Zillow Poll Reflects Mood

By: Diane Tuman, Content Manager | June 5, 2008

July will be the anniversary of the Zillow Polls feature, created by Software Design Engineer Jarret Falkner. Since that time, 1,116 polls have been submitted with 324,368 votes cast. The poll that has received the most votes is “How long will it take for the housing prices to begin appreciating again?” (click the link to see the poll in lower, right-hand column.)

Obviously, since all real estate is local, this poll is not a true reflection for everyone’s homes in the U.S. As a matter of fact, 30 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) actually appreciated in real estate value, according to our Q1 Home Value Report, while 130 MSAs lost value. The answers in the poll are almost evenly split, which shows that no one knows the answer. When the foreclosure market slows down and the mortgage industry stabilizes — that’s when the mood will lift and housing prices will start going back up. They usually do.

The poll with the second-most votes (1,499 at this writing) is “What is the longest amount of time you’ve spent in one home (as a child or adult)?” which is not super-riveting or a reflection of the times — it’s just a whimsical little question. Back to reality with the third-most votes: “In 2008, US home prices will…” The answers there are a bit more optimistic even though nationally, the market slumped by 7.7%.

Do you have a poll in mind? Create a poll here and see what kind of votes come in. It’s easy!

Stumble it!
Categories: Real Estate, Zillow

Comments

3 Comments so far

jim hodge on June 15, 2008 8:59 am

I’m a realtor for Intero in Monterey County and I have a personal piece of property at 1109 Jeanne Ct, Susuin City, CA.
I am listing it so I wandered on to your site to see what you valued it at and surprisingly it says it’s for sale????? The agent is someone from Cupertino? It says it’s been listed for 280 plus days? Can you explain?
Thank you …..jim hodge
jim hodge on June 15, 2008 9:00 am

Also, are other agents randomly selecting homes and pretending to have the listing for marketing reasons?….please reply.
David G from Zillow.com on June 16, 2008 4:05 pm

Jim -

No-one’s stolen your listing; we are receiving the listing via a data feed from Intero. For this to work correctly, we need Intero to associate your listings with your e-mail address. They seem to be using a generic client services e-mail address for the listing agent’s email that they’re sending us in the feed. If they feed us your listings using your e-mail address, your listings will be automatically added and updated on the site.

Until this is resolved you can take over your listing by clicking on the link to “Take over your listing” in the box where it says the home is “For Sale by Agent”

Thanks!