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FYI, the only way for Zillow to be regulated is for a judge to first legally declare Zillow an appraiser. I can't think of one good legal argument when the Zestimate has a link that says:
Also, I don't recall hearing any CONSUMER outrage about being scammed by Zillow. Heck, one would expect to see dozens of those lawsuits from everyday people if the average consumer felt scammed.
You are wrong.
Legislation must be passed to regulate online appraisals, to give judges basis for ruling. It takes deep pockets to sue, and particularly when there is a lack of legislation.
And in willful naivete, you embrace Zillow's disclaimers.
An "estimate/opinion of value" is definition of appraisal, as noted several times in this and other threads.
Why is the concept of regulating online appraisals so disturbing to you?
Why is Zillow so important to you, that you continue to single them out?
If agents use best practices on their end they have nothing to fear from Zillow. Imagine how much more difficult their jobs would be if agents had to still find homes of interest for buyers. Plus when an agent disagrees with a Zillow estimate it is at worst a “teachable moment”.
As a consumer I love Zillow and it’s aggregation of data. I just add plus or minus 20% to the zestimate to get a rough idea of the price point. And if your house seems significantly off in the Zillow numbers all you need to do is contact them through their link and a real person will check it out and correct any error.
As a homeowner who tried that approach I can assure you that it's very difficult to actually talk to anyone at Zillow about anything other than paying them $$$$$$$'s each month as a Premier Agent. In my case Zillow accepted that because of a 'geo mapping problem' with 3rd party supplied software they had my home located in a city 6 miles away, but refused to correct or delete an erroneous Zestimate caused by the error.
I have an email from the recently fired CEO Spencer Rascoff who claims "thanks to the First Amendment Zillow can impose any valuation on your home that it wants irrespective of accuracy". Have you ever come across any self respecting business that operates in such an arrogant way to consumers? Zillow started Zestimates purely as a click bait gimmick when they launched in 2006 and in desperation to attract audience and Revenues they needed the controversy that Zestimates generate to attract eyeballs to their website. Its time they recognized that Zestimates are not helping their business and adopted with an Opt Out that protects homeowners from Zillows inaccurate data.
Every other aspect of modern life is Regulated by the Government, whether it be Banking, Insurance, Utilities, Investing, Transportation, Aviation, Food & Drugs, etc etc. BUT Zillow can dictatorially impose inaccurate Zestimates on millions of homes without any recourse, despite home ownership representing most citizens biggest investment and suffering misery & potential financial loss because of Zillows inaccurate Zestimates which they refuse to correct, purely because our elected officials have failed to catch up with technology and protect homeowners from Zillows BS.
It is time there was a DoNotZestimate 'Opt Out' to protect homeowners from Zillows erroneous Zestimates in the same way as registering for DoNotCall protects people from unwanted spam phone calls. I accept some people on here propose an "Opt In' rather than an 'Opt Out' but either way will be progress. It will be interesting to see the impact on Zestimates from Zillows 'strategic business shift' with the launch of Zillow Offers, its house flipping business whereby it supposedly will buy homes based on Zestimate's - in which case I would suggest Zillow will be out of business before too long. It suggests it will buy and sell 5,000 homes a month with Zillow Offers and generate $20Bn Revenue a year compared to its current $1.2Bn on which is loses $120M.
Its time they recognized that Zestimates are not helping their business and adopted with an Opt Out that protects homeowners from Zillows inaccurate data.
Every other aspect of modern life is Regulated by the Government, whether it be Banking, Insurance, Utilities, Investing, Transportation, Aviation, Food & Drugs, etc etc. BUT Zillow can dictatorially impose inaccurate Zestimates on millions of homes without any recourse, despite home ownership representing most citizens biggest investment and suffering misery & potential financial loss because of Zillows inaccurate Zestimates which they refuse to correct, purely because our elected officials have failed to catch up with technology and protect homeowners from Zillows BS.
It is time there was a DoNotZestimate 'Opt Out' to protect homeowners from Zillows erroneous Zestimates in the same way as registering for DoNotCall protects people from unwanted spam phone calls. I accept some people on here propose an "Opt In' rather than an 'Opt Out' but either way will be progress. It will be interesting to see the impact on Zestimates from Zillows 'strategic business shift' with the launch of Zillow Offers, its house flipping business whereby it supposedly will buy homes based on Zestimate's - in which case I would suggest Zillow will be out of business before too long. It suggests it will buy and sell 5,000 homes a month with Zillow Offers and generate $20Bn Revenue a year compared to its current $1.2Bn on which is loses $120M.
If the data they use is already public, can homeowners really opt out? All Zillow is doing is aggregating the data. Homeowners want to opt out of...math? You want MORE government just to deal with one website?
In this thread: Realtors bashing internet sites that break their monopoly hold on information. I’m shocked!
You should perhaps read some of the thread and even the thread's main topic discussion.
While I am a REALTOR and have the most posts on the thread, I don't bash any site.
Two points:
1. Regulate online appraisals.
2. Once that is done, agents who worry about Zillow and other lead generation sites should be looking at them to see what the public likes, and should compete directly with similar legitimate offerings.
If the data they use is already public, can homeowners really opt out? All Zillow is doing is aggregating the data. Homeowners want to opt out of...math? You want MORE government just to deal with one website?
1. Zillow is not merely aggregating. They are then processing and offering an opinion of value. That latter, appraisal, is a huge step.
2. There are many other sites aggregating and processing and offering an opinion of value. Again, that latter, appraisal, is a huge step.
3. The appraisal activities are what need to be regulated, not the sites.
Last edited by MikeJaquish; 03-06-2019 at 05:15 AM..
In this thread: Realtors bashing internet sites that break their monopoly hold on information. I’m shocked!
LOL. Me too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeJaquish
You should perhaps read some of the thread and even the thread's main topic discussion.
While I am a REALTOR and have the most posts on the thread, I don't bash any site.
Two points: 1. Regulate online appraisals.
You're a broken record. Enough already.
Everyone in this thread who isn't a realtor keeps telling you that we neither need nor want Zillow's "Zestimates" regulated, and yet you keep insisting that legislators should do so. Well, legislators are supposed to represent their constituents, and if this forum is a microcosm of the public at large, then it is obvious that their constituents, for the most part, don't agree with you.
Zillow is going to start brokering homes at some point - so they will eventually do more in-depth market analysis on properties they list. Agents openly and willingly fed Zillow data for years, including images, and now it's coming back to haunt them.
I'd bet that if you looked up the regs for an appraiser giving an opinion of value (as argued here that it is actually an appraisal), you'd find that they have to be licensed IF they provide that service for a fee. If they do it for free they probably don't need to be licensed. Just like selling real estate - in many states you only have to be licensed if you offer your services for a fee and receive compensation.
Everyone in this thread who isn't a realtor keeps telling you that we neither need nor want Zillow's "Zestimates" regulated, and yet you keep insisting that legislators should do so. Well, legislators are supposed to represent their constituents, and if this forum is a microcosm of the public at large, then it is obvious that their constituents, for the most part, don't agree with you.
Irrelevant. Totally irrelevant.
The thread IS about the failed suit regarding the harm done by online appraisals.
Meh.
No consumer should have to accept responsibility for correcting Zillow's ineptitude and scamming.
I have made repeated requests to Zillow and others to remove their online appraisals of my home, and they all either decline or ignore me. Not acceptable.
Sounds frustrating.
But the client does not have to go to the Zillow website. No one forces him. As an agent you can (try to) tell people that.
Also, Zillow corrections are of the input data for their algorithm. For example you might sell a piece of your land and the aggregator might pick up that number as the value of your entire property, which makes the zestimate value way low for the rest of the property. Zillow and some others will remove that piece of input data. But I doubt that they would adjust their entire algorithm just because you added a garage to your home but the county records don't show it yet. Or because you just spent 100K on a major overhaul.
As a follow up to seeing a zestimate, consumers should know to look at the lot line view, which shows the last prices properties in your vicinity sold for. If all the sales are old, giving lower numbers than a subject seller is asking it just means the neighborhood is stable.
Another argument to not worry about zillow is this. Doesn't google maps drive up and down streets to film street views? What if your garbage cans are out front or you are cutting the lawn and looking awful. It may be disappointing, but not the end of the world. And I doubt it will be undone since there was no malice intended.
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