Zillow Launches!

Surprise! It's live!

There's been a lot of talk about Zillow.com in this industry in recent months. Some people have actually feared it's launch, thinking it would do to real estate what Expedia did to the travel industry (Richard Barton is the founder of both companies). Well, it's live, and it's pretty cool, but I don't think we have too much to worry about just yet.

For starters, it only works in the US so our Canadian readers need not fear. But just so you have an idea of what it does, it allows visitors to the site to get an estimate on the value of their home. They don't have to provide any contact info, and they don't have to wait for an agent to get back to them with an estimate.

My guess is this will have a much greater impact on HouseValues.com than agents and brokers.

They have 2 terrebytes of data on 60 million homes in the use. Their statisticians have created an algorithm that is accurate withing 7.2% according to Zillow. According to some posts I've read on Agents Online, it doesn't sound quite that accurate.

Either way, the info that Zillow provides will be of information to consumers. It's accuracy is certainly questionable, but cool none the less. One feature I like is the ability to see how your home's value has increased compared to homes in other areas of the country.

Oh, one last thing, Zillow is not selling leads, they are selling ad space. You can have a banner ad on their site targeted to people looking only in the areas you service. Which could generate some business for those who like to advertise online with banners.

Get your own free, accurate, online market evaluation in the Edmonton area.