{"id":195,"date":"2006-08-09T22:14:25","date_gmt":"2006-08-10T05:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=195"},"modified":"2007-04-01T11:18:42","modified_gmt":"2007-04-01T18:18:42","slug":"pinocchio-wept-the-map-is-never-the-territory-so-even-a-much-much-better-zillowcom-clone-would-not-be-able-to-evaluate-real-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/195\/pinocchio-wept-the-map-is-never-the-territory-so-even-a-much-much-better-zillowcom-clone-would-not-be-able-to-evaluate-real-property\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinocchio wept: The map is never the territory, so even a much, much better Zillow.com clone would not be able to evaluate real property . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

David G. from Zillow.com replied to my post yesterday which argues that Zillow.com Zestimates are bunk<\/a>, which I had proved to my own satisfaction in an earlier post<\/a>. I’m revisiting the topic — to everyone’s delight, no doubt — because I want to drive the point home, and because I want to illustrate how a business like Zillow.com could do a better<\/i> job — which would nevertheless still fall short of Zillow.com’s fraudulent promises.<\/p>\n

I’m going to draw from a few places. This is David G:<\/p>\n

So, why is it inappropriate to comment on your “debunking Zillow” series? Well, frankly, I think you’re entitled to your opinion and I respect it. I may disagree with you; but how does saying that help this conversation?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I cannot for the life of me imagine how anyone could reason rigorously about the argument I made and yet disagree with it. You cannot evaluate a house without seeing it. That seems to me to be beyond dispute. I’d be amazed if Zillow.com were to admit it, but they cannot deny it.<\/p>\n

There’s more here, of course. No one with any sense at Zillow.com would buy or sell a home without a professional opinion of value.<\/p>\n

But give the man credit. He doesn’t deny the truth. He just doesn’t quite admit it:<\/p>\n

In many respects, I actually agree with you; Zillow does not replace visiting a house and its comps or a strong knowledge of the local market.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the other hand, take a look at these promises, made on Zillow.com’s home page:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What is Zillow promising if not “knowledge” of the values of homes it has never seen?<\/p>\n

Do you think this is ambiguous? This is from the Zillow.com “About Us” page:<\/p>\n

Why not help consumers by giving them access to the same kinds of information and tools agents use?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do you get the impression that what is meant here is “visiting a house and its comps or a strong knowledge of the local market”? I don’t.<\/p>\n

David G. again:<\/p>\n

Also, I find your argument applies equally to any AVM.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

AVM is Automated Valuation Model. And David is 100% correct. All AVMs are equally fraudulent if they claim to Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David G. from Zillow.com replied to my post yesterday which argues that Zillow.com Zestimates are bunk, which I had proved to my own satisfaction in an earlier post. I’m revisiting the topic — to everyone’s delight, no doubt — because I want to drive the point home, and because I want to illustrate how a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,7,6,5,25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-195","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-disintermediation","7":"category-enduring-interest","8":"category-marketing","9":"category-real-estate","10":"category-zillowcom","12":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":342,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/342\/sellsius-zillows-the-value-of-an-explicit-disclaimer-on-zillowcom\/","url_meta":{"origin":195,"position":0},"title":"Sellsius Zillows the value of an explicit disclaimer on Zillow.com . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 16, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"A vigorous cross-examination of David G. from Zillow.com. The richer ore is in the comments, so be sure to keep scrolling. Technorati Tags: blogging, disintermediation, real estate, real estate marketing","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1255,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1255\/greg-peeing-on-the-tree-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":195,"position":1},"title":"Podcast with David Gibbons, Zillow.com’s Director of Community Relations: “We are throwing the gates wide open to the entire community”","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Appended below is an audio podcast with David Gibbons, Director of Community Relations for Zillow.com. In this recording, David talks with me, reflecting upon the details and implications of tonight's new software release. RE.net readers know David as the voice of Zillow on real estate weblogs, effecting the small miracle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Interview"","block_context":{"text":"Interview","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/interview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":580,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/580\/zillowcom-shade-down-creeping-disclaimerism-as-a-subject-changing-gambit\/","url_meta":{"origin":195,"position":2},"title":"Zillow.com shake-down: Creeping disclaimerism as a subject-changing gambit . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Whatever. Just don't pay them off. The issue is a lot bigger than Zillow.com, and Net Exceptionalism is too important an idea to be squandered. Even if you don't know who your friends are, I will hang with you if you will hang tough... Our story so far:Welcome to Race\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":575,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/575\/zillowcom-shake-down-this-is-the-first-shoe-dropping\/","url_meta":{"origin":195,"position":3},"title":"Zillow.com shake-down: This is the first shoe dropping . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"John Cook, Seattle Post-Intelligencer:Zillow has contacted the NCRC, and the two plan to meet soon, Berenbaum said. He expressed confidence that they can resolve the issues in a way that benefits the entire home valuation industry.Actually, the complaint made me think that Yahoo.com is going to have to cough up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":589,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/589\/the-zillowcom-shake-down-preparing-for-the-denouement\/","url_meta":{"origin":195,"position":4},"title":"The Zillow.com shake-down: Preparing for the denouement . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Via Matrix, The New York Times:Zillow.com, the Web site that provides free home valuations, has been accused by a coalition of community activist groups of undervaluing the homes in black and Latino neighborhoods.The headline of the story: \"A Home Valuation Web Site Is Accused of Discrimination.\" I said the headline\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":591,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/591\/the-zillowcom-shake-down-the-piling-on-begins-and-spencer-tracy-is-nowhere-to-be-found\/","url_meta":{"origin":195,"position":5},"title":"The Zillow.com shake-down: The piling on begins — and Spencer Tracy is nowhere to be found . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 1, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Zillow news since the New York Times story broke: Zillow.com accused of helping predatory lenders Zillow.com: So bad it ought to be banned? Zillow Faces Minority Complaint: Rights watchdog group prepares charge that real estate site undervalues homes of non-whites Zillow.com accused of discrimination in home valuations FTC complaint filed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}