Recent Zillow posts:

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We are the home of the cats. Redfin, Trulia, Zillow all Seattle based. We
are tech city and in discussing all of this with the techs, they don't
really know the real estate business enough to even get most of it, except
the "data exchange".

I say don't play with the data issue, play with the rest of the rules they
are breaking, as they don't even know those rules. Make it impossible for
them to get paid at all, if they do not ever go inside of the house.

Zillow will either be a Redfin or a Zip Realty or a Catalist or a straight
bottom feeder. Is there anything else they can be? Holding back the data
won't fly and if they want to provide a legitimate service at a lower cost,
that's OK. But offering no service at a lower cost by sending buyers out to
see the properties on their own and making the listing agent do all of the
buyer agent's on-site work because "their agent" never leaves his desk? Not
an option. We have to eradicate that option. Not because we don't want
discounters in our midst, but because we don't want to do their work. We
can't let their business model be based on the fact that we do both sides,
while they get paid for our work.

ARDELL DellaLoggia, ASP
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I remember reading some comments from zillow on a blog some place. I believe
they had been pulled off of a website. The kept referring to their customer
without saying who it would be. The thought that the customer would be
brokers and agents entered my mind...

I played on the site this morning, I am sure there will be more to it than
it is now, but I noticed ads from brokers pretty quickly. Expedia pretty
much exist to get you to buy someone else's product, why wouldn't zillow
exist to send you to a broker/agent. Think Housevalues, service magic, etc.

Cool stuff, and the property values were pretty accurate in our area, of
course they were really close to the tax assessments, and the county has
started assessing at FMV, so that's not a surprise. I put in my parents very
unique home in a neighboring area. They didn't come close.

I also found this on their site.
When we say "consumer first" we understand that real estate professionals
play a huge role in buying and selling a home. That's why we hope you'll
participate in our forthcoming programs for real estate professionals. Be
the first to hear the details about our programs by completing the form
below.

So do they want to sell us leads, web page content, advertising space, or
web pages a la homepages.com

Chris Guldi
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The million dollar idea is to list buyers wants and needs in a database and
match them to sellers, or have sellers search the buyers MLS all by
themselves.

Alisa Hagner ABR, CRS, e-pro, GRI, MRE
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I wish I could go back to some of my first RT postings where I
discussed the implications of an "ebay homes" type of service
replacing our business, and that sooner or later a big, branded
corporation with loads of cash on hand would find a model that people
would be willing to try. Then, the old "buggy whip" mentality that
Realtors cannot be replaced will give way to "why didn't NAR think
about that and do it first." =20

Imagine a business model where buyers can view homes online, create an
online account, get a consumer or user ranking based upon credit or
financial information, automatically receive and acknowledge notices
or disclosures for their region, state or locale, request a comparable
market report for the area, negotiate with the seller through your
user account, generate their state form with the blanks completed,
signed electronically, and transmitted directly to the title company
(also ranked and reviewed by consumers), with the earnest money and
other fees deducted directly from their checking account.

We're going to look old school compared to the new technology that's
already out there waiting to be developed.

John Huval
Bellaire TX
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My guess is the Zillow "Big Wigs" are not interested in being in the Real
Estate Business. They are tech types that are working on creating a "better"
Data collection / exchange" system.

Once they "Create" that system, they are looking to get bought out - ala Zip
Realty / Prudential.

JIM
The Jim Cummings Team
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I just did an "Zestimate" on my home using Zillow <http://zillow.com> and
found it no better than other automated valuation services I've used. IOW,
useless. Many of the comps used were in other tracts that don't conform to
mine. Valuation was about 15% less than a recent appraisal for a line of
credit.

Fred
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Zillow.com is up and running. I tested it. My house is worth over $200,000
less than I just paid for it according the new fancy, schmancey website.

You can all go back to business as usual. Zillow's not putting listing
agents out of business any time soon. ROTFLMAO!

ARDELL DellaLoggia, ASP
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