Zillow has been known as an innovator who really works hard to keep the marketplace honest and informed. Overall, I am a fan of Zillow. There are a lot of good resources throughout the website. Many consumers and realtors have concerns about Zillow’s “Zestimates.” I always tell people that these are a good general ball park for what your home is worth…but that is all that it is. It is very general and can not take into account many factor’s that influence the value of your home.

It is impossible to figure out the exact value of a home through a mathematical formula as Zillow does. However, Zillow does do a good job pulling up tax records and comparing what your home is “supposed to have.” Many times though…there can be errors in a tax record or other things included in and around your home that either positively or negatively affect the value.

Zillow recently has been incorpating new features into their website that seem to be adding some real value. The two most recent features that I have noticed are “Dueling Digs” and “Mortgage Marketplace.” I am not completely sold on either yet. “Dueling Digs” is fun to play around with for a while but bored me within a few minutes of voting.

“Mortgage Marketplace” really has potential though. I am not sure if it is there yet as the idea still needs to catch on and I’m sure that there are many kinks on Zillow’s side to work out. However, the two primary benefits of it are that it keeps consumers anonymous and lenders honest.

Zillow published some interesting research about consumer’s mortgage shopping habits…actually some research that is pretty depressing. The thing that got me the most is that consumers spend more time (8 hours) researching a car purchase than they do (5 hours) researching loans. Different lenders can amount to thousands and thousands of dollars in savings…especially long term! Much more than any car you would ever purchase….and likely also a longer-term investment!

Zillow also posted some facts about why people are likely not spending as much time researching loans. According to their research, Zillow seems to have developed a product that fits consumers needs and wants. I read this article this morning that sums up all of Zillow’s research and has a pretty good commentary on their new marketplace.

Personally, I would still rather work with a lender I know and trust. I especially like working with a lender I have worked with before and I know will treat my clients well and do a good job at getting the transaction closed. However, I would never blame or discourage a client of mine to shop around and see if they can find a reputable lender at a better price and deal. I do applaud Zillow for continuing to have a cutting edge website and testing the market.

I heard a Zillow employee say the other day…”Let’s do what others don’t.” He was not referring to anything about Zillow but I couldn’t help wonder if this is much of the mindset that Zillow uses. Well…if so, I am happy for it!

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 8:14 am and is filed under Mortgages/Loans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.