Comments on: MLS Getting Into the Zestimate Home Valuation Game

By: jfsellsius

jfsellsius — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:40:30 +0000

Thanks Lou.

By: Louis Cammarosano

Louis Cammarosano — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 17:32:46 +0000

Here is a screen shot of HoemGain's Original Instant Home Valuation Tool from 1999:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/689057/HomeGain...

By: jfsellsius

jfsellsius — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 16:16:15 +0000

Interesting point Alfie. I think you hit the nerve– if the MLS is open to
the public, how can they justify charging agents?

By: Alfie

Alfie — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 16:09:29 +0000

Isn't the MLS a service for agents that agents pay membership fees for? I'm not sure I like the idea of an MLS competing with agents for traffic or offering free services that I have to pay for. I noticed the other day that one of our Idaho MLS companies offers a complete search feature that is open to the public. There is a conflict here that I don't like and I don't think a lot of agents realize that it is happening.

By: jfsellsius

jfsellsius — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:37:08 +0000

That's why I put the HomeGain dog at the front of the pack

By: Louis Cammarosano

Louis Cammarosano — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:38:18 +0000

Just rememeber who had the first web based instant Homevaluation tool-
It WAS NOT zillow!
http://blog.homegain.com/homegain-cries-flatter...

By: jfsellsius

jfsellsius — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:48:14 +0000

Thanks for the update Drew.

By: drewmeyers

drewmeyers — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:10:07 +0000

Real quickly - I just wanted to note that Reply.com no longer provides their own home evaluations. This is their new site that contains real estate data - http://www.connectwithlife.com/

By: jfsellsius

jfsellsius — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:25:35 +0000

The home val space is getting so crowded that Zillow may have lost its
“edge”. I propose a dogpile for home val that pulls the estimates from all
the sites— so consumers can get everyone's opinion without having to
visit all the sites. What do you think?

By: David G from Zillow.com

David G from Zillow.com — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 06:49:17 +0000

I hope you're right, Joe.

Just to remind readers, Zillow offers Zestimates via a free API to web publishers. You can get a Zillow API key and learn about the API data we offer here: http://www.zillow.com/howto/api/APIOverview.htm. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Zillow's APIs [davidg AT z DOTCOM]