that I would feel most embarassed about if I were a member of it is the extent to which they'll bend over and hold their ankles for any web-based map application that sends them flowers and promises to respect them in the morning. I've pointed out what I take to be the main reason in a recent article, but I think a large portion of what motivates it is also an attempt to prove that "I'm eriuditer than you are", as the old joke goes.

Or perhaps this tale also tells part of the story:

Once there was a man named Milktoast, who's boss was absent from work most of the time. All his co-workers used it as an excuse to play hookie, but not Milktoast, he would show up for work every day. One day Milktoast finally gave into pressure and went home early, only to find his boss in bed with his wife. He snuck out un-noticed.

When he returned to work the next day, his co-workers told him, "Hey Milktoast, good for you, you went home early!" and Milktoast replied, "Yeah, and I'm not doing it again -- I almost got caught!"

No, Zillow won't drive us out of business. Driving is superfluous, since most of the lemmings writing about it are perfectly willing to walk.

Roberta Murphy

Jay:

Don't you imagine at one time there were similar fears when MLS systems began to distribute real estate information? We can witness those fears in parts of Europe, where the usage of multliple listing services is relatively new.

It is resistance to change--and the desire to stay with what is known and controllable.

Maureen Francis

Did your shirt arrive yet?

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marcus

You people all talk about zillow like its gods gift to earth fact is buyers are using this in accurate information as a basis to there counter offer have had all offers come in at zillows zestimate why ill tell you why cause they are going there and think that zestimate is the price my homes worth lost more than a percentage of value from a decaying market might as well never pay for an appraisel cause zillow knows my market better with an algorithum than my realtors do or my appraisers get real down with zillow some things cant be done worldwide at a key stroke some things take time grow up juvenile computer geeks one day technology will be your undoing your gonna computerize yourselves right into the matrix theory! And wake up with a computer up your ass!

Jay - The Phoenix Real Estate

Wow. That last comment provides startling evidence of the importance of punctuation.

Sorry Marcus, I can't figure out what you're trying to say.

Ron Asteak

Zillow "Guess-Idiots" appear to rely on public tax records that in some cases haven't been updated in twenty-five years. The zestimator is a sketchy tool to rely on. I believe it's best to use a Professional Realtor when appraising property.

P. from Weston MA

Yeah, honestly looking at Zillow estimates in my town (Weston MA) they are generally way off -- however I think people understand that, they know that this is the result of some kind of regression model and is not really an indicator of sales price.

Nass

Do not trust the data listed on Zillow's site. I own 2 houses in the same subdivision and they are exactly the same and they were built in the same year. According to Zillow one of of is worth about $25,000 more than the other!!!!!!

Whidbey Voter

Unfortunately, I see Zillow and Trulia and most other similar sites as full evidence of the dumbing down of America. These sites really exist not to make a product, or to provide a useful service, but simply to make a profit: by selling advertising.

Back in the "olden" days before computers and the internet, we had magazines and newspapers that had news and feature articles - and they sold advertising. At least they didn't pretend to also be experts in the real estate industry - they took pride in research, and reporting, and reporting on the variety found in all corners of our lives.

We just get dumber and dumber, and more sheep-like than ever. Baaaaaaa! Baaaaaa!