The folks at Zillow have just released an update to their web site (which first launched in February earlier this year). You can find out more details from the Zillow Blog.
The Cool:
One of the coolest features are scrollable heat-maps (frankly, I thought they’d do this, because it’s been on my Zearch 2.0 To-Do List for the past 4 months). So when you zoom around the map view, check “show heat map” check box, zoom out to the city level or higher, and see Zestimate/sq ft color coded all pretty like on the map. This is slick.
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Another thing they’ve done is add is what they call MyZillow. The feature allows users to keep track of their favorite homes from one central location. You can create your own estimate (and make it public), add facts about your home to supplement the public record and compare it to right next to the Zestimate.
The Lame:
The map page now has 3 banner ads it (2 of which were animated). Although, I understand Zillow’s business model is based on the ads, I think they would be better served by having fewer ads. Even realtor.com only has 2 banner ads on it’s major pages. I hope the next release doesn’t have pop-unders and “hit the monkey for a free iPod” ads.
The Deep Thought:
What will happen if disgruntled reators (or hackers) start entering bogus supplemental data into their MyZillow? Will it effect Zestimates negatively?
Anyway, congrats to the Zillow guys for pushing the envelope a little further. It’ll be very interesting to see what version 3.0 holds and see how far Zillow can push that deCarta DDS box that they have sitting in their data-center.
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Robbie, the heat map is fun but really it only appeals to those of us geeks whole love new web tricks. It doesn’t serve any functional purpose when comparing house prices.
As to the MyZillow part, though I am not as familiar with it and based on what you descried, I believe that if Zillow is integrating inputted data about a house that a user puts up then down the road they will have very skewed data which cannot be considered reliable. Eventually they will have to expunge that excess data because it cannot be verified.
Personally, I just think that this is just all a smoke screen for Zillow until they build a Redfin type model after they watch Redfin crash and burn.
I agree it doesn’t help much when looking at house prices, although I think it’s very valuable if you want to find out quickly how expensive an area is in relation to it’s neighbors. Colored maps and graphs let you see the forest, and the listings are the trees. It’s a quick & easy way of getting the big picture without having to go through the effort of creating something similar on MapPoint, Excel or more powerful tools.
I had the same thought regarding MyZillow, but according BlueRoof Blog you’ll “need to confirm that you are the owner, either by credit card verification or by mailing in the proof to Zillow”, before you can supplement the data. So I suspect the database damage Joe Hacker or Jane disgruntled real estate agent can do is minimized. I think also minimizes the likelihood somebody would enter their information. Who knows, maybe it leads to a Wiki-Zillow-Pedia and I’m wrong.
I like the smoke screen theory, but I’m not sure Zillow would become a national discount brokerage. After all, Google (GOOG) makes more money selling internet ads than Realogy (H) (Corporate parent of Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA and Sotheby’s International Realty), makes from selling houses (and Google is growing much faster). With that in mind, I don’t think their public business plan isn’t as crazy as it seems.
Robbie,
I think it would have made more sense to have a few local practitioners sign up to make local adjustments, to keep the info somewhat credible.
Say, for example, I was the Zillow Designated local practitioner with “edit priveleges”. Then people would have to email me to “complain” that their data needs tweaking and I would have to check that they weren’t calling their house 2,600 square feet if it was 1,800 square feet before modifying the info on Zillow.
BTW, I don’t normally play the “digg” game, but I think Robbie’s article is worthy of a little more attention… Consider “digging” this article here.
Over the past six months, a lot of digital ink has been spent on the quality of Zillow’s data… My personal opinion is that there is a lot more money in the verified addresses than in accurate valuation data. Based on the fact that Rich tells John that he’s not worried about home owners misrepresenting their homes, I think Rich would agree:
[..] It seams that some people take credit of the new functionality added on Zillow (see the comments on the techcrunch post). Please, don’t underestimate the people at Zillow. I don’t know about their product roadmap but I’m absolute convinced that this has been on their horizon from the start. I also believe Ardell at Seattle Rain City Guide is on to the next step in her comment to this post… [..]
Dustin,
To permit owners to lie and then call it buyer beware come “catch up” time is unconscionable both as a solution, and as a response. Was that a Barton quote or did you paraphrase? Hopefully it was not a quote.
Robbie,
I’m a little concerned about the heat map feature. It looks a little like Redlining in reverse. In many areas of the Country, it could be highlighting areas, in blue vs. red, that could cause concern among certain private interest groups and HUD issues.
I’ve examined it further, and I think it is because of the scale. I’ll check it out further on the Zillow site direct, but when Gates and I are in the same Red Zone…something’s wrong 🙂
Robbie –
Thanks for this review. Aren’t those dynamic heat maps awesome?
Feedback on some of your observations:
We enforce advertising content and style guidelines and have already had to work with advertisers to modify their creative content. Please let me know if you ever think an ad crosses the “good taste” line or is potentially inappropriate.
While anyone can save favorite homes and private estimates, only owners can publish home facts or estimates. To ensure the integrity of the database, we require that they first claim their homes on Zillow and we have built in but moderation policies, audit workflows and other such monitoring to keep an eye on that process. We’ve designed this feature with the perspective that most people are good – but have checks and balances in place to discipline any exceptions to that rule. When visitors use this feature, I also trust they will honor the affidavit we require them to opt in to, confirming their ownership status.
Lastly, let me urge Rain City readers to TRY IT OUT – go claim your house, publish an estimate – it’s easy and it’s fun and will give you a great idea of what these new features are REALLY about. I’ve seen quite a few commenters make wildly incorrect assumptions about what we’re doing here – please, just check it out before you form you form opinions or blog about Z2.
Ardell,
One problem with the current heat maps is that everything expensive is dark red, but as you and I both know, not all reds are created equal. Medina waterfront red is more expensive than Kirkland waterfront red. NYC / Big Apple red is more expensive than Seattle red. Maybe Zillow needs to add infrared for the really expensive areas and change Clevland, OH to ultra-violet.
Ardell,
It was a mixture of both… It was a quote taken directly from this blog post by Seattle PI’s John Cook who was paraphrasing something said by Rich Barton.
I think the success of wikipedia and others shows that a community edited database *could* work. I don’t know if it will or not, but it appears that Zillow has taken some precautions to prevent random people from entering error-laden information. If the user data is bad, at least they know who changed it and can revert the changes.
Because of that, I’m not sure if people will modify their info so the Zestimate goes higher or lower. If you want to sell your house, you’d want it go higher, but if the county assessor finds out, you’d want to make your Zestimate go lower (so your property taxes don’t go up). Additionally, if you sell your house and inflate its value, the buyers going to notice if the error is egregious. After all, I think they’ll still display the public record along with user changes.
I suspect most people will be honest (because you’re probably going to get caught if you aren’t). I’m sure some jokester will try to game the system to their advantage. But it isn’t like the industry doesn’t already have similar problems with it’s databases.
Robbie –
Thanks for this review. Aren’t those dynamic heat maps awesome?
Feedback on some of your observations:
We enforce advertising content and style guidelines and have already had to work with advertisers to modify their creative content. Please let me know if you ever think an ad crosses the “good taste” line or is potentially inappropriate.
While anyone can save favorite homes and private estimates, only owners can publish home facts or estimates. To ensure the integrity of the database, we require that they first claim their homes on Zillow and we have built in but moderation policies, audit workflows and other such monitoring to keep an eye on that process. We’ve designed this feature with the perspective that most people are good – but have checks and balances in place to discipline any exceptions to that rule. When visitors use this feature, I also trust they will honor the affidavit we require them to opt in to, confirming their ownership status.
All –
Let me urge Rain City readers to TRY IT OUT – go claim your house, publish an estimate – it’s easy and it’s fun – and it will give you a great idea of what these new features are REALLY about. I’m seeing too many commenters make incorrect assumptions about what we’re doing here – please, just check it out before you form your opinions or blog about the site.
Dustin –
Please, check it out. There are no postcards! No-one is verifying their personal postal addresses! As you should know, a large chunk of home owners don’t live in the houses they own – so linking users to postal addresses would be an entirely different initiative to what we’re doing here.
Woah, echo chamber. Sorry; my first attempt didn’t post, so I posted again – you can feel free to delete my first comment – or leave it. Too much action today 🙂
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Thought I’d take David G up on his word and give these new features a spin on 6 properties that I know quite well. From an experience point of view, I have to say it’s thoroughly, thoroughly addictive, and quite well done.
Accuracy — Basic data was accurate for all 6 properties.
Zestimates — 5-10% under for one property; 5-10% over for 4 properties, and wildly off for the 6th.
Claiming ownership — Very easy process, and quite difficult to game. For the first one, I had to simply verify my name from a list, which seemed pretty sketchy. However, for each subsequent one I wanted to claim, I had to submit credit card information so they could verify that I was indeed the owner of record. So to game the system for, say 25 properties, you’d have to create 25 separate Zillow logins, get the owner’s name from the county records, and then pick it from the list. Definitely possible, but a lot of work.
Making modifications — Again, an easy process. The basic details were correct, so I only had to tell Zillow what kind of roof, the primary exterior construction material, they type of heating and cooling, whether there was a fireplace or swimming pool, etc.
Creating an estimate of the home’s true value — Piece of cake. Here’s where I got a bit creative, making up a ficititious view and some non-existent kitchen, bathroom, and deck upgrades. The property value adjusted accordingly, and the adjustment was, in my opinion, a fair assessment of the additional value those upgrades would have added.
Overall — 1) Yes, you could falsely claim ownership of a home, but it would be difficult to do that on a large scale; 2) Yes, you could engage in puffery, but if tax assessors start going to Zillow, you’d be advised not to. Also, a prospective buyer of that home would be insane to take it on faith that this property has, say, a pool, mountain views, a manicured lawn, a hot tub, and a fully tricked out bathroom and kitchen — and then make an offer accordingly.
I just went through the homeowner registration process on Zillow. Note that if you update the information on your home, it does not update the Zestimate for that property. So, go out and get a real appraisal if you just added on that extra room or bath…
“See incorrect home facts? As owner of this home, you can edit the home facts and they will be made public for others to see on your home details page. Please note that by editing home facts here, you will not get an updated Zestimate™ value. To create your own estimate, use My Estimator.”
Also, all that you need to do in order to register as the “owner” of a property is select the current name of the owner from a “randomly” generated list of 10 names. Haven’t tried to hack this yet but I’d imagine all that you’d have to do is copy the first list and then go back and get a second list in order to see which name is still listed for that property.
Ironically, I updated my property information and the My Estimator value went down about $2,500 from the Zestimate. I changed it from 2.5 baths to 3.5 baths, and picked what I thought were better comps. The Zestimate is probably about 10% off for my house, (which is much better than it used to be). Oh well, at least Zillow is helping keep my property taxes low. It’d be interesting if they let you enter a real number, instead of letting you change the facts and get back their My Estimator number.
David is right that I should probably go sign up for the Zillow service and make sure they got me in their database before I make any assumptions about how they will verify a home owner. 🙂
Nonetheless, I’m actually surprised how easy they make it to game the system.
David, what do you say to Ardell’s comments that “to permit owners to lie and then call it buyer beware come ‘catch up’ time is unconscionable both as a solution, and as a response”?
D> Nonetheless, I’m actually surprised how easy they make it to game the system.
Nobody at Zillow ever had a bad divorce.
R> It’d be interesting if they let you enter a real number, instead of letting you change the facts and get back their My Estimator number.
Perhaps the goal is to expose you to an infinite number of ads as you finesse your way to your ideal price.
Greg,
The more My Estimator pages they have, the more ads I have to see. Brilliant!
Although, since Yahoo had a market-cap haircut today, it’ll be interesting to see if/how Zillow’s ad mixture changes.
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You just can’t replace the hands-on effect of real people, real knowledge, real statistics that apply to you/your home specifically. That comes in the very capable hands of a good real estate professional. Zillow is a tool, not a “Bible”. By trying to beat the zillow system, you will find your idea of your home and how you portray it,( anyone can manipulate that information) is Better served by the objective view of a real estate professional, no matter what your PERSONAL view of a real estate agent is. We are professional, we serve people, we are people. We have ethics, perhaps that should be considered first by any “Zillow” believer. Oh and I have used Zillow as a tool as well…
Sheryl,
Thank you for saying what needed to said. Zillow isn’t going to replace real estate agents any sooner than Word replaces authors, Excel replaces accountants, and Visual Studio replaces software engineers (I keep waiting for the later to happen, and I’ve been disappointed with every release 😉 ). Zillow is cool & useful, but it’s just a tool (with ads).
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Heat Map Observations: The entire States of Florida and New Jersey are blue 🙂 except at the water line. All of Seattle’s Lakes are outlined in red. The city I moved here from is ENTIRELY RED! LOL The house I grew up in is in a non-existent light blue block.
Gives a whole new meaning to that Sesame Street song “It’s not easy being green…”
I just looked up a house listed at almost $2,500,000 and Zillow says it’s worth $1,100,000…they are both wrong LOL. OK, enough playing.
All –
I now that this forum is very focused on the period of homeownership that surrounds a sale – that is your job – but remember that there is another seven years (on average) in the relationship between home and owner – and now you can start to manage and view that relationship on Zillow.
Adam –
Please read the review Kevin posted and note that claiming integrity ratchets up with the number of houses claimed – you may get away with what you have suggested once, but not twice! Also, if you claim my house, I will be notified with instructions on how to lock down that claim so that you cannot do it again. We thought this through. Yes, home facts do not update your Zestimate – we may include them in the future and are noodling on how best to do it (only “fools rush in”) – but in the meantime, owners publish estimates based on their facts – and we publish Zestimates based on the county record. More data = good.
Sheryl –
I am glad you find the site useful but I am confused as to how your comment applies to the features we launched today. Are homeowners not people? The tools we launched today serve homeowners – yes, some people will use them subjectively and some will even demonstrate their lack of understanding of the Real Estate market – and that is OK because when they come to sell their homes, they will need your help and will hopefully find you on Zillow. Listing agents should probably consider the beauty of being able to view an owners sense of the value of their home prior to even meeting them.
Dustin –
Thanks – please do try out our new features! As an aside, are my comments being moderated? They used to post immediately but now there is a few hours delay and one response has not posted in the 3+ hours since I sent it. Hence my repitition above. I know Typepad was down for some of today – maybe it was that.
Right now, there isn’t much point in faking Zillow ownership – no one is really looking.
If it does matter at some time in the future, and it’s still as easy to sign up as it is now, it will be a great tool for fighting any nasty neighbors on the block. “Oh yeah, your house is now 500 sqft smaller!”
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The concern I have: My little corner of Los Angeles is notorious for illegal additions. If the city record says there are 2 bathrooms, but the home actually has 3 bathrooms, there is a good chance that the third bathroom was added without proper building permits or required city inspections.
Unpermitted additions are a legal minefield for real estate agents as it is. Now we’ll have owner-entered info turning up on Zillow to confound the situation even further.
I hope Zillow adds a large ~visible~ disclaimer about building permit status!
David G. You are being picked up by Akismet’s spam filter, and I don’t know why… My guess is some people on other WordPress blogs have called your comments “spam” and so they are being picked up on my site as well. I try to go through my spam folder often, but when things get hot-and-heavy around here, I’m rarely fast enough! 🙂
My experience has been that if I move enough of your comments out of the spam folder, Akismet will learn and stop messing with us!
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