So, now, the Arizona Board of Appraisals has issued a cease and desist order against Zillow.com – to prevent them from valuing Arizona real estate… charging that they are appraising property without a license.  If Zillow does not comply, the Appraisers intend to seek injunctive relief.

For those of you who don’t know about zillow.com, you should check it out.  Zillow is a website, started by ex-Microsoft guys, designed to value residential real estate all over the country.  In recent months, many have criticized zillow for the inaccuracies reflected in the house price estimations.  HOWEVER, inaccuracies do not justify action to prevent Zillow from operating. 

Zillow is not committing fraud.  They are not intentionally deceiving anyone.  They are not even appraising property.  And, frankly, anyone who believes that these estimations of price are actually appraisals, has never had anything to do with purchasing real estate.  Clearly, there are more factors to computing the price of any house than just some recent comps (which, to my understanding, is the way Zillow guesses at price).  So, given that there is no deception going on – on the part of Zillow – what is the problem?

I have always viewed Zillow for what it is.  It is a fun tool to “guestimate” the value of your house.  But, more importantly, it is a great resource to show you values of houses all around yours.  So, when you go to sell, you do have a ball-park idea of what yours would sell for.

So, who would be opposed to this?  How about appraisers?  Naturally.  How about real estate agents who see their livelihood being taken away a little more every day by the availability of information that once was in the hands of a few & is now available to the masses?  I can see why they would be threatened.  Nevertheless, protecting an industry that needs to be overhauled – thanks to the availability of information technology – is wrong. 

Look, there are those that say that Zillow is inaccurate.  Therefore, we should not provide it to the masses.  To them, I say “B.S.”.  Zillow is a fun tool for estimating that value of your house.  But, it is also a valuable resource and – conceivably could be – an alternative to the MLS system (someday).  Let it grow, let it prosper.  And, to the Arizona real estate industry, do not become the enemy of the consumer.  Zillow is not your competition.  They don’t  even appraise real estate.  Rather, they provide consumers with a fun tool that  lot of people really enjoy.   Lighten up.

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