Zillow.com: Zarbage in, Zarbage Out

I rushed right over to the new widely hyped beta version of Zillow.com today to see how much my house and all my neighbors' are worth. I typed in my address. Onscreen appeared an image more compelling than anything I've ever seen on my computer -- an aerial view map of my street with price tags superimposed on the roofs of the houses. Be still my heart. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there. The site miscalculated relative values for the houses on my street, presumably because  incomplete data --  recent sales prices and outdated information about the number of bathrooms and bedrooms in each house --  presented a distorted view of reality. The site invited me to "update" the data for individual addresses, but after I informed Zillow of recent renovation and improvement projects, the site inexplicably decreased the values of the properties in question. Zillow suffers from  the same problem that has plagued all the other real estate sites online for years: over-generalizations and incomplete data. Looks cool. Wish it worked

UPDATE: Nicholas Carr, former executive editor of the Harvard Business Review, had a similar experience and explains why Zillow.com's results are so poor.

Comments

[Serge Lescouarnec]

I guess a lot of hyped up things do not live up to our expectations.

I read Jeff Jarvis notes on Zillow and same type of services and he suggested that concierges services in planning real estate sales or purchases would be useful.

Well I have to say that I helped a client with a rental unit and others while they were moving in or having renovations and improvements done.

I run a concierge service here in New Jersey.

Serge the Concierge
http://www.njconcierges.com

Blog:
http://sergetheconcierge.typepad.com

[Mercy]

Agree that Zillow is a neat idea, but since everything seems to be five years out of date it's basically worthless. I live on a street where startler castles are squeezing out the original homes, yet the houses Zillow chooses to show are the original small ones, with the original, small prices.

[Portland Oregon Real Estate]

I think zillow is a great tool. I have worked with it many times and would recommend it. I would always double check the subject property against comparable properties, the computer sometimes misses very crucial things when it comes to determining the exact true current market value. But still one of the best tools online.