Zillow; Good or Bad?

Zillow: Good or Bad?

Zillow, which began in 2006, was a site for people to put their money at ease (as the name of the website insinuates, it puts your zillions on a pillow). While there could be a handful of benefits to the website, personally, I believe that it is a bad idea. Furthermore, the website can cause a lot more headaches than it could make real estate dreams come true.

There are some great and numbered benefits to using a website like Zillow from the buyer's perspective. It allows the buyer to see some details (such as size, rooms, bathrooms, year of construction, ect.[1]) that they would otherwise have to call the realtor to know. It also allows the buyer to look at homes in their price range on possibly limit their search instead of being shown homes that they cannot afford.

Unfortunately, when the Zestimates[2] (Zillow + estimates) are off, they are terribly off. In a study conducted by the Wall Street Journal of 1,000 homes, 10% of the homes were off-priced by over 25%[3]. In 3.5% of the cases, it was off by over 50%. One home was undervalued by over $2 million. If a buyer mesmerized by a faulty estimate on Zillow's website, it can cause heated, long, and strenuous negotiations between a realtor and the prospected buyer.

While the website only has marginal error of 7.2% in about 90% of their listed homes, this is a number that cannot be toyed with. Real estate is the largest asset most, if not all, people will invest in. Buying a home that is severely overvalued can be detrimental for a person's future financial standing.

Works Cited

1. Boswell, Wendy. "Zillow.com: Real Estate Search Made Simple." Web Search. About.com, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

2. Lucido, Gary. "Zestimates: Just How Bad Are Zillow's Home Price Estimates?" Chicago Now. Chicago Tribune, 17 Oct. 2011. Web. 29