I've done blog entries before about whether Worthington, Clintonville and Upper Arlington neighborhoods  etc. are "unzillowable" and about communities being  "Zillowed."   

Maybe Zillow just needs some warning labels about what Zillow is and what Zillow isn't. 

"Don't try this at home!" ? 

NOT blue book value.... 

Zillow does have  " Zestimate: A Zestimate home valuation is Zillow's estimated market value. It is not an appraisal. Use it as a starting point to determine a home's value."

The neighborhoods I've Zillowed in the past are just the tip of the iceberg in Central Ohio's diverse neighborhoods and communities.  The complaint yesterday from the NCRC to the FTC made me wonder how many less afluent areas of Central Ohio are valued by Zillow. 

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition's   Mission:   

"NCRC’s mission is to increase fair & equal access to credit, capital, and banking services/products because discrimination is illegal, unjust, and detrimental to the economic growth and well-being of our society. NCRC seeks to support and provide long-term solutions which include providing tools to building community and individual net worth."

 "Zestimate $xxx,xxx  (What's this?):

Zestimate
A Zestimate home valuation is Zillow's estimated market value. It is not an appraisal. Use it as a starting point to determine a home's value

The Value Range is the high and low estimated market value for which Zillow values a home. The more information, the smaller the range, and the more accurate the Zestimate."

Some info from October 2006 sales the first value after Zillow is the "Zestimate"  obviously followed by the Value Range....looks like the  Value Range is broad in most cases and every home in this random sample fell in the value range.  I did not include HUD sales, Bank sales, Fannie Mae sales etc. but that is the only thing I ruled out as I randomly pulled some sales.   

Maybe some of us have been too literal about the Zestimate all along.  Maybe all of the price ranges are broad and really don't tell consumers much of anything about the relative value of their property.  Is Zillow just a fun place on the world wide web to pick up some consumers with inquiring minds about property values?  Or is it the Blue Book of real estate value?   

Market value below is the auditor's value on the property:

Forest Park

MLS -  Forest Park  3  Bedroom 2/0 bath   1 STORY  1 CAR  List $119,900 Sale $111,000

Market Total Value   136,000 

Zillow -  $124,257  (Value Range: $106,861 - $154,079)

MLS -  Forest Park West  3 Bedroom  2/0 bath SPLIT - 4 LEVEL  2 CAR  List $125,900 Sale $127,000

Market Total Value   140,000 

Zillow -  $129,173  (Value Range: $111,089 - $160,175 )

MLS -   Forest Park  5 Bedroom  3/1 bath 2 STORY  2 CAR List $166,400 Sale $164,800

Market Total Value   163,500 

Zillow -  $167,988  (Value Range: $144,470 - $208,305)

Galloway Ridge

MLS -  Galloway Ridge  3 Bedroom  2/0 Bath  2 STORY  2 CAR  List $139,500 Sale $140,000

 Market Total Value   130,900 

Zillow  Can't find the house

 
Merion Village

MLS -   MERION VILLAGE  3 Bedroom  1/0 Bath  CAPE COD  1 CAR List  $147,000  Sale $141,500

Market Total Value   109,600 

Zillow $114,613 (ooops missed the range.. sorry)

MLS -  Merion Village  1 Bedroom  1/0 Bath CAPE COD  ON STREET  List  $74,200 Sale $75,900  

Market Total Value   69,300 

Zillow -  $67,062  ( Value Range: $57,673 - $83,157)

Walnut Creek

MLS -   Walnut Creek  3 Bedroom  2/0 Bath   SPLIT - 3 LEVEL   2 CAR  List  $133,900 Sale  $135,900

Market Total Value   114,100 

Zillow -  $122,267 ( Value Range: $105,150 - $151,611)

 
Kenmore Park

MLS -   Kenmore Park  3 Bedroom  1/1 Bath  1 STORY  OFF STREET  List $112,900  Sale $112,900

Market Total Value   114,100 

Zillow  117,018  (Value Range: $100,635 - $145,102 )

N. Linden

North Linden  2  Bedroom 1/1 Bath  2 STORY  OFF STREET  List $68,999 Sale$58,000

Market Total Value   54,700 

Zillow  ZESTIMATE™: $65,237 (Value Range: $56,104 - $80, 000)

Northridge Manor

Northridge Manor  3 Bedroom   1/1 Bath  1 STORY  2 CAR  List  $107,000 Sale $99,000

Market Total Value   96,700

Zillow $98,104 (Value Range: $84,369 - $121,649)

I wanted a house in Galloway Ridge since that neighborhood  was in the Dispatch often earlier this year... regarding value issues.  A question at a Columbus Board of REALTORS® function to the Franklin County Auditor about the tax appraisals in one of other the neighborhoods above made me look at that neighborhood.  

'Who threw the chair?' 

Inman Blog asks:
"could someone fill us in on the California Association of Realtors' technology panel in Long Beach earlier this week that one Realtor said, "almost reached a Jerry Springer-like" dynamic? Inman, Move's Allan Dalton and Zillow's Lloyd Frink were on the panel with CAR's Joel Singer."
--Jessica Swesey, Inman News

"Realtors cool to Zillow.com chief" By Jeff Collins of The Orange County Register (California)

"Allan Dalton bitterly criticized Zillow.com, likening the site’s trademark Zestimates of home values to a carnival weight and age guesser."

Real estate is local.  I first read about Dalton and Frink's exchange on California REALTOR® Roberta Murphy's blog, The RealView. I love Sellsius° Blog's doctored photo of Lloyd Frink as a carnival guesser.  Sellsius Blogs Carnival Photo (I am a fan..)  Note the room for an advertisement on Frink's collar?  Real Living has been an advertisor on Zillow since the beginning.  Real Living is a bit more web 2.0 than lots of real estate companies.   Real Living has Zillow on the website. 

I am not a Jerry Springer Show fan but I get the Inman reference to the sometimes Ohio politician and national talk show host.  I must have watched it waaaaay back when because the freak show with guests throwing chairs and punches immediately came to mind when I read Inman Blogs take on the panel discussion.... I remember hearing or reading The Jerry Springer show is rehearsed, staged...    I looked the Jerry Springer Show up to see if it is still on TV.  It is. Monday through Friday 9:00 AM locally  on WTTE channel 28. The show is in it's sixteenth season according to the Jerry Springer website. 

According to Wikipedia, chairs don't fly on the Jerry Springer Show anymore:  

"Since 1999, the show has adhered to a no-violence rule: guests can no longer fight, use foul language, or perform lewd or obscene acts. However, since 2002 female audience members are actively encouraged to expose their breasts for the cameras and are awarded strings of beads in emulation of Mardi Gras tradition."

Good to hear the Jerry Springer show has evolved... kept up with the times... they show that at 9:00 AM in Columbus, Monday through Friday?

All REALTORS® love Realtor.com and hate Zillow.com don't they?  Wouldn't it be easy if it worked that way? 

I am not a fan of:

• The Jerry Springer Show
• WTTE TV in general but maybe I just don't watch it and assume it is all Jerry Springer Show all of the time
• Realtor.com ...real estate is local use local websites to search ... great one is on my websites and blog... see the Search at the bottom of this page...  HER Real Living's search!  

If anyone cares what I am a fan of.... in addition to Sellsius Blog and Roberta Murphy's Blog, Active Rain.com motherhood, baseball,  apple pie.... etc.

• Real Living, I think it is smart to use Zillow on the Real Living website especially since Joel B on the Future of Real Estate Marketing Blog told me and the real estate world it was a good idea.
• HER Real Living  
• Web 2.0. 
• Zillow?  I am not sure I am a fan but I like to play on Zillow ... check it against reality.. and blog about the UnZillowability of local real estate. I have blogged about it a time or two....
• The National Association of REALTORS® (the distinction between NAR and Realtor.com and now Move.com that used to be Homestore.com is sometime difficult to understand.)

I sometimes read the Carnival of Real Estate...Zillow's weekly Carnival of real estate blogs....  I think  on Inman Blog this week..... wow... could it have been staged any better.....

c. 2006 Columbus Best Blog

Do I have to stop doing entries about property in Central Ohio being "unzillowable?"  Do I have to stop asking if Columbus area sellers were Zillowed?

I saw it on a news release on our company intranet first.  

When a REALTOR® friend Don Fabrizio-Garcia on the east coast read it in Broker Agent News he wrote me....

"Have you and your company been Zillowed??
http://www.brokeragentnews.com/news/general/2006_9/9_24_2006_xy_1159109482.html
 
How are the agents taking this?  I would think they may be concerned about Zillow over- or under-valuing the property, then having to fight against Zillow's estimate."

It was also in Rismedia.

Unzillowable  is  a word coined by Sellsius° Blog :

"Unzillowable, adjective (un zil’ o abull): unable to be valued by the popular website zillow.com."

Zillowed according to Realty Times

Zillow says:  "Compare home values to avoid overpaying"  to buyers...

"Zillow.com - Your Edge in Real EstateZillow provides a free Home Valuation Tool for Real Estate enthusiasts. Whether you're an agent, broker, buyer of investment property or first time ... "

"Use home valuation tools to arrive at the right selling price"

How Zillowable is Upper Arlington?

Busy street 3 bedroom  1 and 1/2 bath  1 story home with a 1 car garage, Sale price $137,000  Zillow value $176,686

3 bedroom, 1 bath  1 STORY home  with 1 carport, Sale price $157,000  Zillow value not bad... $158,093!

Sciotangy subdivision,   3 bedroom , 3 and 1/2 baths,  1 story with a 2 Car garage, Sale price  $237,000  Zillow value $220,286

3 bedroom,   1 and 1/2 bath  2 Story home with a  2 car garage sold for $250,000  Zillow value $259,293 (clost to list price... very, very close.)

4 bedroom  3 and 1/2 bath   1 story home with a  2 car garage  sold for  $366,900  Zillow value $365,303 VERY GOOD!

4 bedroom,   2 and 1/ 2 bath  2 story home with a 2 car garage sold for  $433,000 Zillow value $321,427
River Park subdivision,   4 bedroom   2 and 1/2 bath  1 story home with a  2 car garage  sold for  $400,000 Zillow value $259,704 extensive updating....

3 bedroom,  2 and 1/2 bath  1 story home with a 2 car garage, sold for $475,000 Zillow value  $559,721

Features of a property that Sellsius° Blog speculated might make a home Unzillowable include:

•  Traffic noise
• Privacy
• Neighbors - Best or Worst? - Do they party a lot? Are they loud or obnoxious? Are they kind, quiet and considerate?
• Neighbor’s property - Do they have junk everywhere? Do they never maintain their landscaping, property or their house? Are they meticulous?
• Neighbor’s pets - Barking dogs? Exotic animals?
• Unique Day & Night Features - Street lights & signs shining through the bedroom windows at night. Daytime construction.
• Water Issues - Basement floods only when it’s a real heavy rain.
• Cul de sac - Positive & negative features. More privacy but lacks alternative emergency access routes. Dead end street.
• Stigmatized home
• Exposure
• Views
• Offbeat homes
• Wallpaper
• Paint color
• Land Pitch - Bad slope where you have to cut alot of grass. Water Drainage.
• Smell - Good & Bad. Pet smells. Orange grove. Farm & Crops.
• “est” Homes - The nicest/ugliest home in the neighborhood.
• Homes in non-disclosure states
• Future events - [Building, Community, Neighborhood, Town, City, State] New laws, zoning changes, re-routed roadways, long term construction (see Second Avenue Subway construction project in NYC)

Updates:
• Bugs - mosquitoes, mice, rats, ants, termites, pigeons, etc…
• Micro Climate– leeward, windward, etc
Room flow
Decorating scheme
Landscaping
Local market condition–buyers’/ sellers’, mortgage rates
Current market pool–priced inventory a home is competing against
Provenance—historical, architectural, celebrity.

 c. 2006 Columbus Best Blog and Maureen McCabe