Zillow.com
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Online home hunters gained a shiny new arrow in their quiver this week, with the launch of Zillow.com. Want to know the appraised value of that sweet little house you saw on the drive home? Zillow lets you quickly zoom through neighborhoods with satellite views to access a raft of statistics. The site is invaluable, whether you’re looking to buy, sell, refinance, or take out a home equity loan …
Think of Zillow as an adjunct to the real estate listing websites. It’s not about the listing prices … it’s about providing the data that those real estate listing websites often fail to provide.
Zillow uses GlobeXplorer’s aerial photos, satellite images, and maps. Just plug in a street address and the site will reward you with an aerial image marked with home icons. Zillow’s per-house data includes appraised value, yearly property taxes, lot size, and past transactions. Just one glance and you’ll know a home’s last selling price and the values of the homes in the neighborhood.
I started out by checking out my neighborhood before cruising around town to see the appraised value (and taxes!) of some of the nicer properties in town. Think your paying too much in taxes? Now you can see exactly how much your neighbors are paying!
Once I got bored with my town, I took a flight of fancy to check out some oceanfront real estate … okay, so it is February and a big snowstorm is on the way, but a geek’s just gotta dream, baby, dream …
2 Comments
Zillow.com ~ Technobabble
October 8th, 2006
at 5:00am
[...] Zillow.com [...]
Mack Perry
November 6th, 2007
at 4:03am
As a REALTOR I initially thought Zillow would have a positive impact in the real estate marketplace. Unfortunately they have not. The Zestimates as they are called are way off the mark. I have seen them miss by over $100,000 on numerous occasions. The will tell you they are a media company not a real estate valuation service. The best option for anyone who is looking to obtain the value of their home is to contact a local REALTOR who is familiar with the area and have the REALTOR prepare a market analysis. This service is provided at no charge by every professional agent that I know.