Tasty Info Behind That Swirly Text

24 Comments so far

1. Peter M on February 16, 2006 6:29 am

   Captchas are all well and good, but they’ve got to work. I don’t know how you’ve coded it that is different from the dozens of other sites that use them, but I can’t get past yours. I remain in a loop asking me to enter the six digits. Firefox 1.5.0.1 on Mac OSX 10.4.5.

2. ThinkTone on February 16, 2006 11:13 am

   Cool technology

   Check out Zillow. One of those composite applications that will redefine an industry segment (real estate).
   Gloat over the value of your home or cry over the value of your neighbors home.

   …

3. Bryan Byrne on February 16, 2006 1:55 pm

   Hi Peter,

   This is Bryan from Zillow and I just read your post. Could we get a little bit more information about the problem you are seeing?

   I am currently running OS X 10.4.5 & Firefox 1.5.0.1 and am able to get past the Captcha page.

   Do you know if your cookies are enabled or not? You can check this setting under Firefox -> Preferences -> Privacy -> Cookies.

   What type of Mac are you using?

   Thanks again for your feedback and thanks for working with me on sorting out this problem.

   Bryan.
   Software Design Engineer

4. Eric Frost on February 17, 2006 6:54 am

   Your site came up in our forum..
   http://www.mp2kmag.com/mappoint/discussion/zillowcom—7658.html

   we are curious what mapping technology you are using.. I poked around in the source and it looks like you are using SWF/Flash. Is this an off-the-shelf component or mapping rendering technology you have purchased of is the mapping software something you have created yourselves? Thanks!
   Eric

5. Zillow admin on February 17, 2006 1:42 pm

   (comment was detected as spam and deleted)

6. Diane Tuman on February 18, 2006 10:05 am

   Hi Eric: Diane from Zillow here. For our mapping technology, we use third parties to provide us with data and rendering tools, but pretty much everything in our Flash mapping tool was custom written by Zillow. Thanks for visiting our blog and your interest in Zillow.

7. Michael McClure on February 18, 2006 10:36 am

   I own a real estate company (you can see it at ProfessionalOne.com). I have been selling real estate for 15 years. I am also a CPA, so numbers “are my thing.” I am HORRIFIED at how inaccurate your information is. My home, for instance, is worth approximately $450,000 to $500,000. Your site shows it as being worth $157,000! I put an addition on my home several years ago that cost more than your estimate of the entire value of the home! If this doesn’t get your attention, then you are flat out negligent. Most of my agents have checked out the values of their homes on your site, and 100% of them have indicated that your estimates are not ever close! This spans seven different communities located in three different counties. One has a home worth approximately $270,000 - your site estimates the value at $117,000! This error percentage is OUTRAGEOUS!!! I’ve also had several unpleasant encounters with clients of mine that are ASSUMING your site is accurate. I would suggest you do some MAJOR site enhacements ASAP, because the uproar that is building within my industry is like nothing I’ve ever seen or felt before.

8. Jeff on February 18, 2006 10:57 am

   Interesting site… but why no coverage for District of Columbia? Lots of sales there, and the transaction information is available online.

9. Gary on February 18, 2006 2:37 pm

   Great site. I am curious how you will be adding new homes to your database. I live in a newer subdivision and you have most of phase one entered but from the satellite shot and the information, it looks like it cut off new homes / subdivisions from about 2 years ago. The satellite does not show even the raw view of my current street. Is there a way to request updated information / or supply information if you have nothing started???

10. Michael Khan on February 19, 2006 12:51 am

    I would not go as far as Michael McClure’s post, but I too see some discrepancies in the values shown. A house I just sold (I’m a realtor, but I’m also an Appraiser) in Union City, CA shows up as 825K, which is actually pretty accurate. However, there is no way my house which is 10 doors down is worth over 1 Mil which is what you report. Also, I just did an appraisal on a house and gave it a value of 1.3 Mil, Zillow claims it’s worth 1.2. Nice toy, but I think it still needs refinement. Good luck.

11. Julie Greer on February 20, 2006 7:20 am

    I have to agree with the above post. I searched several house I actually sold and the value you have listed would have insulted my sellers. It is not up to date with actual sold properties. It gave me comps from 5-10 miles away. Did not list the houses I know sold in the last year.

12. ted kraus on February 21, 2006 5:50 am

    Your concept is great, it’s a shame it never works the 10 or so times I tried to use it
    I won’t be back

13. Robbie Caballero on February 21, 2006 9:34 am

    I’m trying to get a price from you on my house in order to sell it. I saw your service on GMA this morning and was excited; however I can’t find my home please help. 906 Dunes St. , Rockport, Tx. 78382. This is in Aransas County and is a resort town that’s near Corpus Christi- Nueses Co. Please let me know what I can do Thank you

14. Eugene on February 21, 2006 10:42 am

    Diane Tuman,

    “because the uproar that is building within my industry is like nothing I’ve ever seen or felt before.”

    I think that this was the general idea behind this site.

    The level of corruption in the real estate industry here on Staten Island in NY is staggering. I sincerely hope that you guys go out of business.

15. Karen on February 21, 2006 10:50 am

    Data on my home is highly innacurate. The square footage is off by 800sf, bed/baths not correct. You can blame Property Appraiser however square fotage you quote does not match appraiser. You have homes across the street with no boating access, no improvements which comp out higher than homes on the lake.

16. Erica on February 21, 2006 9:56 pm

    I agree with others that this site is an interesting concept, however I too found inaccuracies while searching my home and the homes of friends and family members who had recently sold their homes. Basic data about the homes such as square footage and number of rooms was incorrect as well as the estimated value being off. My concern is that data as inaccurate as yours is not only going to hurt the real estate industry (I am NOT a real estate agent nor do I earn my living from real estate) but will also hurt the investment that home owners have made with the hope of fair return on investment upon the sale of the home. Basically, get your facts straight before you go “live” with very questionable data.

17. TomJ on February 22, 2006 7:56 am

    Hi,

    I have a condo in Culver City,CA 90230.

    I would like to market and sell the property myself.

    What FSBO services do you offer? RE Atty … etc?.

    Thanks, Tom

18. Brian Barringer on February 22, 2006 1:49 pm

    Nice blog, I like the idea I think it will capture lots of leads. But its not working for me. I must be doing somthing wrong. I am using I.E
    Brian Barringer
    Realtor

    http://tracyrealestate.blogspot.com/

19. Brian Barringer on February 22, 2006 2:26 pm

    I had previous comnment. I figered out what I was doing wrong. and
    just used the estimator on 3 homes of mine. 2 were accrate to what I thought the value was and then one was way off. At least I hope it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is going to be a big thing when the public finds out. What your marketing plans? Is this going to be simular to the housevalues.com?

20. Norma M. on February 22, 2006 8:38 pm

    I saw an interesting piece on our local news this evening (Metropolitan Detroit Area) regarding your website. Imagine my surprise when I entered data for my house and it came up much higher than I expected! I would very much like to believe that my almost new home is worth what you say that it is, but in no way do I believe that I could actually get that much for it. I realize there would always be a margin of error on a website such as this, but your site showed my home valued at approximately 25% more than I believe it to be worth in todays’ market. I am not in real estate business, but was previously employed in the mortgage business, so I am fairly familiar with appraisals and such. I will defenitely research this further and find out the true value of my home today to see just how accurate your website is! Thanks for the pick-me-up though.

21. Wes M. on February 22, 2006 9:43 pm

    Well oh well.

    I am very impressed with the look and feel of Zillow. Yes the data is not on the accurate side of every property, but like anything new or anything on the web it may take a little bit of time to prefect.

    As a part of a start up website http://www.emongoo.com , I understand the pressures and time it takes to build a quality website. Give Zillow sometime and who knows what we will be looking at. Real Estate is changing and is changing in many ways some do not like.

    Zillow has the backing and the experience to be great. Zillow is a baby in the world of www and given some time to crawl, this site will be walking all over the place.

    Zillow has already proven they fill a niche, look at the amount of traffic on the site.

    I agree in many aspects it looks like maybe gathering more info before the beta launch could of been beneficial, but all it will take is one article in the USA Today or The New York Times saying that Zillow updated their data and we will all come flying back to the site to see if the information is correct.

    Real Estate is changing, and hopefully only for the better! Check us out on the web at http://www.emongoo.com or blog us at http://www.emongoo.blogs.com.

22. Bad Shift on February 27, 2006 11:00 pm

    Oh boy, some people are going to be upset as they watch their homes’ values slide back to historical norms (-30% or so). Homes I have checked appear to be reasonable zestimates, keep up the good work. As the bubble pops, you guys might be threatened with lawsuits and all sorts of garbage. I hope you continue to provide this great service.

23. John Nazareno on February 28, 2006 8:34 am

    Some areas the comps are about near accurant, for some it’s off by $150k or more..

    Sell your house

    http://www.johnhomesonline.com/east-bay-sellers.php

24. Lori L on April 19, 2007 5:10 am

    I would have to agree with Mike McClure. Zillow’s prices for the homes in my area are a 1/4 to 1/3 of what they are actually worth and/or selling for. Zillow needs to clean this up or shut down the website. Selling a home in today’s market is difficult enough. Zillow listing values FAR below a realistic number is incomprehensible and very confusing to perspective buyers.