You knew the real estate industry wouldn’t just lie down and embrace the change that Zillow pioneered. Someone was going to play dirty, it was just a matter of time until the lawyers figured out the best angle. The NCRC (National Community Reinvestment Coalition) has filed a complaint against Zillow, claiming that it’s real estate valuation estimates are misleading to consumers.
I’m in agreement with Greg and Joel on this one – this is a big time shakedown. Greg summed up the repercussions of this best on the BloodHound Blog:
To my knowledge, this is the first time a purely web-based company has been shaken down in this manner. Because of this — because the web has been exempt from this kind of officious thievery so far — it is a matter of particular moment whether Zillow.com is able to hold the line.
This is a battle where the old guard are trying to stop innovation and real change within the real estate industry. Real estate professionals should realize that the reason online estimates are popular is because that is what the consumer wants. Learn to embrace this technology and use it to grow your business – don’t make a mockery of your customer.
On a side note, what about companies like RealEstateABC and Reply? Do they get a free pass, or are they just next in line?
Related Articles
3 users responded in this post
[...] The Future of Real Estate Marketing has more today, as does Realty Thoughts. For my own part, I believe the crux of the issue is racial politics and Fair Housing legislation, rather than the plights of starving appraisers or disgruntled Realtors. These groups may have their own axes to grind, but every NCRC shake-down I have been able to uncover has been related to Fair Housing law or the Community Reinvestment Act. [...]
Zillow is a property valuation website. It is NOT an appraisal site. It gives a quick and dirty snapshot of a property value. It will not claim that it can produce a full and comprehensive appraisal.
However, what it does is wonderful. It quickly gathers metrics and sales data and gives a quick glimpse into the values of properties.
The appraisers should not only embrace zillow.com, they should use this as a marketing tool for themselves. Use zillow to get a rough estimate of the value of a property, and use a real appraiser to get the professional estimate.
With this being said, there will always be those people that want to stifle competition. They will want to do an unprofessional job, rather than a complete appraisal and those are the un-professionals that fear zillow.
In the mortgage business, many people were terrified that the online lenders would put mortgage brokers out of business. The opposite was true. Most people need a mortgage broker to help them get a loan for their individual circumstances. Those brokers that thought they were being a professional by quoting rates were not professionals, they were simply order takers.
Innovation is not only needed in real estate it is the salvation of the real estate industry. It will assist appraisers…and buyers, if only appraisers use this in the manner in which it was intended and educate the public as to the value of their services.
[...] What We’re Doing: There already are a couple different websites that allow you to get property estimates for free. What I saw at the real estate conferences that I attended was a number of real estate professionals who were uncomfortable with this new technology. Most weren’t against the technology itself, it was more that they weren’t sure how to utilize it to help them in their own business. Sure, there are those who would rather kill any change than learn how to embrace and leverage it, but I don’t think that is the majority. [...]