The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

15 April 2007

Zillow fight

Arizona is trying to ban Zillow.com:

The Arizona Board of Appraisal issued two cease-and-desist letters to the company that operates the popular real estate Web site Zillow, saying it needs an appraiser license to offer its "zestimates" in Arizona.

"It is the board's feeling that (Zillow) is providing an appraisal," Deborah Pearson, the board's executive director, said Friday.

Zillow issued a statement Saturday saying it disagreed with the board's view, and pointed to an opinion issued by a national appraisers standards group that said online estimates aren't formal appraisals.

"We strongly believe that providing Zestimates in Arizona is completely legal and in fact an important public service, given that Zestimates are the result of our 'automated valuation model' and are not a formal appraisal," co-founder and company President Lloyd Frink said in the statement.

"Because a computerized algorithm could never be more accurate than a high-school dropout housewife in a gold blazer," says a Fark submitter.

Posted at 4:16 PM to Dyssynergy


"Because a computerized algorithm could never be more accurate than a high-school dropout housewife in a gold blazer."

Zillow's algorithm was originally designed by someone with no real estate experience, so C-21's high-school dropout might have been more accurate before the algorithm change back in August '06. Now with some real estate input, the numbers are getting better, but the output accuracy is still limited by the accuracy and proper weighting of the input.

Accuracy notwithstanding, if you are providing an estimate of a home's value (as opposed to an opinion), you should have to have an appraiser's license. If the term was Zopinion Arizona would have no grounds, but "estimate" in the name implies an appraisal.

In Oklahoma County, you should also consider the county assessor's opinion as to estimated value. If I remember correctly, Sullivan hires licensed appraisers for the estimates, so they are generally pretty good. www.oklahomacounty.org/assessor

(Disclaimer: I am a Realtor. My company doesn't hire high-school dropouts. We're not C-21. I give home value opinions all the time, but I never call them "estimates".)

Posted by: Dan B at 9:37 AM on 16 April 2007

If the term was Zopinion Arizona would have no grounds, but "estimate" in the name implies an appraisal.

Actually, I would think that if Zillow isn't charging for these "zestimates," they should be considered legally to be opinions, regardless of what the company calls them.

"Free estimates" have a legal basis if the entity offering it is estimating how much they will charge for a service, but Zillow obviously isn't going there.

Posted by: McGehee at 1:29 PM on 16 April 2007