How many ways are there to say -- real estate agents are ignorant, dishonest and useless? Zillow has found many ways to say this through their discussion board. I hold Zillow accountable for the trash that is on their site. Not once have I seen a moderator intervene on the behalf of agents, so it leads me to believe they share the sentiments. Maybe they will come up with more creative ways to denigrate agents, but after spending a month there it bored me to a coma. I've left and I'm feeling much better, thank you.
Zillow has also, through their discussion board, founds ways to inform the public that housing prices will drop 70%, no one should buy a house for at least the next ten years and that we will all be in soup lines, straggly bum-citizens of a third-world nation, soon to be owned by China.
On top of this, there are a group of conspiracy theorists who insist 9-11 was caused by our government and the buildings went down in a controlled demolition. What does this have to do with real estate? Ask Zillow, they allowed this lunacy to be propagated on their board, yet they remove the most innocuous of threads that might be critical of their forum.
Plus, their Zestimates are all over the place. There is no way they can give accurate estimates of prices without first hand knowledge of the areas.
So far, Zillow seems to be a breeding ground for loonies, and not much more. Why it has been propped up by investor money is beyond me, unless it is the same phenomenon that make a Jerry Springer successful -- except Jerry Springer is actually successful -- Zillow hasn't proven any success.
And to imagine that agents were once worried about places like Zillow making us obsolete. After spending 15 minutes on Zillow, any sane buyer would be searching madly for a professional. Some of the people who screech the loudest inanities on their discussion board remind me of the crazy lady on the Simpsons who throws cats at passersby. My, what an image they are creating.
There is a great opportunity for social networks and vertical search to have a value-added impact on consumers searching for real estate online, but Zillow is missing that opportunity. If you're into something like a death-cage match between Jerry Springer and Geraldo Rivera, or wild guesstimates on your home's value, then Zillow's your place, but if you are looking for estimates of true value based on local knowledge and grownup discussion regarding nationwide trends in real estate, there is no need to bother -- Zillow doesn't have it.
Mike from Savannah