Zillow’s controversial “Zestimate” lives to see another day: A federal judge dismissed a three-month-old lawsuit that sought to end the real estate listing site’s practice of estimating a home’s value, claiming it wasn’t just inaccurate, it actually hurt homeowners and homebuilders. [More]
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Zillow Admits It’s In Hot Water With Regulators Over Lender Advertising
By 8.17.17
Real estate listings site Zillow — home of the controversial “Zestimate” — is in the regulatory hot seat over an advertising program for mortgage lenders that may violate federal anti-kickback law. [More]
Zillow’s “Zestimates” Probably Aren’t The Best Way To Figure Out How Much Your House Is Worth
By 5.26.17
If you’ve been in the market for real estate lately — or even just idly browsing your old neighborhood from curiosity — you’ve almost certainly seen the “Zestimate” splashed across a property’s Zillow listing. But now, multiple lawsuits are claiming those numbers are so far from realistic that they’re actually harmful, and Zillow itself is launching a contest, hoping to crowdsource a better Zestimate. [More]
Zillow Likes The Zestimate On Rival Site Trulia, Puts In Offer Of $3.5 Billion
By 7.28.14
If you’ve got $3.5 billion lying around, you could buy just about any house you wanted. Or if you’re online real estate site Zillow, you just use that money to buy your competition. [More]
Are Zillow’s “Zestimates” Full Of Zhit? Depends Who You Ask
By 6.10.14
If you’ve looked at real estate in the last few years, you’ve almost certainly reviewed the listings on Zillow.com and you’re probably quite familiar with the “Zestimate,” the site’s automated approximation of what the property is worth. Some realtors say Zestimates are useless and cause confusion for their customers, while Zillow defends the data. Interestingly, both sides use the same stats to argue their case. [More]
Zillow Suspends My Account Because I Added “+Zillow” To My E-mail Address
By 6.21.12
As a way of tracking possible spam and simply keeping one’s inbox organized, a small but growing number of people are adding “+” terms onto their e-mail addresses when they register with websites. But one Consumerist reader says that when he tried to use this technique to keep track of e-mails related to his Zillow.com account, that account was suspended for violating the company’s trademark. [More]
Zillow Offers Anonymous Mortgage Shopping
By 4.4.08
Zillow has a new tool for those of you who wish you could do your mortgage shopping while wearing a ski mask and speaking through one of those things that makes you sound like Darth Vader — the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.
Arizona Bans Zillow
By 4.17.07
Arizona regulators slapped the popular home-valuation site Zillow with a cease and desist order on doing business in the state, saying the service was providing appraisals without a license.
Zillow Accurate Within 7.8%
By 2.16.07
A recent WSJ survey found that online property valuation site Zillow is accurate within 7.8% of the actual sales price.
The Journal looked at transaction prices recorded for 1,000 recent home sales in seven states, using data from First American Real Estate Solutions, a data provider in Santa Ana, Calif., and compared those prices with Zillow estimates, which didn’t yet reflect the sales. The median difference between the Zillow estimate and the actual price was 7.8%
Zillow Adds Sale Listings
By 12.7.06
Sellers can now post homes for sale on Zillow, a feature the free online home valuation service added today.
RealEstateABC Challenges Zillow
By 3.31.06
Zillow, the popular real-estate site that gives home valuations in specific areas with a google maps mashup, has a new competitor.
Zillow.com: Free Real Estate Estimates
By 2.14.06
We’re a little behind the curve on Zillow.com, which aims to do for real-estate shopping and home buying what Expedia did for booking flights. Using an aggregate of data including tax records, sales histories, and other home prices in the region, the site generates legally ambiguous ‘Zestimates’ from just an address—think Google Maps with price tags.
