(c) AP
Google’s bought its historic birthplace garage, with attached home (pictured above), for an undisclosed amount, reported the Washington Post. Similar homes in the area sell in the $1.1-1.3 million range. This story reminded us of another famous unzillowable “garage sale“. Back in 2000, Hewlitt Packard bought the 12×18′ Garage, which William Hewlitt had rented for $45/month, for $1.7 million. Provenance is an unzillowable.
Note: Only a local real estate agent or broker could tell you about the other unzillowable present in this seemingly peaceful neighborhood—-the hordes of techies who flock to the house in an ever increasing pilgrimage to see another famous garage. Traffic, traffic noise & crowds of tourists cannot be seen with the birds-eye viewer.
You guys piss me off with these continued phrases of “unzillowable”. Enough already. Yes I understand that you are probably furious about all the momentum these guys have and their ability to coin a phrase. If you guys had enough guts to have coined a phrase like that yourself I’m sure you’d be just as happy to tout it as well. The problem is that you’re touting it more than they themselves are. We get it, it’s the valuation of the intangibles that only you “agents” can provide (or in this case that only Google are stupid enough to pay for). While you’re all about picking on Zillow what about the other company in this location’s backyard, Trulia? Get off your soapbox.
First of all, we did coin the phrase so we think we have a right to use it.
But we’re still sorry to offend you Zillowthis. But try to understand where we’re coming from.
We liked the Google garage story & the HP garage story & used unzillowable because it’s a quick way to describe the situation. Why say: These are examples of things which are not calculated by AVM when “unzillowable” works to convey the same idea? Do you also object to “Google Juice” The “digg effect” Farked, slashdoted, or any similar term? It’s just a short-cut word. And we are not anti-Zillow. We never told anyone not to use them. We have always said that we love to see the raw data (so long as its accurate & complete) BUT we don’t think it’s fair to consumers to give a zestimate when you’re missing beds, baths, sq. ft. & rooms.
Just check out this multifamily–it’s missing all this data PLUS the # of units. Still Z gives a zestimate. Why? Just say you really don’t know because you’re missing all this important stuff.
http://tinyurl.com/nv243
What if I as a broker gave you a value & I had all these things missing? WOuld you call me an idiot or what? But you’d give zillow, a multi-million dollar behemoth a pass. I’m sorry, I just don’t get it.
Also put yourself in the shoes of a guy like Steve Olshins. Read his story here.
http://www.zillowblog.com/zillow_blog/2006/08/elvis_home_beco.html#comments
Or how about these poor folks.
http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20060831_zillowed.htm
Compared to what these people have to face, a word like “unzillowable” should not piss anyone off. We think you should be pissed off for Steve & Alex, real people like me and you. (remember zillow exists to please advertisers, not homeowners)
BUt to be fair to your point of view, we invite you to do our “open mike” where you can argue your case for zillow on our blog. We don’t mind debating any subject on the merits. If our arguments against zillow are flawed point them out. We give you our blog as your stage to speak your piece. We think that’s fair. Don’t you?
here’s the link explaining the open mike:
http://blog.sellsiusrealestate.com/blog-open-mike-speak-your-piece-on-sellsius/
(would zillow let someone do this on their blog?)
PS At least Trulia asks permission whether to crawl a site & post the property. And you can put a robot blocker on your listings. At least you have a say. Not so with zillow. They put up everyone’s house whether you like it or not and stick their zillow price tag on it without your permission—-you may not mind it but some owners trying to sell at a price above the zestimate may have a problem with it. Think about Alex or Steve trying to sell their home and someone standing across the street with a sign saying “That house is valued a lot less, dont’ overpay”. Now that would really piss me off. Wouldn’t that bother you?
Hey, we’re little guys who stand up for other little guys, why should big boy zillow worry about us and our little word? I’ve spoken to David G of Zillow and he understands where we’re coming from.
Sorry if I came across really strong on this. I agree with your points and yes it is a nice-easy catchphrase wrt capturing the things that are not simply Zillowable. I guess I’m just sick of hearing that word all the time. It’s almost like calling it unzillowable is just adding more fuel to the fire wrt adding to that momentum. You mention above that it’s likely not fair to apply a zestimate knowing there is missing data but also don’t forget they are trying to plug that hole as well with their recently added owner updated data. However even with that you guys still provide valuable information. However in this day and age you have to wonder does truth or perception arise simply because the majority of the users say so? I guess only the sellers/buyers completing the actual transactions will be the judge of that.
Thanks for understanding zillowthis. You are right when you say truth or perception is based on the majority. And yes, ultimately buyers & sellers are the true judges. Glad we could have an understanding. Take care.
Fiesty in here. I like it I like it!