Calling an Appraiser is nice, but in the future it is likely that most Internet surfers will first visit a new site, “Zillow,” to get an idea of property values. Zillow offers a free “do-it-yourself” comparable evaluation report for both buyers and sellers. How will that impact the business? Not much…yet.

Zillow has a database of about 60 million homes, based on property values, sales and other public records. They offer three evaluation tools for buyers, sellers and home owners who just want to track the value of their largest asset. “Zestimate” is a tool that provides a rough estimate of value based on a statistical proprietary algorithm. Zillow claims ninety percent accuracy. A Zestimate presents a range of values and a “Zindex” is the median value. Zillow instructions tell users to use a Zindex over a period of time to recieve a better evaluation.

Zillow also offers a free tool called “My Zestimator.” It follows logic familiar to any appraiser. First, users edit facts about their home. Then they pick the best choices from a list of relevant comparable sales in their locale. The Zestimator then computes a refined value. Zillow is smart though, and recognizes the difficulty in coming up with a home value based solely on figures and the assessment of an untrained user. They strive for ninety percent accuracy, but admit that this goal is not always possible. Of course, Zillow does not replace an appraisal, nor can its results be used to obtain a loan.

I am not even close to buying or selling a home, but I still found Zillow somewhat difficult to use at first. Zillow knows the complicated nature of this web app, so it gives its users some basic training to understand how to get best results. Basically, they receive a crash course in appraisal principles and how to use the Zillow tools. For those unfamiliar with appraisal techniques (Like myself), there is plenty of room for error. I pretty much have the hang of things now after playing with it for a while.

Zillow is very useful, and I am sure when I am ready to purchase or sell a home, many of Zillow’s features will be of great help. This site offers a great amount of information, but this information my be incorrect. Realtors should be prepared for many questions, as some people might have visited Zillow first. Zillow claims to be 90% accurate, so not everyone will be right and Realtors may have problems on their hand in explaining themselves over Zillow. Best suggestion is to visit Zillow yourself if you are a Realtor.

Check it out at www.zillow.com