Notes

Real Estate Technology Tip: Make Zillow WORK WITH You
On February 8, 2006, the real estate business changed a little with the launch of Zillow (tm) (http://www.zillow.com). Zillow's goal would be to simplify the procedure of locating the market value of a home.

Zillow may be the creation of Richard Barton and Lloyd Frink. You might have heard of
Richard's last project, founding the internet travel site Expedia.

In his launch news release, Barton says, "We believe you shouldn't need a computer
science degree or a real estate license to find out what a home will probably be worth. That's why
we created Zestimate values, providing free and instant valuations for millions of
homes in the us. This beta is just the beginning... Zillow will continue adding tools
and services to empower consumers to create smarter real estate decisions."

With Zillow, 60 seconds is all is takes for anybody to find the current market value of
any home in the Zillow database - whether or not it is for sale (currently they have
data for approximately 60 million homes). Zillow computes its valuations based largely on
publicly available data (tax records, etc.), which leads to some pretty interesting
results.

Occasionally, Zillow's estimates seem to be accurate within the 10% margin of
error they list on the site. Most of the tests we ran and also have read about, however,
show Zillow is regularly off the mark by around a couple of hundred thousand dollars.
Plenty of properties don't even show up, my house included.

Whatever the accuracy of the info (which we assume will enhance the longer
Zillow stays running a business), the thought of Zillow is angering many property
professionals who believe that publicly accessible information such as this puts the success
of these business in the cross hairs.

Good technology is disruptive, meaning it interrupts the status quo and forces us to
change (hopefully for the better) or get left out. Every time a new technology like
Zillow comes along, you will see it in one of two ways: optimistically or
pessimistically.

Let's pick the former.

So how do you require Zillow in your favor?

Begin using their biggest asset (pricing information) to boost YOUR biggest asset
(the worthiness you deliver to buyers and sellers).

Zillow specializes in price and makes that pricing information readily available to
anyone. And while price is important, it is only one section of buying and selling real
estate.

Fortunately, your business isn't built on information alone. What good is
information without the knowledge necessary to interpret that information and transform it
into action?

I could go out and purchase the entire curriculum used by the top medical school in the
country, but having the information doesn't help me DO anything. Knowledge and
experience must turn that information into real VALUE for me and others.

It's kind of a similar thing for Zillow. Your goal is to make sure your potential
buyers and sellers understand that.

So here's just one way to make Zillow work for you:

If you study the Zillow results carefully for properties you understand well, you will find
that it's particularly poor keeping in mind up with major improvements designed to
properties that substantially increase their value. This is one among the holes that
exists right now.

Next time you're heading to a listing presentation, take the Zillow results with you.
Study the report and utilize it to your advantage to show owner just how much
value you bring to the table. Utilize the Zillow Zestimate (their word not mine) as a
teaching tool with your seller. Suggest to how to get wax out of carpet why or you will want to the data is accurate and
make it clear that your knowledge can either make them additional money or save them
from the frustration of trying to sell at an inflated price.

Zillow can deliver price, nevertheless, you can deliver value.

And VALUE is what clients will pay for.

Ultimately, basic business principles still apply. You obtain what you pay for. Be sure
to communicate that to your clients atlanta divorce attorneys possible way and you will never be
threatened by the next new technology that comes along.

Jason Leister, the Real Estate Technology Guru (tm), is owner of Computer Super Guy, LLC, a Chicago-based technology firm that helps property professionals profit with technology.

Visit the Real Estate Technology Guru [http://www.computersuperguy.com] a subscription to our free monthly eZine, ProfIT, and get a FREE copy of our special report "THE REALITY About PROPERTY Websites and Search Engine Optimization."
My Website: https://www.pollexr.com/how-to-get-wax-out-of-carpet/