Answers (13)
- bneuman7373
- Contributions:7
your post seems to blame a website for the problems your federal governmet along w fed reserve started many many many years ago. who cares what the zestimate says. put your house on the market for what you think its worth and when you accept an offer and it goes through I will tell you what your home was worth. give your potential buyers comps and move on. if someone uses a website like zillow to base an opinion/offer and you dont like it then give them hard evidence to the contrary and move on.
- user7553973
- Contributions:4
- Guillen
- Contributions:20
Sunnyview writes: "I was asking if you might be able to post a (web URL reference) to the information that you referenced in where you mentioned that Zillow stated that one of their goals was to "influence" pricing in the housing market. I have not read that anywhere myself, so I would appreciate it."
Sunnyview, as time passes web pages change, and it is sometimes difficult or impossible to re-find something you previously read. Suffice it to answer your question in lieu of a specific hotling reference the following quote from the CEO of Zillow: (note you can other articles to the quote below using your URL search engine to verify if you want to.)
Zillow's press release says it all: "Until now, finding out a current market value of any home -- whether it's yours or one you want to bid on -- has been quite difficult," said Rich Barton, Zillow chairman and CEO. "We believe you shouldn't need a computer science degree or a real estate license to find out what a home is worth. That's why we created Zestimate values, providing free and instant valuations for millions of homes in America. This beta is just the beginning … . Zillow will continue adding tools and services to empower consumers to make smarter real estate decisions. ..." Part of the problem with the Zestimate given by Zillow is also that consumers take their Zestimates, however in accurate as truth.
If this is not a direct intent to influence the buyer and seller market, then I do not know what is. In addition, how can Zillow replace licensed appraisers and minimize realtors. Seems to me that Zillow, does not care as long as it is making a buck, on the backs of homeowners.
Imagine the scenario where several home owners bought homes in a certain neighborhood and they bought them for $0.5+ million each, as an example. In time, if an owner decided to sell his house for $1 dollar, imagine the damage done to the other home owners in that neighborhood who may later try to sell their homes and potential buyers seek valuations on Zillow and won't buy them because they think those houses are overvalued using the inaccurate Zestimate.
- sunnyview
- Contributions:26843
Sorry, but I think we may be talking past each other. I do understand the "link" that you were making in your post.
I was asking if you might be able to post a hotlink to the information that you referenced in where you mentioned that Zillow stated that one of their goals was to "influence" pricing in the housing market. I have not read that anywhere myself, so I would appreciate it.
- Guillen
- Contributions:20
I did, and it is the subject of the question of this discussion to which you posted a reply to.
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:26034
OH YES THEY DO!!!!!!! 17% BELOW what Zillow is estimating for the same property!!!!!
And no trend data, and on tolerance data, and no confidence interval, and no disclaimers!! JUST the estimate; take it or leave it!
Zillow doesn't care one way or another what advertisers or buyers or sellers think! Their modeling is no different than done at any other research facility or educational institution! Trulia, on the other hand, is only doing a "copy cat" to avoid losing market share, but they aren't providing the research nor the needed tolerance analysis to make the number even remotely useful.
- sunnyview
- Contributions:26843
I think you may have misunderstood my post. If I was citing Zillow, I would have tried to provide a link or cited it as something I had read from Zillow staff.
Maybe you would be so kind as to provide the link to the information that says that Zillow is trying to influence pricing. I would appreciate that so I can read it. Thanks.
- Guillen
- Contributions:20
Obviously WetDawgs you should read closer to dechipher that although Trulia compares listing prices set by the seller to average historical sales, Trulia does not pin point at any home property and provides their erroneously based estimate of what the value of a property is or should be. Zillow does give the public their opinion of what a house is worth, and the problem here is that the public believes it, despite the fact that in some cases, two identical properties are valued very differently, nothing one example of their erroneous algorithm which they need to retract and throw away in the trash as it is valueless. I do, however, agree with WetDawgs that if Trulia intends to identify a property with what they perceive to be the value of such property, that it is influencing the market value of a property they have no business of doing that to it, and that it should also be criminally prohibited.
Sunnyview writes: "Zillow does not make people buy or sell at a certain price. When the market was high many people paid more than the Zestimate. Now with the market lower many pay less than the Zestimate. My opinion is that the Zillow tracks market information, but does not create the marketplace."
I must say that Sunyview obviously cited the Zestimate as a reference point for his arguments viewpoint, although lacking the basis understanding to call it either precise or accurate. Thus by his perception he obviously places trust in the Zestimate by which to value a property, -----which is what most people looking to buy a property do when visiting Zillow in order to decide on what offer to buy a property at. If this is not influencing the market price of a home, you are mistaken, then what is?
Zillow by their own words in their own website statment, boosts that they are an influence to the home market place. This is evidence of their self admission that Zillow wants to be considered an influence the housing market. (And thus its pricing).
Obviously, Sunnyview you may not be aware that Zillow itself also publically states within their very own website that they are an influence to the housing market.
- sunnyview
- Contributions:26843
Zillow does not make people buy or sell at a certain price. When the market was high many people paid more than the Zestimate. Now with the market lower many pay less than the Zestimate. My opinion is that the Zillow tracks market information, but does not create the marketplace.
- wetdawgs
- Contributions:39612
What a refreshing post to read on this Forum. Your questions are spot on and the sooner that Zillow is investigated by the FTC and Attorney General for market manipulation of the housing market the better for all homeowners.
The Zestimate algorithm is fundamentally flawed, not helped by the fact that it was developed by a team of supposedly intellectuals with ZERO real estate experience between them. Add to that Zillows notorious reputation for lousy data management in how it imports the millions of bits of information from 3rd party suppliers, and it is inevitable that the zestimates are going to be incorrect. As the old saying goes Garbage In Garbage Out, and zillow certainly publishes millions of garbage zestimates.
Not only should Zillow be immediatley investigated it is time our legislators caught up with the technology and introduced some form of regulation over Zillow to protect homeowners from its nonsense valuations. It is outrageous that Zillow refuses any requests from homeowners to correct or delete erroneous zestimates. If it happened in any other country our legislators would be complaining that it was an infringement of peoples human rights but they allow this BS to happen under their noses. Thumps Up to you for highlighting this.
- Guillen
- Contributions:20
You say Zillow has no stock, yet they have advertisers who pay them milions to advertise on their web site.
Zillow has a site that is as good as Trulia, yet Trulia has the morality not to influence what they perceive our houses are worth.
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:26034
There are thousands of AVM's, and Zillow has less than 10% of the market share. Lawrence Yun on the other hand, has over 80% of the market share. Why don't you personally sue him and the organization that hired him?
Everyone knows that Zillow has no "stock" in which way the prices go, and that there are an equal amount sold over Zestimate as under, and that the distribution range of estimates is approximately symmetrical around actual sold prices, and that the estimates lag the prices by about 1 to 2 months, no "leading them". But Lawrence Yun is paid to manipulate the market to put money in the pockets of the members of his organization.
Why is Zillow being allowed to negatively influence the housing market with their false algorithm?
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- 0.0/5.0
- Write a review
Contributions:20I rate Zillow as a detriment to the recovery of the housing market, and they do not deserve any positive kudos for this fact. The company, in my opinion, is providing false home values, and they do not even have an appraisers State license. Further, why are they allowed to continue to influence the housing markets down with their false algorithms, solely based on statistically unrepresentative sales only.
If you look at the trends of home values over the last three years, as noted on Zillow like for WA State, they are driving the housing market down into the ground. I cannot understand why the the Federal Government and the State governments have not issued injunctions on their practices, and disallowed them from providing their ridiculous zestimates which influence home values and are falsely representing home values as spiraling down, all this while they profit from advertisers. Zillow zestimates are a malfeasance to this country, realtors, and home owners.
I urge that we all write to our law makers and the attorney generals to get them to quit this zestimate practice.
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