Zillow And The Future of Real Estate Tools

mortgagemess at 09:58 2008-07-20 said:

use Zilllow for pricing in a declining market like Miami or Ft. Lauderdale..you will find yourself OVERPAYING for a home..Zillow is a fun site..but on the accuracy I give it a Zero. Price estimates are way off from actual CURRENT comps in that marketplace..and with new construction..Zillow can't even locate the community 1 year after the community has been established...

As far as the mortage quoting..I don't see this as a useful tool either..without more information..the lenders will find they are just spinning their wheels..Why don't we see the stats on leads vs. actual closings? I am sure if that information was disclosed, that part of Zillow wouldn't even exist... Permalink

mortgagemess at 11:10 2008-07-20 said:

Ok..to back up my statement..just looked at my old house that is for sale..Zillow is still showing the price that the home was over 2 months ago..since then the price has dropped by $150K!..imagine you are a out of state buyer interested in purchasing that home..Like i said Zillow gets a Zero....

wouldn't be surprised if a lawsuit will be in its near future for misleading and false information... Permalink

David G at 05:54 2008-07-21 said:

Hi, it's David G from Zillow.com,

Our goal with Zillow Mortgage Marketplace was to put borrowers in the drivers' seat so it's awesome to receive recognition for doing just that.

It's quite a sweeping statement though and so I thought I'd list the steps we took to empower borrowers (most of these are industry-firsts): 1) Loan requests on Zillow are totally anonymous. No-one's going to call you incessantly for months after requesting a loan quote on Zillow. 2) Loan officers are reviewed by borrowers on the quality of the service they provide. Reviews are made public for future clients to help them select a loan originator who will get the job done. 3) Loan quotes are public, lenders can view each others' quotes and there's no limit to the number of lenders that can quote a borrower. It's the first time mortgage lenders have truly competed in a totally transparent marketplace. 4) There's no fee for lenders to submit quotes which means that lenders can pass on their savings vs. having to cover the often exorbitant costs charged by the lead generation sites. Permalink

David G at 06:13 2008-07-21 said:

'mess - Hi, it's David from Zillow,

use Zilllow for pricing

Please don't use the Zestimate to set the list price of your home in any market. Zillow is a research tool and Zestimates are a good starting point but they don't replace the opinion of a local expert.

in a declining market like Miami or Ft. Lauderdale..you will find yourself OVERPAYING for a home.

I actually think (know) that a machine will respond a lot quicker to a declining market than a human will. No-one likes to admit that values are falling but our algorithms obviously don't share that emotional weakness.

without more information..

3 thousand lenders have found enough information on Zillow to quote 280 thousand loans over the past few months since we launched. Lenders on Zillow have the info they need! You don't have to know someone's SSN, or even their name to provide them with an accurate loan quote.

"Why don't we see the stats on leads vs. actual closings?"

Simply because the loans are not closed on Zillow we have no way of knowing what they number is. What I can tell you is that numerous loan originators have already closed more than 10 loans from the site and that our busiest lenders continue to increase their activity in Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. Please, check it out and *then* let us know what you think.

"since then the price has dropped by $150K"

The listings on Zillow are advertised by sellers and their agents and not by Zillow. If you know the person selling that home, please let them know that they need to update their listing (or PM me the address.) Permalink